Each Excel spreadsheet has a header (in row 1) explaining the columns of information, row 2 has the header names, and row 3 has header names that are appropriate for incorporation into a GIS (shorter names, no punctuation) and the remaining rows contain the data in 11 columns.
(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. The number is in the format YYYY-XXX where YYYY is the year and XXX is the activity number in that year.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field.
- UTC_DATE
- Date, UTC: The date of the row of data collection 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 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.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Value | Definition |
|---|
| EDT | Eastern Daylight Time. To derive EDT, subtract 4 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)
Number represented as a text field.
- DDMM_LAT
- Lat N, DDMM.MMMM: The latitude coordinate 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 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)
Number represented as a text field.
- LATITUDE
- Lat N, decimal degrees: The latitude coordinate in decimal degrees. The "N" refers to northern latitude.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.08368 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.1952 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- LONGITUDE
- Lon W, decimal degrees: The longitude coordinate in decimal degrees. The "W" refers to western longitude and serves the same purpose as the values being negative.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.41192 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.22456 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- AREA
- Region: The area of the survey.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Value | Definition |
|---|
| SBNMS | Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
|
Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
The attribute label is the abbreviated label in row three of the Excel spreadsheet 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 spreadsheet has 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 (Greenwich Mean Time, ZULU time); GPS, satellite-based Global Positioning System receiver]
The columns of data are the same as represented in the entity and attribute detail information.
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 LATITUDE and LONGITUDE range of values are the values for the reformatted data that does not include transits. These values differ from the spatial domain bounding coordinates which represent the complete dataset - including the raw navigational data which contains the transit locations.
The *_raw.csv files are the original $GPGGA strings off the ship. The format of the columns of information are as follows:
$GPGGA, UTC time, latitude (DDMM.MMMM), latitude hemisphere, longitude (DDMM.MMMM), longitude hemisphere.
The first row in each file describes the file.
Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey
