Format for ICES Oceanographic data http://www.ices.dk/Ocean/formats/ ICES Oceanographic Data : http://www.ices.dk/ocean/ "ICES Oceanographic Format" Introduction The following pages provide a detailed description of the formats used by ICES for the exchange of oceanographic (water bottle or CTD) station data. Submitters of data should, if at all possible, use either of the formats described here. Receivers of data from ICES will receive it in only the first described format, the ICES Oceanographic 'punch card' format but software is normally supplied with any request to help the user read data sets prepared in this format, including an export facility to data bases and spreadsheets. The user should note that this format has been modified from that published by ICES in 1979 in several important respects. In particular provision was made to include position information to .01 of a degree, and time to the nearest minute. Other changes include a re-definition of the > (greater than) overpunch in the nutrient fields (type '56' chemistry record was replaced by type '76') and record type 'P6' was introduced to accommodate the very high nutrient levels reported from some coastal regions. In both of these record types chlorophyll 'a' is stored to only one decimal place (the '56' record type was 2 decimal places). From early 1994, additional features were added to the format (03 record) to accommodate extra decimal places common in CTD records. This affected only columns previously used for derived quantities (sigma-t, dynamic depth). For data received after ca 1997 parameters not supported by the above record types were included by the inclusion of the '0Z' record (Additional Parameter Record). This record type allows for any number of parameters, so long as it is specified in the BODC/JGOFS data dictionary. ICES Format Specification HYDROMASTER RECORD Position 79-80 = "0J" PositionParameter Description 01-02 Country Coded according to IOC country codes. 03-04 Ship Coded according to IOC ship codes. 05-08 Station No. Station number (within a given year start counting one at the 1 Jan 0000 Hrs UTC is recommended). 09-12 Latitude Geographical latitude in degrees and minutes (decimals see below). 13-17 Longitude Geographical longitude in degrees and minutes (decimals see below). 18 Quadrant Indicator of quadrant on globe: 0 = Latitude North Longitude East 1 = Latitude North Longitude West 2 = Latitude South Longitude East 3 = Latitude South Longitude West 0° Latitude is defined as being North 0° Longitude is defined as being East 180° Longitude is defined as being West North, South relative to the equator East, West relative to Greenwich meridian 19-21 Year Last 3 digits of year. 22-23 Month Number of the month within a year 24-25 Day Number of the day within a month 26-27 Time Starting time of hydrographic station in UTC (minutes given later). 28-31 Depth Corrected depth to bottom in meters 32-45 None Reserved (usually specifies origin of data) 46-64 None Weather information (rarely used in recent data) 65-66 Latitude ct'd Decimals of Latitude minutes 67-68 Longitude ct'd Decimals of Longitude minutes 69-70 Time ct'd Minutes of time 71-74 None Reserved 75-77 Secchi Secchi Disk Depth (metre, 1 implied decimal) 78 None 79 Indicator Always "0" (Zero) 80 Record Type Always "J" (Juliett) HYDROGRAPHY RECORD Position 80-80 = "3" Position Parameter Description 01-27 Parameter Copy of contents of positions 01-27 in the Hydromaster record. 28-31 Depth/Pressure Depending on value in column 41 (d/p): depth (meters) or Pressure (decibar).No implied decimals (but see 41-49) 32-35 Temperature Temperature given in degrees Celsius (°C) 2 implied decimal places Negative temperatures are indicated by "}" (Closing Brace) in field 32 36-40 Salinity Salinity given in PSS-78 scale for post-1978 data 3 implied decimal places 41-41 d/p Specifies whether pressure (p) or depth(d). If field not 'p' or 'd', then depth (meters) assumed. 42-49 CTD Decimals Depending on a 'p' or 'd' in column 41 then 42- 43 is extra decimal places for pressure (p), or depth (d),45-46 is extra decimal places for temperature; 48-49 is extra decimal places for salinity (historical data sets may have sigma-t in 41-45) 50-57 Unused or derived quantities 58-60 Oxygen Oxygen content. Given in cm3 02 / dm3 (if position 78 = "K" then /kg) water at STP 2 implied decimals 61-64 None Reserved for derived quantities 65-76 None Reserved 77 Method Method of salinity determination 1 = Titration by routine method 2 = Titration by special precision method 3 = Conductivity method precision (<)= 0.01 4 = Conductivity method precision (>) 0.01 78 Unit Indicator Not K = Oxygen in cm3/dm3 (per volume) K = Oxygen in cm3/kg (per mass) 79 Indicator Indicator for interpolation with depth 0 = No interpolation, T and S observed 1 = Both T and S have been interpolated 8 = T has been interpolated, S observed 9 = T has been observed, S interpolated 80 Record type Always "3" (Three) HYDROCHEMISTRY RECORD (Position 79-80 = "76" or *Position 79-80 = "P6" or Position 79-80 = "56") PositionParameter Description 01-27 Parameter Copy of contents of positions 01-27 in the Hydromaster record. 28-31 Depth/Pressure Pressure (decibars) or Depth (meters) no implied decimals Assumes unit as in "03" record above. 