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Important NDBC Web Site Changes

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Important NDBC Web Site Changes

NDBC is making file format, display, and other changes to its web pages and web data files. Most significantly, a minutes field has been added to the time of observation to handle data from stations that report more than once an hour. Click the Customer Survey link at the bottom of this page to give feedback on the changes.

Summary

The following changes were made on July 1st, 2004.

  1. A Minute Field was Added to Station pages, Observation Search pages, and Realtime data files.
  2. Dual data files for both time formats will be available during a transition period.
  3. The station page shows current data for the previous 24 hours, instead of the last 24 observations.

Upcoming changes

  1. Oceanographic data files will support multiple records per hour, depending on the number of depth bins measured (July 2004).
  2. A Minute field will be added to the Historical data files (August 2004).
  3. A second header line will be added to data files to specify units of measurement (Fall 2004).

Detailed Description

1. A Minute field was added to Station pages, Observation Search pages, and Realtime data files.

NDBC stations are being enhanced to report multiple observations per hour. A "minute" field (mm) after the "hour" field (hh) has been added to distinguish between multiple observations in one hour. The "minute" field (mm) will be added for the following data types:

  • txt, or standard meteorological data
  • spec, or spectral wave summaries
  • data_spec, or raw spectral wave data
  • swdir, or spectral wave data (alpha1)
  • swdir2, or spectral wave data (alpha2)
  • swr1, or spectral wave data (r1)
  • swr2, or spectral wave data (r2)
  • adcp, or Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
  • ocean, or oceanographic data

Examples

The realtime standard meteorological data files are changed as follows:

Old File Format
YYYY MM DD hh  WD WSPD  GST  WVHT   DPD   APD MWD  BARO   ATMP  WTMP  DEWP  VIS PTDY  TIDE
2004 04 15 14 120  4.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1023.4  20.6  22.5  10.8   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 13 140  4.0  5.0   0.4     4    MM  MM 1023.0  20.4  22.4  10.3   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 12 120  5.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1022.1  20.0  22.4  10.9   MM +0.6    MM

New File Format
YYYY MM DD hh mm  WD WSPD  GST  WVHT   DPD   APD MWD  BARO   ATMP  WTMP  DEWP  VIS PTDY  TIDE
2004 04 15 13 50 120  4.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1023.4  20.6  22.5  10.8   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 12 50 140  4.0  5.0   0.4     4    MM  MM 1023.0  20.4  22.4  10.3   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 11 50 120  5.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1022.1  20.0  22.4  10.9   MM +0.6    MM

Note: Actual observation time is provided in the minute field (i.e. 50).

The Observation Search pages are changed as follows:

Old Page Format
ID      T1 HOUR  LAT     LON DIST HDG WDIR  WSPD   GST  WVHT   DPD   APD MWD   PRES  PTDY  ATMP  WTMP  DEWP   VIS  TIDE
           (GMT)               nm            kts   kts    ft   sec   sec         in    in    °F    °F    °F    mi    ft
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DPIA1    C 15  30.25  -88.07   15 346  240    11    15     -     -     -   -  29.80 +0.04  69.3  67.3  64.9     -     -
OSTF1    B 15  30.36  -89.61   86 285  310   3.9   9.7     -     -     -   -  29.78 +0.03  71.4     -  63.5     -     -
BURL1    C 15  28.90  -89.43  100 229  260    15    18     -     -     -   -  29.84 +0.04  70.3     -  69.4     -     -

New Page Format
ID      T1 TIME    LAT     LON DIST HDG WDIR  WSPD   GST  WVHT  DPD   APD MWD   PRES  PTDY  ATMP  WTMP  DEWP   VIS  TIDE
           (GMT)                 nm            kts   kts    ft  sec   sec         in    in    °F    °F    °F    mi    ft
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OSTF1    B 1550  30.36  -89.61   86 285  290   3.9   7.8     -    -     -   -  29.79 +0.02  74.1     -  59.5     -     -
DPIA1    C 1505  30.25  -88.07   15 346  240    11    15     -    -     -   -  29.80 +0.04  69.3  67.3  64.9     -     -
BURL1    C 1500  28.90  -89.43  100 229  260    15    18     -    -     -   -  29.84 +0.04  70.3     -  69.4     -     -

2. Dual data files for both time formats will be available during a transition period.

The old format realtime data files can be found in the same location as before, the data/realtime directory. The Realtime pages will point to the new format data files, in the data/realtime2 directory. Click here to go to our FAQ on ftp access to the files. The transition period will last until all data files (both realtime and historical) for 2004 have been converted to the new format.

