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). The spreadsheet gives basic station information (location, cruise, occupation date and time), as well as additional information indicating what data were collected at each location.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
- FIELD_NO
- USGS station: Sample or station name or number as assigned in the field by the Chief Scientist.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Character set. Although numeric, stations could have a decimal number indicating a reoccupation of a station.
- DEPTH_M
- Water depth, m: Depth in meters of the station based on the ship echosounder. Recorded in the log book at the time of deployment of the SEABOSS. The values were rounded to the nearest meter to account for ship motion.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 20 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 66 |
|---|
| Units: | meters |
|---|
- VESSEL
- Vessel name: The name of the ship that the field activity used for the cruise.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Character string.
- CRUISE_ID
- WHCMSC field activity number: Name or number of cruise on which sample collected. The cruise identifier is in the format YYYY-XXX where YYYY is the survey year, and XXX is the survey number of that year.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Character string.
- 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 DD is the numeric day, M is the month abbreviation, and YYYY is the year. The date is based on the deployment of the SEABOSS or the plankton tow.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Character string.
- 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. Based on the date in UTC time at the time of deployment of the SEABOSS or the plankton tow.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- UTC_JDTIME
- Station occupation date and time, DDD:HH:MM:SS, UTC: Station occupation date and time with Julian day and time in UTC. The format is DDD:HH:MM:SS where DDD is the Julian day, HH is hour, MM is minutes, and SS is seconds. Julian day is the integer number representing the interval of time in days since January 1 of the year of collection. This time corresponds to when the sediment sample was collected (if one was collected). If a sediment sample was not collected, this time represents the end of the video drift. In the case of a plankton tow, this represents the start of the tow.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- TIMEZONE
- Study area time zone: The time zone the study area falls in.
(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.
|
- STA_LAT
- Station location, Lat N, decimal degrees: Latitude coordinate of the station, in decimal-degrees, of station location. South latitude recorded as negative values. The position represents the location of the sediment sample (if collected), which usually occurred at the end of the video drift. If a sediment sample was not collected, the position represents the end of the video drift or the start of the plankton tow.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.08452 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.19488 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- STA_LON
- Station location, Lon W, decimal degrees: Longitude coordinate of the station, in decimal degrees, of station location. West longitude is recorded as negative values. The position represents the location of the sediment sample (if collected), which usually occurred at the end of the video drift. If a sediment sample was not collected, the position represents the end of the video drift or the start of the plankton tow.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.40896 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.22637 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- STIME_VID
- Video drift start time, UTC, HHMMSS: Start time of the video drift when the SEABOSS reached the seabed, in UTC time in HHMMSS.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- ETIME_VID
- Video drift end time, UTC, HHMMSS: End time of the video drift when the SEABOSS left the seabed, in UTC time in HHMMSS.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Text field presented as a number.
- SLAT_VID
- Video drift start Lat N, decimal degrees: Latitude coordinate of the start of the video drift once it reaches the seabed, in decimal-degrees, of station location. South latitude recorded as negative values.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.08464 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.19382 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- SLON_VID
- Video drift start Lon W, decimal degrees: Longitude coordinate of the start of the video drift once it reaches the seabed, in decimal degrees, of station location. West longitude is recorded as negative values.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.40896 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.22653 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- ELAT_VID
- Video drift end Lat N, decimal degrees: Latitude coordinate of the end of the video drift, in decimal-degrees, of station location. South latitude recorded as negative values. A value of nd indicates no video drift end location because no drift. Video acquired while sampling only.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.08452 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.19406 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- ELON_VID
- Video drift end Lon W, decimal degrees: Longitude coordinate of the end of the video drift, in decimal degrees, of station location. West longitude is recorded as negative values. A value of nd indicates no video drift end location because no drift. Video acquired while sampling only.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.40896 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.22637 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- SAMP_LAT
- Sediment sample location, Lat N, decimal degrees: Latitude coordinate of the sediment sample location, in decimal-degrees, of station location. South latitude recorded as negative values. A value of 9999 indicates no sample location because no sample was collected.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | 42.08452 |
|---|
| Maximum: | 42.19386 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- SAMP_LON
- Sediment sample location, Lon W, decimal degrees: Longitude coordinate of the sediment sample location, in decimal degrees, of station location. West longitude is recorded as negative values. A value of 9999 indicates no sample location because no sample was collected.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
| Range of values |
|---|
| Minimum: | -70.40896 |
|---|
| Maximum: | -70.22637 |
|---|
| Units: | decimal degrees |
|---|
- VIDEO
- Video imagery collected: The value of this attribute indicates if seabed video was recorded at the station. The value "y" indicates that video was recorded, "n" indicates no video was recorded.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Boolean character set.
- VIDEOFG
- Video frame grabs collected: The value of this attribute indicates if a video frame was recorded at the station. The value "y" indicates that a frame was recorded, "n" indicates no frame was recorded.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Boolean character set.
- CTD_PR
- CTD profile data collected: The value of this attribute indicates if a CTD cast was taken and data collected. The value "y" indicates that a CTD cast and data were collected, "n" indicates no CTD cast was taken.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Boolean character set.
- SEDSAMP
- Sediment sample collected: The value of this attribute indicates if a seabed sample was taken at the station. The value "y" indicates that a sample was taken, "n" indicates no sample was taken.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Boolean character set.
- SEDSAMPPH
- Sediment sample photo collected: The value of this attribute indicates if a seabed sample photo was taken of the sample on the deck of the ship. The value "y" indicates that a photo was taken, "n" indicates no photo was taken.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Boolean character set.
- AREA
- Region: General geographic area of data collection. This can be an abbreviation - such as SBNMS for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
Character string.
Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
The attribute label is the abbreviated label that is more compatible with importing the dataset into a GIS and is also the first row of the CSV file. The first part of the attribute definition is the longer label of the column that is in the second row of the Excel spreadsheet.
When converted to a shapefile, two additional columns are created by the software: FID and Shape. The FID is a unique number automatically assigned to each record within the file. The Shape field contains the feature geometry of each record in the shapefile format.
Additionally, the Excel spreadsheet has the following information in the first row describing the spreadsheet.
[Cruise station and data summary: column A, USGS station number; column B, water depth, meters; column C, vessel name; column D, WHCMSC field activity number; column E, date, UTC; column F, Julian Day, UTC; column G, station occupation date and time, UTC (for Eastern Daylight Time subtract 4 hours; for Eastern Standard Time, subtract 5 hours); column H, study area time zone; column I, station location, latitude north, decimal degrees; column J, station location, longitude west, decimal degrees (station location is the sample location, if collected; otherwise it is the video drift end location); column K, video drift start time, UTC; column L, video drift end time, UTC; column M, start of video drift, latitude north, decimal degrees; column M, start of video drift, longitude west, decimal degrees; column O, end of video drift, latitude north, decimal degrees; column P, end of video drift, longitude west, decimal degrees; column Q, sediment sample location, latitude north, decimal degrees; column R, sediment sample location, longitude west, decimal degrees; column S, video imagery collected; column T, video frame grabs; column U, CTD profile collected; column V, sediment sample collected; column W, sediment sample photo; column X, geographic region [abbreviations: DDD, Julian Day; EDT, Eastern Daylight Time; EST, Eastern Standard Time; H, hour; M, minute; S, second; PT, plankton tow; 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); y, yes; n, no; 9999, no sample location because no sample collected] Note: Stations 4634PT and 4674PT are plankton tows; time and location were recorded in the log book as a courtesy to a non-USGS scientist sharing the cruise; station location is at start of the plankton tow; tow start and end times and locations are recorded in columns K to P.
Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey
