Documentation

Updated: 12/05/2011

24-Hour Summary Data Files

This section describes the 24-hour summary data files for sites in the ARS micronets. Every data file contains a line each for the version reference string, the 4-letter station ID, and the date. These are followed by a data-header line and finally the data. The values represent statistics for a period of 24 hours corresponding to one day Central Standard Time (CST).

Version:

The version reference string corresponds to the format specification for the ARS micronet 24-hr summary data files.

ads144 = Rainfall (RAIN), 5-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 25cm - TS25, 45cm - TS45), and 5-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45)

ads133 = Rainfall (RAIN), 15-minute soil temperature (5 cm- TS05, 25cm- TS25, 45cm- TS45), and 5-minute soil moisture (5cm- VW05, 25-cm- VW25, 45cm- VW45). Please note this switch to 15-minute soil moisture was made effective in our data files on February 1, 2009 for the LWREW and March 1, 2009 for the FCREW. The new datalogger programs and sensor reconfigurations occurred over a span of several months. Thus, there are periods between November 20, 2008 and February 3, 2009 when the LWREW data may be incomplete. Likewise, there are periods between March 17, 2009 and April 3, 2009 when the FCREW data may be incomplete. The daily summary files consisted of averages of the 30-minute resolution soil moisture data prior to February 1, 2009 (LWREW) and March 1, 2009 (FCREW). After those dates, 15-minute resolution soil moisture data were used to calculate the daily averages. If daily averages do no appear in your data files for those months, it may be possible to hand-calculate the daily averages from the full resolution data files (i.e., format a5m133).

ads122 = Rainfall (RAIN), solar radiation (SRAD), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30), 30-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45), and skin temperature (SKIN)

ads112 = Rainfall (RAIN), solar radiation (SRAD), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30), and 30-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45)

ads102 = Rainfall (RAIN), solar radiation (SRAD), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), and 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30)

Station:

The 4-character station ID of the file.

Date:

The year and month separated by “-”. The date is followed by a blank line.

The header line lists the organization for the data records. The header line may contain any of the following:

STID - station ID – required
DM - day of the month (CST) – required
RAINt - total rainfall (mm); See Notes
SRADt - total solar radiation (MJ/m^2)
RELH(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) relative humidity at 1.5 m (%)
TAIR(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) air temperature at 1.5 m (deg C)
TS05(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 05 cm depth (deg C)
TS10(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 10 cm depth (deg C)
TS15(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 15 cm depth (deg C)
TS25(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 25 cm depth (deg C)
TS30(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 30 cm depth (deg C)
TS45(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) soil temperature at 45 cm depth (deg C)
VW05(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) volumetric water content at 5 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
VW25(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) volumetric water content at 25 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
VW45(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) volumetric water content at 45 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
SKIN(a/x/n) - (ave/max/min) skin temperature (deg C) [available at a select number of Little Washita sites only]

Most parameters are followed by a column of data with a header that starts with “Q”. This indicates a column for the quality check (QC) character:

g - good (passed QC tests - extremely low probability of error)
S - suspect (QC tests indicate some suspicion - low probability of error)
W - warning (several QC test failures - high probability of error)
F - failure (known error)
M - missing (data not received)
I - ignore
N - not installed
U - unknown

The QC character indicates the worst-case level of quality associated with the 24-hour summary period.

Sample Format:

For reading the data line in FORTRAN 77 the following format statement may be used for version ads133 or ads144 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 9(f8.1, x, a1), 9(f8.2, x, a1))

For version ads122 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 19(f8.1, x, a1), 9(f8.2, x, a1), 3(f8.1, x, a1))

For version ads112 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 19(f8.1, x, a1), 9(f8.2, x, a1))

For version ads102 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 19(f8.1, x, a1))

5-Minute Data Files

This section describes the 5-minute ARS micronet data files. Every data file contains a line each for the version reference string, the 4-letter station ID, the date and a blank line. These are followed by a data-header line and finally the data.

Version:

The version reference string corresponds to the format specification for the ARS micronet 5-minute data files.

a5m144 = Rainfall (RAIN), 5-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 25cm - TS25, 45cm - TS45), and 5-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45)

a5m133 = Rainfall (RAIN), 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 25cm - TS25, 45cm - TS45), and 15-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45)

a5m122 = Rainfall (RAIN), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), solar radiation (SRAD), 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30), 30-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45), and skin temperature (SKIN)

a5m112 = Rainfall (RAIN), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), solar radiation (SRAD), 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30), and 30-minute soil moisture (5cm - VW05, 25cm - VW25, 45cm - VW45)

a5m102 = Rainfall (RAIN), relative humidity (RELH), air temperature (TAIR), solar radiation (SRAD), and 15-minute soil temperature (5cm - TS05, 10cm - TS10, 15cm - TS15, 30cm - TS30)

Station:

The station ID of the file.

Date:

The year, month and day separated by “-”. The date is followed by a blank line.

Header:

The header line gives the organization for the data records. The header line may contain any of the following:

STID - station ID (same as above) – required
TIME - CST time (hours and minutes separated by a space) – required
RAIN - rainfall since 00 UTC (mm); See Notes
RELH - relative humidity at 1.5 m (%)
TAIR - air temperature at 1.5 m (deg C)
SRAD - solar radiation (W/m^2)
TS05 - soil temperature at 05 cm depth (deg C)
TS10 - soil temperature at 10 cm depth (deg C)
TS15 - soil temperature at 15 cm depth (deg C)
TS25 - soil temperature at 25 cm depth (deg C)
TS30 - soil temperature at 30 cm depth (deg C)
TS45 - soil temperature at 45 cm depth (deg C)
BATV - battery voltage (volts)
FLSV - flag status value; See Notes
VW05 - soil volumetric water at 05 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
VW25 - soil volumetric water at 25 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
VW45 - soil volumetric water at 45 cm depth (water fraction by volume)
SKIN - skin temperature (deg C) [Little Washita only]

Most parameters are followed by a column of data with a header that starts with “Q”. This indicates a column for the quality check (QC) character:

The values are valid for the period ending at the specified time.

Note on FLSV:

A non-zero value for FLSV indicates that a technician was servicing the site. All data should be checked thoroughly to the user’s satisfaction before using.

Sample Format:

For reading the data line in FORTRAN 77 the following format statement may be used for version a5m133 or a5m144 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 3(f7.1, x, a1), f7.1, i7, 3(f8.2, x, a1))

For version a5m122 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 7(f7.1, x, a1), f7.1, i7, 3(f8.2, x, a1), f7.1, x, a1)

For version a5m112 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 7(f7.1, x, a1), f7.1, i7, 3(f8.2, x, a1))

For version a5m102 files:

format (x, a4, 2x, i2, x, i2, f8.2, x, a1, 7(f7.1, x, a1), f7.1, i7)

Notes:

The midnight observation stores the previous day’s accumulated rainfall.
Frozen precipitation is measured at the time of thaw. Some snowmelt may never be observed due to factors including sublimation and blowing snow.
Flag status value will be non-zero if a technician is working on the site. All observations will be flagged with Q=W for “warning”.
Data quality is frequently re-assessed. On rare occasions, some quality assurance flags may change in the months following your data request.