Note: Prior year files will not be reformatted.

3. The station page shows current data for the previous 24 hours, instead of the last 24 observations.

Previously, the display of the previous 24 observations of data did not differentiate between recent data and old data. The previous 24 observations were displayed without regard to the time the observations occurred. If the most recent observation occurred within the previous eight hours, then 24 observations were displayed even if the next most recent observations were days, weeks, or months old. This change may result in more than 24 observations listed for stations that report more than once an hour, or less than 24 observations for stations that have missing reports.

4. Oceanographic data files will support multiple records per hour, depending on the number of depth bins measured (July 2004).

This won't really be a format change, but we previously had reported only the uppermost bin per hour. Each depth bin will be reported on one line, as a separate record.

Example

Old Format
YYYY MM DD hh DEPTH  OTMP   COND   SAL   O2% O2PPM  CLCON  TURB    PH    EH
2004 04 27 11     2 25.13  55.18 36.45  33.1  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 98.28
2004 04 27 10     2 25.15  55.27 36.45  33.3  2.22   0.06    MM  0.00 95.93
2004 04 27 09     2 25.15  55.37 36.45  33.3  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 94.80
2004 04 27 08     2 25.17  55.48 36.45  33.7  2.24   0.06    MM  0.00 96.91

New Format
YYYY MM DD hh mm DEPTH  OTMP   COND   SAL   O2% O2PPM  CLCON  TURB    PH    EH
2004 04 27 11 00     2 25.13  55.18 36.45  33.1  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 98.28
2004 04 27 11 00    12 25.13  55.18 36.45  33.1  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 98.28
2004 04 27 10 00     2 25.15  55.27 36.45  33.3  2.22   0.06    MM  0.00 95.93
2004 04 27 10 00    12 25.15  55.27 36.45  33.3  2.22   0.06    MM  0.00 95.93
2004 04 27 09 00     2 25.15  55.37 36.45  33.3  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 94.80
2004 04 27 09 00    12 25.15  55.37 36.45  33.3  2.21   0.06    MM  0.00 94.80
2004 04 27 08 00     2 25.17  55.48 36.45  33.7  2.24   0.06    MM  0.00 96.91
2004 04 27 08 00    12 25.17  55.48 36.45  33.7  2.24   0.06    MM  0.00 96.91

5. A Minute field will be added to the Historical data files (August 2004).

The format change will be the same as described for the Realtime data files, described in section 1, above.

6. A second header line will be added to data files to specify units of measurement (Fall 2004).

The historical and realtime data files will be modified to include a second header line that specifies the unit of measure for each column. See Measurement Descriptions and Units for more information on the units of measure used on the NDBC web site.

Example

YYYY MM DD hh mm  WD WSPD  GST  WVHT   DPD   APD MWD  BARO   ATMP  WTMP  DEWP  VIS PTDY  TIDE
                 deg  m/s  m/s     m   sec   sec deg    hPa  degC  degC  degC   mi  hPa    ft
2004 04 15 13 50 120  4.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1023.4  20.6  22.5  10.8   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 12 50 140  4.0  5.0   0.4     4    MM  MM 1023.0  20.4  22.4  10.3   MM +1.7    MM
2004 04 15 11 50 120  5.0  6.0   0.4     3    MM  MM 1022.1  20.0  22.4  10.9   MM +0.6    MM

Feedback - Please take this Customer Survey to let us know what you think of these changes.

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