Processed Hydrology Data Format


The standard Hydrology file has a maximum of 80 columns per line.
Here is an example record: 


 FR8505  000002P8510-16146 1-OCT-85 7: 8: 0-16 37.40 146 16. 0   92  82  9
                                    7:22: 0-16 37.40 146 16.00
                                    8: 8: 0-16 36.83 146 14.86
 59   2.10P         024.97335.184216.40 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.020   0.250
 58  13.30P        11      35.182225.44 0.210  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290
 57  23.00P        1024.96435.173216.10 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.280  20.29
 56  32.20P         9      35.183216.40 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290
 55  42.20P         024.96735.185215.81 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290  44.08
 54  51.10P         7      35.183216.69 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.270
 53  61.80P         6      35.183217.86 0.190  0.00   0.2   0.030   0.270
 23  71.20P         5      35.183216.69 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.270
 15  82.40P         1      35.208216.69 0.210  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.280

The first three lines represent the header section, as follows: 


Column Number (position)
00000000011111111112222222223333333333344444444445555555555666666666677777777778
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
 FR8505  000002P8510-16146 1-OCT-85 7: 8: 0-16 37.40 146 16. 0   92  82  9
                                    7:22: 0-16 37.40 146 16.00
                                    8: 8: 0-16 36.83 146 14.86
Record
Position		 Explanation
First Row
1 Blank
2-3 Vessel Code
4-5 Year - last 2 digits of year
6-9 Cruise Code
10-15 Station number
16 P=Primary, S=Secondary
17-18 Year - last 2 digits of year
19-20 Month
21-23 Latitude - south is negative (degrees only)
24-26 Longitude (degrees only)
27-35 Date format xx-mon-xx (mon=first three letters of month)
36-43 Start time hh:mm:ss
44-62 Start position xxx xx.xx xxx xx.xx (-ve for south; west longitude is 360-longitude)
63 Blank
64-67 Sonic depth at bottom in metres
68-71 Maximum sample pressure (dbars)
72-74 Number of detail records
75-80 Blank
Second Row
1-35 Blank
36-43 Bottom time
44-62 Bottom position
63-80 Blank
Third Row
1-35 Blank
36-43 End time
44-62 End position
63-80 Blank

The remaining lines represent the detailed section record, as follows: 


Column Number (position)
00000000011111111112222222223333333333344444444445555555555666666666677777777778
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
 59   2.10P         024.97335.184216.40 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.020   0.250
 58  13.30P        11      35.182225.44 0.210  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290
 57  23.00P        1024.96435.173216.10 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.280  20.29
 56  32.20P         9      35.183216.40 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290
 55  42.20P         024.96735.185215.81 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.290  44.08
 54  51.10P         7      35.183216.69 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.270
 53  61.80P         6      35.183217.86 0.190  0.00   0.2   0.030   0.270
 23  71.20P         5      35.183216.69 0.190  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.270
 15  82.40P         1      35.208216.69 0.210  0.00   0.0   0.030   0.280
Record
Position		 Explanation
1-3 Niskin Bottle Number
4-10 Pressure, 2 decimal places in dbars - (Note: for coastal stations, this may be replaced by sampling depth in metres, which is effectively exactly equivalent)
11 P/S (primary, secondary)
12-19 Blank
20-21 Rosette position
22-27 Temperature (degrees C) from reversing thermometres - blank where no thermos
28-33 Salinity (psu)
34-39 Oxygen (micromole/litre)
40-45 Phosphate (micromole/litre)
46-51 Nitrate (micromole/litre) See Warning below
52-57 Silicate (micromole/litre)
58-65 Nitrite (micromole/litre)
66-73 Ammonia (micromole/litre)
74-80 Thermometric depth (metres)

For methods used to determine the various chemical parameters refer to the following:

  1. CSIRO Marine Laboratories Report No. 236 - Hydrochemistry Operations Manual, Rebecca Cowley et al, 1999 describes the methods employed by the Hydrochemistry group at CSIRO Marine Research. The methods described were adopted with the introduction of Guildline Autosal and Alpkem Autoanalyser (September 1996 on Franklin) and of an automated Dosimat dissolved Oxygen analysis system (Franklin in November 1994, Southern Surveyor in February 1998).
  2. Salinity - Division of Fisheries and Oceanography Report No. 51 - Laboratory Techniques in Marine Chemistry YEOKAL - Inductively Coupled Salinometer Operating Instructions.
    There is an excellent description of PSU (Practical Salinity Units) at http://www.oceanscientific.com
  3. Dissolved Oxygen - Division of Fisheries and Oceanography report No. 51 - Laboratory techniques in Marine Chemistry
  4. Nutrients (pre 1997 ?) - CSIRO Marine Laboratories Report No. 166 - Automated Analysis of Nutrients in Seawater
    Warning Note: Some nutrient data from Maria Island collected in 1960 and 1961 have the Nitrate data expressed in milligrams per litre instead of the standard micro-molar (14 times higher than standard).

    This page last modified: 17 Mar 2004 (Terry Byrne)