The S87 data format was developed to standardize the handling of ascii station data. The main parts of the S87 format file are the header line containing all pertinent station information, an id line with two character minimum mnemonics describing the data in the columns below and the data, the first two characters being unique. The first line must be the header line and contain all the information needed to identify the station, as described below: TPPCC SSSS CC SDD.DDDD SDDD.DDDD YY/MM/DD YDA HH:MM CRUISE_ID T - data type (C: ctd, B: bottle, A: axbt, X: xbt) PP - NODC platform code CC - NODC country code of the platform SSSS - station number CC - cast number SDD.DDDD - latitude in decimal degrees (S; sign, + optional) SDDD.DDDD - longitude in decimal degrees YY/MM/DD - date, year/month/day YDA - year-day for year of collection HH:MM - time, hour:minutes CRUISE_ID - optional cruise identifier, one word Following the header line can be an optional secondary header line for other cast information. There may also be an optional line describing important physical characteristics at the station location. This line must begin with the character '&' in the first column. These mnemonics are: CS for PC02 insitu, CL for PC02 at lab T (15 degrees C), TC for total C02, TK for total Alkalinity, ZZ for bottom depth in meters, ZM for distance from bottom, SS for bucket surface salinity, TA for air temperature in degrees C, PA for air pressure in millibars (hectopascals), TS for bucket surface temperature in degrees C, WS for wind speed in meters per second, and WD for wind direction in degrees. Fields are separated by tabs or spaces. A line to denote this would be: &ZZ=4766 TA=-4.2 PA=0990 WS=0.6 WD=122 There may be as many comment lines as desired that do not start with an '&' or an '@'. It is suggested that any program used to create or modify an s87 format file add a new line with the date, user name, the program name and the input file name. The column identification line contains mnemonics of at least two unique characters that identify the data in the columns below. This line must start with an '@' in the first column. A list of present id's is included below. Tabs are used to separate mnemonics and data columns to conserve disk space (it is suggested that the %g format specifier be used when rewriting data to kill trailing 0's). Regretfully, fortran programs do not accept tabs. 1s freon-11 saturation (see f1) 2s freon-12 saturation (see f2) AG adiabatic temperature gradient AN specific volume anomaly BU buffer count BV Brunt Vaisalla frequency C3 delta C-13 C4 Delta C-14 CA chlorophyll a CC total CO2 by gas cromatograph CL pCO2 @ lab temperature CO conductivity CS pCO2 @ insitu temperature DE depth (meters) DF density flux DO delta_oc/delta_t DR density ratio F1 freon 11 (see 1s) F2 freon 12 (see 2s) FL flags (from ctd78 format) FR freon ratio FS freon saturation GV geostrophic velocity HE helium HZ dynamic height IT ice thickness (cm) LT percent of light transmitted through water N2 nitrite (stability) N3 nitrate (nitrite + nitrate) NH ammonia OC oxygen current OS % oxygen saturation OT oxygen temperature OX oxygen (ml/l) PA air pressure PH pH PO phosphate PR pressure (decibars) PT potential temperature RH rosette potential temperature (rosette salinity and ctd temp) RN record number (bottle number) RO rosette oxygen RP rosette pressure RS rosette salinity RT rosette temperature S0 sigma theta S1 sigma 1 S2 sigma 2 S3 sigma 3 S4 sigma 4 SA salinity SE sea state SI silicate ST sigma t SV sound velocity (also VE) SW swell T1 tritium (TU) T2 tritium (TU-81) TA air temperature TC total CO2 by titration TE temperature TF temperature above freezing TG temperature gradient TI time TK total alkalinity (titration) VE sound velocity (also SV) WD wind direction WE weather WS wind speed (m/s) ZM distance off bottom (meters) ZZ bottom depth (meters) this file is /turf/ouzel/fizocean/docs/s87.doc -------- ADDENDUM The above information was obtained from Lamont-Doherty Earth Institute in 1994. As currently used at SFRI the data format is not strictly S87 format. Several possibly fatal shortcuts have been taken through expedience, ignorance and laziness. - The records are not strictly kept to 64 columns wide. Records are not padded with blank characters. - The cruise identifier field in the first record is not always one word. - The data type FL has been taken away from flags and give to fluorescence. - The data type LT has been taken to mean the ratio of subsurface light to surface light - The following additional data types have been used or redefined : DS - FL - Fluorescence FU - LS - Surface light LT - Light ratio LU - Light sensor MS - Mean salinity MT - Mean tempoerature NU - Number of observations O2 - Oxygen concentration SC - Scan number SN - Scan number TR - Transmittance (transmissometer) VS - Variance in salinity VT - Variance in temperature WO - Wire out Platform identifiers for South Africa are 91?? 91AE - Africana I (unfortunately also been used for the latest Africana) 91AF - Africana II 9191 - Aircraft 91BA - Bellatrix 91BB - Benguela 91DB - Drifting buoy 91FS - Fixed stations 91FR - Fraay R/K 91FH - Frank Harvey 91JG - J.D. Gilchrist 91KU - Kunene 91LT - Lady Theresa 91MN - Meiring Naude 9190 - Multiple ships 91NA - Natal 91PA - Palinurus 91PI - Pickle 91PR - Protea 91RA - RFA 91AA - S.A. Agulhas 91CA - S.A. Constantia 91SG - S.A. Sederberg 91WB - S.A. Waterberg 91SA - Sardinops 91SC - Schipa 91DT - Thomas B. Davie R/V 91TR - Trachurus 9199 - UNKNOWN 91VC - Victory 91VR - Vrystaat Added: 2000/07/12 CMDR