The Excel spreadsheet has a header (in row 1) explaining the columns of information, row 2 has the header names, row 3 has header names that are appropriate for incorporation into a GIS (shorter names, no punctuation, and the header row of the CSV file), and the remaining rows contain the data in 11 columns. The labels below are the CSV row headers with the first part of the attribute definition the longer Excel header in row 2 of the Excel spreadsheet.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
- VESSEL
- Vessel name: The name of the ship that the field activity used for the cruise. The R/V Auk is the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary research vessel - a 50-foot catamaran.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field.
- CRUISE_ID
- WHCMSC field activity number: The field activity number assigned to the cruise by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC). The number is in the format YYYY-XXX where YYYY is the year and XXX is the number activity in that year.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field.
- UTC_DATE
- Date, UTC: The date of data collection for the given row based on UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time. In the Excel spreadsheet, the date has the format of D-M-YYYY where D is the numeric day of the month, M is the month abbreviation, and YYYY is the year.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field.
- UTC_JD
- Julian Day, UTC: Julian day of data collection based on UTC time. Julian day is the integer number representing the interval of time in days since January 1 of the year of collection.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- TIMEZONE
- Study area time zone: The time zone in which the study area is located. The time zone of the survey is dependent on the survey date.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Value | Definition |
|---|
| EDT | Eastern Daylight Time. To derive EDT, subtract 4 hours from the UTC time.
|
| EST | Eastern Standard Time. To derive EST, subtract 5 hours from the UTC time.
|
- UTC_TIME
- Time, UTC, HHMMSS: The time of the navigation fix in the format HHMMSS where HH is hour, MM is minutes, and SS is seconds. The times are UTC (coordinated universal time).
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- DDMM_LAT
- Lat N, DDMM.MMMM: The latitude coordinate in WGS 84 in the format DDMM.MMMM where DD is degrees and MM.MMMM is decimal minutes. The "N" refers to northern latitude.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- DDMM_LON
- Lon W, DDMM.MMMM: The longitude coordinate in WGS 84 in the format DDMM.MMMM where DD is degrees and MM.MMMM is decimal minutes. The "W" refers to western longitude and serves the place of having a negative value.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- LATITUDE
- Lat N, decimal degrees: The latitude coordinate in decimal degrees, WGS 84; positive values indicate northern hemisphere.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.14489 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.44864 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- LONGITUDE
- Lon W, decimal degrees: The longitude coordinate in decimal degrees, WGS 84; negative values indicate western hemisphere.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.49889 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.13340 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- AREA
- Region: The area of the survey.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Value | Definition |
|---|
| SBNMS | Region: Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
|
Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
The attribute label is the abbreviated label in row 3 of the Excel file that is more compatible with importing the dataset into a GIS. The first part of the attribute definition is the longer label of the column that is in the second row of the Excel spreadsheet.
The Excel spreadsheets for data collected during Eastern Daylight Time (field activities 2016-012-FA, 2016-039-FA, 2018-027-FA, 2018-028-FA, and 2019-007-FA) have the following information in the first row describing the spreadsheet:
GPS navigation log: Column A, vessel name, AUK, SBNMS research vessel; column B, field activity number; column C, date, UTC; column D, Julian Day, UTC; column E, study area time zone; column F, time, UTC (for Eastern Daylight Time subtract 4 hours); column G, latitude north, degrees and decimal minutes; column H, longitude west, degrees and decimal minutes; column I, latitude north, decimal degrees; column J, longitude west, decimal degrees; column K, geographic region [abbreviations: D, degrees; H, hour; M, minute; S, second; EDT, Eastern Daylight Time; lat, latitude; lon, longitude; WHCMSC, USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center; SBNMS, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary; UTC, Coordinated Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time, Zulu time); GPS, satellite-based Global Positioning System receiver]
The field activity 2018-029-FA is the only field activity where data were acquired during Eastern Standard Time (EST). The header information is the same except for the definition and explanation of the time zone.
The 11 columns of data are the same as those represented in the entity and attribute detailed description.
The files with the same prefix name, but the CSV extension are exported from the Excel spreadsheet, minus the first two rows of information.
The *_raw.csv files are the original GGA strings off the ship. The first row in the *raw.csv file describes the file. For the remaining rows, the format of the columns of information for field activities with the $GPGGA string is as follows:
$GPGGA, UTC time (HHMMSS), latitude (DDMM.MMMM), latitude hemisphere, longitude (DDMM.MMMM), longitude hemisphere.
The format for the one field activity (2018-027-FA) with the $IIGGA string is as follows:
$IIGGA, UTC time (HHMMSS), latitude (DDMM.MMMM), latitude hemisphere, longitude (DDMM.MMMM), longitude hemisphere.
Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey
