Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Measurement Database

Revision History

Revision History for Open-File Report 2007–1194

By Ellyn T. Montgomery, Marinna A. Martini, Frances L. Lightsom, and Bradford Butman

Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Measurement Database

Posted online January 1, 2008

Version 1.1 revised and reposted online February 2009

Version 2.0 revised and reposted online June 1, 2016

The report was updated to reflect changes to the U.S. Geological Survey oceanographic time-series measurement database since the report was first published. Major updates include (1) descriptions of additional forms of data in the database and their processing, particularly data conforming to Climate and Forecast version 1.6 (CF-1.6) conventions and data in files produced at the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center,(2) additional descriptions of instruments and the processing of data from these instruments and 3) broadening the scope of the holdings to allow data from the other Coastal and Marine Geology Program centers to also be released.

Changes in version 2.0:

In the abstract, minor updates were made to the description of the report and the database.

“Conversion Factors,” “Supplemental Information,” and “Abbreviations” sections were added to the beginning of the report. These sections replace appendix 2. New sensor acronyms are included in “Abbreviations.”

In the “Introduction” section, science center names were updated, information about Digital Object Identifiers and citations was added, and the list of information included in the report was updated. References to individual scientists in the “Source of Data” subsection have been moved to the “Acknowledgments” section of the report.

The “Database Contents” section was updated to reflect the inclusion of new kinds of data files in the database. In the subsection “Spatial and Temporal Extent of the Database,” figure 3 was updated to show the locations of new experiments, and minor updates were made to the text. The subsection “Content Overview” was expanded to introduce Climate and Forecast (CF) standards and differentiate between them and Equatorial Pacific Information Collection (EPIC) standards for data models and metadata. In the “Data Quality” subsection, information was added appropriate to the inclusion of CF files in the database.

In the “Data Collection” section, minor changes were made to the introductory paragraphs. The “Tripods” subsection was renamed “Tripods and Quadpods.” The subsection “Other Sea-Floor Platforms” was added. The subsection “Instrumentation” was added; it includes links to instrument descriptions organized by measurement type. On the “Current Velocity Measurements” page, descriptions of the following instruments were added: Nortek Sentinel V, Nortek Aquadopp HR, Nortek Acoustic Wave and Current Profiler, Nortek Vector, and Sontek IQ flow monitor. The “Hydrographic Measurements” page was renamed “Water Quality Measurements,” and on this page “Nitrate Measurements” was added as a subsection. On the “Water Quality Measurements” page, descriptions of the following instruments were added: RBR Solo-T, YSI 6600 and EXO, and Satlantic ISUS. On the “Turbidity Measurements” page, information about WET Labs ECO sensors was added. On the “Pressure Measurements” page, the subsection “Pressure-Based Wave and Tide Measurements” was added, with information on the Sea-Bird Seagauge, RBR Dwave, and Onset HOBO water-level logger. On the “Images” page, the description of Imagenex sonars was expanded. The subsection “Atmospheric Measurements” was added as a new page; it includes descriptions of the Onset HOBO weather station and Down East buoy-mounted weather station.

In the “Data Processing” section (formerly “How Are the Data Processed”), the “File Naming Conventions” subsection was removed and the information in it merged with existing content in appendix 1. The “Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) Storage” subsection was moved to a separate section. “Burst and Wave Data” was added as a subsection of “Time and Orientation.” Instrument-specific processing descriptions were added for data from the following instruments: Sentinel V; Nortek Aquadopp, Aquadopp HR, and AWAC; Nortek Vector; SonTek Argonaut; YSI 6600 and EXO; Satlantic ISUS, WET Labs ECO sensor; Sea-Bird Seagauge; RBR Dwave; Onset HOBO wave logger; Down East buoy-mounted meteorology sensor; and Onset HOBO weather station. Minor updates were made to other subsections of “Data Processing.”

The “Data Validation” and “Data Management” sections were under “Data Processing, and have been promoted to the same level in Version 2. Minor updates were made to both pages to reflect the current workflow.

The “Database Access Via the Web” section was rewritten to provide instructions for using the revised database Web site. The “Software Necessary for Use of Information in the Database” and “Citing Use of This Database” subsections were removed from this section and are now separate sections. Most of the “Organization of the Experiment Pages” subsection was rewritten, including the deletion of table 7. Minor modifications were made to the links and navigation information in the “Finding Information in the Database” subsection.

The “Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) Storage Format” section is no longer a subsection of “Data Processing.” The “Global attributes”, “Variable Names” and “Conversion to Climate-Forecast (CF) Convention Compliance” subsections were split to their own pages for readability in the web version, and the subsection “Equatorial Pacific Information Collection (EPIC) Keywords” was deleted. Minor changes were made to the section name and to text within the section. Table 1 was moved to this section from the “Content Overview” subsection of “Database Contents,” and a new column was added to table 1. Tables 2, 3, 8, and 9 (version 2.0 numbering) were added, and minor changes were made to the titles, headnotes, and numbering of tables 4, 5, 6, and 7 (version 2.0 numbering).

“Software Necessary for Use of Files in the Database” is no longer a subsection of “Database Access.” Information about using MATLAB and Python to access NetCDF data was modified.

“Citing Use of Data in This Database” is no longer a subsection of “Database Access.” Guidance for citing data from the database and associated reports was expanded.

The “Acknowledgments” section lists individuals previously listed in the “Source of Data” section.

In the “References Cited” list, the following publications were added: Armstrong and others (2015), Danforth (1990), Dickhudt and others (2015), Johnson (2011), and Sherwood (2014).

Appendix 1 was expanded to elaborate on the naming conventions used by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, including information formerly in the nonappendix “File Naming Conventions” subsection of “How Are the Data Processed.” An explanation of the naming conventions used by the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center was added. Figures showing nomenclature summaries of the centers’ naming conventions were added.

The content of Appendix 2 was moved to the front material- Conversion factors and Abbreviations. Appendices 3 and 4 were deleted as the information is served elsewhere.

Figures 5,6,17,20,25-27,29,30 were added to show new platforms, instruments. Figures 32-36 were added to show images of the new data server web pages. The former figure 14 was deleted. The former figure 1 is now an unnumbered cover image. Figure numbers were updated.