     Description of the file formats 
     of the NATO TU-Black Sea Project 
     ================================
     (extraction from the Project Task Team document)


NATO TU-Black Sea Project file formats are used for included data sets. 
Biological data at the species level have the same headers as described in 
this format and original structure of the data that is described in the 
header line and in the corresponding description files.

Data File 

Each data file contains the data themselves according to one of the three 
formats described below (station data file, containing vertical series of 
measurements; header data file, containing observations on sea surface; and 
time series data file, containing time series at distinct points). 



Description of the formats for the Data Files

Three types of data files are used: 

	1. Station data files, containing vertical series of measurements. It is 
recommended to unite parameters from the point of view of sampling 
equipment (e.g. STD-probe, water bottles, plankton net). For the high 
resolution CTD data one file contains data of one cast. For chemical and 
other low resolution data each file contains data for one cruise. 
	2. Header data files, containing observations on sea surface. 
	3. Time series data, containing time series at distinct points. 

The parameters in all files are separated with at least one space. Space 
characters inside names (units) and data values are not allowed. 

Only printable characters (plus "space", "line feed", "carriage return" - ASCII 
32, 10 and 13) are used in data files. 

Nonexistent values in all data files are replaced by the number (flag) "-88" 
(minus eighty eight). 

Time of the measurements in data files are GMT, other cases have to be 
described in the corresponding Brief Description File. 

File name and extension usually include information about ship name, 
cruise number, type of the data; e.g. AV24CHEM.001, which stands for 
R/V Akademik Vernadsky, 24-th cruise, chemical parameters, file number 1. 

 1. Station Data File

1st line: Description of the data columns (with units).
2nd line: Header information for the station.

This line includes the following parameters:
flag (always 9999), year, month, day, starting time of measurements in hour, 
minute, latitude in degrees, minutes, longitude in degrees, minutes, total 
water depth in meters at station, station name, cast number. It can include 
additional parameters after the cast number, which must be described in brief 
information file.

3d  line: 1st line of the data
4th line: 2nd line of the data
.
Nth line: (N-2)th line of the data
<EOF> - end of file

*Remark: For chemical and other low resolution data each file contains data 
for one cruise i.e. after last line of the data for previous station Header line 
for the next station follows.


	Example of physical data file is given below:

Depth(m) Temperat(degC) Salinity(ppt) Light_Transmis(%)
9999 1991 07 15 23 10 42 30.2 31 45.8 2100 B255 1
0 21.8269 16.8416 51.8269
1 21.8291 16.8442 50.5265
2 21.8299 16.8476 50.5288
3 21.8202 16.8581 50.5392
4 21.7674 16.8935 50.5791
5 21.6227 16.9727 50.6750
6 21.3475 17.1112 50.8481
.
<EOF>

	Example of chemical data file is given below:

D(m) T(degC) S(ppt) Sig-T  DO(uM) H2S(uM) NOx(uM) NO2(uM)
9999  1989  07  23  01 57  43 30.2 31  45.8  2100  5287 1
 05  7.20  17.33  14.11  325.2  -88   0.21   0.10
 10...............................................
 650...............................................
9999  1989  07  23  12 24  43 10.1 31  12.4  1200  5288 1
..................................................
..................................................
<EOF>

	Example of biological data file is given below:

Lower_Depth(m) Upper_Depth(m) Total_Biomass(mg/m3)
9999 1991 01 08 9 30 42 0.0 31 0.0 2100 2310 1
10  0 12.5
25 10 10.0
50 25 41.6
.  . .
150 . .
9999 1991 01 08 11 30 42 30.0 31 0.0 2000 2311 1
15 . .
30 . .
40 . .
.  . .
200. .
<EOF>

  ATTENTION !!
There can be additional one character columns after each data column 
(except the depth column), which contain the qulity flags (0-5) for the 
corresponding values in the data columns.

  Example of the data file with qulity flags is given below:

Depth(m) Temperat(degC) Salinity(ppt) Light_Transmis(%)
9999 1991 07 15 23 10 42 30.2 31 45.8 2100 B255 1
0 21.8269 1 16.8416 0 51.8269 3
1 21.8291 1 16.8442 0 50.5265 1
2 21.8299 3 16.8476 0 50.5288 1
3 21.8202 3 16.8581 0 50.5392 1
4 21.7674 1 16.8935 0 50.5791 1
5 21.6227 1 16.9727 0 50.6750 1
6 21.3475 1 17.1112 0 50.8481 1
.
<EOF>
