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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Water Temperature File Format Information

Last updated February 8, 1999

 

The information in this section provides the data users with information about file name significance and a description of the data. The file naming convention explanation describes the type of data and the region which the data represents, while the data descriptions include field column descriptions and field descriptions. All collected data is within the 14 year period from 1984 to 1997.

File Naming Convention Explanation

The first four characters denote the data component
      temp = temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit)

Except for the weekly averages for each pool; in this case the file is simply named
      wkmean = weekly mean temperatures

The last two to three characters denote the pool number for which the data represents.
      Example:
      tempp4 = temperature data for Pool 4

Data Descriptions

Field Column Descriptions

The "Format column" contains the following format specifiers:

c = alpha character/symbol/digit
n = numeric value, any digit from 0-9

For files entitled tempp4 to tempp26, this section provides information on the organization and the field position and the format of the data.

Field Description

YEAR
Gives the period from which the data was collected from, within the span between 1984 to 1997.

JULIAN DAY
Gives the day in the form of Julian day, starting with January 1, as day 1 and December 31 as day 365, unless it is a leap year.

TEMPERATURE
Represents temperature data given in degrees Fahrenheit and carried out to one decimal place.

Field name

Field position

Format

YEAR 1:4 yyyy
JULIAN DAY 6:8 nnn
TEMPERTURE 10:13 nn.n

Field Description

For wkmean, containing the weekly temperature averages for each pool, this section provides information on the organization, field position and the format of the data.

The data is arranged in columns where "week" occupies the first column and each pool's weekly temperature averages are listed thereafter, starting with Pool 4. The columns containing the temperature data do not include specific headings, but each pool's position is given below.

WEEK
Gives the week of the year that the data is representing, within the range from 1-52.

POOL4 through POOL26
Describes the pool for which the data belongs, beginning with POOL 4 and ending with POOL 26, excluding POOL 23.

Field name Field position Format
WEEK
 1:3
nn
POOL 4
5:8
nn.n
POOL 5
10:13
nn.n
POOL 5A
15:18
nn.n
POOL 6
20:23
nn.n
POOL 7
25:28
nn.n
POOL 8
30:33
nn.n
POOL 9
35:38
nn.n
POOL 10
40:43
nn.n
POOL 11
45:48
nn.n
POOL 12
50:53
nn.n
POOL 13
55:58
nn.n
POOL 14
60:63
nn.n
POOL 15
65:68
nn.n
POOL 16
70:73
nn.n
POOL 17
75:78
nn.n
POOL 18
80:83
nn.n
POOL 19
85:88
nn.n
POOL 20
90:93
nn.n
POOL 21
95:98
nn.n
POOL 22
100:103
nn.n
POOL 24
105:108
nn.n
POOL 25
110:113
nn.n
POOL 26
115:118
nn.n
DISCLAIMER These data have been generated by State agencies under contract with the Department of the Interior and the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC). Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the UMESC, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. However, error correction is a continuing process, and the UMESC routinely makes changes to data as errors are discovered. The file date is referred to as the release date and should be mentioned in all references to data. These data have been provided as a unit package to ensure that you receive a valid dataset collected in a consistent manner. Methods, purposes, and conditions can vary dramatically among data-collecting efforts and these data should not be combined with other datasets from the UMESC or other sources unless the user fully understands the procedures and purposes used to create each set of data and can verify that data are comparable across sources.

 

URL: http://umesc.usgs.gov/data_library/water_quality/water_temp_fmt.html
Page Contact Information: Contacting the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Page Last Modified: December 31, 2012