32-35 Temperature Temperature Given in degrees Celsius (°C) 2 implied decimal places Negative temperatures are indicated by "}" (Closing Brace) in field 32 36-39 Salinity Salinity given in PSS-78 scale for post-1978 data. 2 implied decimal places 40-42 Oxygen Oxygen contents. Given in cm3 02 / dm3 water at STP. 2 implied decimals (If position 78 = "K" then /kg) 43-45 Phosphate Phosphate phosphorus. Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 2 implied decimals (* 1 implied decimal) 46-48 Tot.Phosphorus Total Phosphorus contents. Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 2 implied decimals (* 1 implied decimal) 49-51 Silicate Silicate contents (Silicate Silicon). Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 1 implied decimal (* 0 implied decimal) 52-54 Nitrate Nitrate contents (Nitrate Nitrogen). Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 1 implied decimal (* 0 implied decimal) 55-57 Nitrite Nitrite contents (Nitrite Nitrogen). Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 2 implied decimals (* 1 implied decimal) 58-60 Ammonium Ammonium contents (Ammonium Nitrogen) Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 1 implied decimal (* 0 implied decimal) 61-63 Tot. Nitrogen Total nitrogen contents. Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 1 implied decimal (* 0 implied decimal) 64-66 Hydrog. Sulph. Hydrogen Sulphide contents (Sulphide Sulphur).Given in µmol/l. (if position 78 = "K" then µmol/kg) 1 implied decimal (* 0 implied decimal) 67-69 pH Hydrogen ion concentration in situ 2 implied decimals 70-73 Alkalinity Alkalinity. Given in milliequivalents(millival)/dm3 water at 20°C.( if position 78 = "K" then meq/kg) 3 implied decimal places 74-76 Chlorophyll a Chlorophyll a. Given in ug/dm3 water at 20°C.(if position 78 = "K" then ug/kg) 1 implied decimal (if 56 record, 2 implied decimals) 77 None Reserved 78 Unit Indicator Not K = All Chemistry units in /l (per volume) K = All Chemistry units in /kg (per mass) 79Indicator Always "7" (Seven) (**or "P" in which case all nutrients and H2S X10, ie decimals-1) 80Record type Always "6" (Six) *P6 records **P6 records be derived from 76 records only. In P6 records only the nutrients and H2S are times 10. pH, alkalinity and chlorophyll are untouched. If nitrite is not reported, but nitrate is then the value in the nitrate field is assumed to represent nitrate + nitrite. ADDITIONAL PARAMETER RECORD (Position 79-80 = "0Z") PositionParameter Description 01-27 Parameter Copy of contents of positions 01-27 in the Hydromaster record. 28-31 Depth/Pressure Pressure (decibars) or Depth (meters) no implied decimals Assumes unit as in "03" record above. 32-39 Parameter Code 8 Character Code as used by BODC in its BODC/JGOFS Data Dictionary 40-49 Data Value Value of parameter in free format. Value might be expressed in scienific notation. Store any data flag, e.g., < in position 49 50-78 Description Abbreviated full name of parameter followed by units (in parenthesis). Units normally expressed as given in BODC/JGOFS Data Dictionary 79 Indicator Always "0" (zero) 80 Record type Always "Z" (zed) General Rule for Coding Data into Fields (not 0Z record type) All fields for which a value is given should be "0" (Zero) filled to the left, fields where no value is given must be left blank. If within a field the rightmost positions are left blank, it is assumed that the measurement accuracy did not allow determination of this decimal position; e.g. Temperature measured is 2.3° C the Temperature field given "023 " (Zero, Two, Three, Blank). Coding of values too big for Field Width and Qualifiers In all chemistry fields, including the oxygen field in the hydrographic record, a provision is made to accommodate values which are too big for the field width provided. In case the e.g. oxygen exceeds the value of 9.99 cm3/dm3 you have to subtract 10.00 from the value observed, enter this new value and recode the first digit of the field according to the conversion for overpunch type 11 (see below). The value of 19.99 is used to indicate a value out of range, coded as "R99" (Romeo, Nine, Nine). Hence the highest value which can be reported is for oxygen 19.98 cm3/dm3. For substances which are reported to only 1 decimal place, e.g. nitrate these numbers are 199.9 and 199.8 respectively. If the value found seems unrealistic you recode the second digit in the field according to the following scheme: 1 mapped into "J", 2 mapped into "K" etc. Note however that "0" is mapped into asci character 125 ("}") . This conversion is referred to overpunch type 11. An overpunch in column 31 should be made when the depth has been obtained by application of an unprotected thermometer in this depth. That a depth is questionable is indicated by an overpunch 11 in column 29. If there are traces found below the threshold of the reporting format ((<)0.01 or (<)0.1 respectively) you code "00}" (Zero, Zero, Closing Brace). If for some reason the value can be observed only as being below a certain threshold, this threshold value is given and the last digit is recoded according to overpunch type 12, ie 1 mapped into "A", 2 into "B" etc and 0 into ascii character 123 ("{") The recoding according to Table 1 of the second digit within a field applied as well to T and S in the hydrographic records, indicating questionable values. The left columns in Tables 1 and 2 show the digits to be recoded, the right columns the replacement characters. 8