NODC Ocean Profile Data Base, Version 3.0 Station Transfer File Format

NODC Ocean Profile Data Base, Version 3.0 Station Transfer File Format (P3)

Fields are delimited by commas.

Fields may be empty, but must terminate with a comma.

The structure is as follows:

Station Identifier Record

Station Coordinates Record

Station Parameter Record - Numeric Value

Station Parameter Record - Text Value

Station Parameter Record - Coded Value

Profile Header Record

Profile Parameter Record - Coded Value

Observation Record

Station Identifier Record
(one record per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'i'.
2	2	file version	database version, decrement from 0.
3	12	station	internal unique database identifier.
4	6	platform id	platform identifier
5	4	platCode	NODC ship/platform code.
6	8	callsign	radio callsign.
7	10	reference	NODC reference number.
8	4	fileAlias	NODC File Alias.
9	7	accession	NODC archive accession number.
10	2	country	NODC country code.
11	4	modagency	agency responsible for this version of station.
12	8	mod date	date of last modification, YYYYMMDD zulu.
12	4	mod time	time of last modification, HHMM zulu.
14	8	pgm Id	program used to make last modification.
15	5	pgm Version	version of program use to make last modification.
16	4	qc Def	definition of test set used.
17	4	qc Made	flags indicating tests made at the station level.
18	4	qc Flags	flags indicating tests failed at the station level.

Original Position and Epoch Record
( one record per station )
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'a'.
2	7	latitude	latitude, DDMMSSH.
3	8	longitude	longitude, DDDMMSSH.
4	8	obsdate	date of observation, YYYYMMDD zulu.
5	4	obs time	time of observation, HHMM zulu.

Current Position and Epoch Record
( one record per station )
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'b'.
2	7	latitude	latitude, DDMMSSH.
3	8	longitude	longitude, DDDMMSSH.
4	8	obs date	date of observation, YYYYMMDD zulu.
5	4	obs time	time of observation, HHMM zulu.

Station Parameter Record
( one to "n" number of records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'p'.
2	5	sequence	database sequence number.
3	4	parm Code	OPDB parameter code.
4	4	parm Units	parameter units.
5	4	parm Scale	parameter scale factor ( power of 10 ).
6	12	parm Value	parameter value.
7	2	sigDig	parameter significant digit.
8	4	instrId	Instrument Id.
9	4	method	Parameter Methodology.
10	4	qcDef	definition of test set used.
11	4	qcMade	flags indicating tests made at the surface parameter level.
12	4	qcFlags	flags indicating tests failed at the surface parameter level.

Station Codes Record
(one to "n" number records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'c'.
2	5	sequence	database sequence number.
3	4	parm Code	NODC/GF3/OCL parameter code.
4	40	parm Info	alphanumeric parameter information.

Station Num Records
(one to "n" number of records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'n'.
2	5	sequence	database sequence number.
3	4	parm Code	NODC/GF3/OCL parameter code.
4	4	value Code	parameter code value.

Profile Header Records
(one to "n" number of records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'h'.
2	3	profile	database profile number.
3	4	zUnit	depth/pressure units (OPDB Code).
4	4	orig. z unit	originators depth/pressure units.
5	4	z Scale	depth/pressure scale factor ( power of 10 ).
6	4	parm Code	NODC/GF3/OCL parameter code.
7	4	obs Unit	observation units ( OPDB Code ).
8	4	orig. obs unit	originators observation units.
9	4	obs scale	observation scale factor ( power of 10 ).
10	3	instrument	NODC/OCL instrument code.
11	3	method	NODC/OCL observation method code.
12	4	obsAgency	NODC observing agency code.
13	4	subAgency	NODC submitting agency code.
14	1	density	observation density (H=High, L=low, U=unknown).
15	5	qc Def	definition number of test set used.
16	4	qcMade	flags indicating tests made on profile.
17	1	isDerived	derived value (0= observed, 1= derived).

Profile Num Records
(one to "n" number of records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'g'.
2	5	sequence	database sequence number.
3	4	parmCode	NODC/GF3/OCL parameter code.
4	4	valueCode	coded value.

Profile Observation records
(one to "n" number of records per station)
Field	Width	Name	Content
1	1	record type	always 'o'.
2	4	qcFlags	flags indicating qc tests that failed.
3	5	sequence	database sequence number.
4	12	z	depth/pressure.
5	12	obs	observation.
6	4	zSigDig	depth/pressure significant digit.
7	4	obsSigDig	observation significant digit.
8	12	zOld	original depth/pressure ( if present ).
9	12	obsOld	original observation ( if present ).