SBE formats

There are two types of SBE files that CalCOFI provides to users. There are six types of cast data created each cast by SeaBird's Seasave program during each CalCOFI station. ASC-HDR files are created by SBE Data Processing software module ASCII Out. This routine outputs the header portion (.hdr) and the data portion (.asc) of a processed converted data file (.cnv).

Cast data files

1. .bl - Bottle log information containing bottle firing sequence number and position, date, time, and beginning and ending scan numbers for each bottle closure.
2. .con - Instrument configuration containing number and type of sensors, channel assigned to each sensor, and calibration coefficients.
3. .hdr - Header file, which includes software version, sensor serial numbers, instrument configuration, station information, and cast notes. Header recorded when acquiring real-time data, but recreated from a .cnv file when data file written by ASCII Out.
4. .hex - Hexadecimal raw data file created by Seasave from real-time data stream from SBE 9plus. File includes header information.
5. .mrk - Output marker file containing sequential mark number, system time, and data for selected variables. Information is written to file by Seasave when user clicks on Mark Scan during real-time data acquisition to mark bottle closure events during the cast.
6. .prn - This is not a SBE file, but rather a legacy of CalCOFI's cast file archiving process. It is a combination of .bl, .hdr, and .nav files.

ASC-HDR files

The .asc files are bin averaged by 1 meter increments and split into up and down casts after running through various processes, filters, and corrections. The .hdr file is comprised of more than just the imbedded .cnv header, it contains column information, data ranges, an xml version of the .con file, and a account of the modules that have been executed on the data. The .asc file has ~40 columns of data for each row of binned depth and the .hdr is around 400 lines long. These data have not been corrected using bottle data and are a standalone product of SBE Data Processing software. Below are lists of .asc output variables for both preliminary and final files. Also available are examples of .asc files and .hdr files.

Preliminary

Final

CalCOFI formats

There are two groups of CalCOFI files that are provided to users. The CSV-Plot data are a subset of the .asc file with original and corrected data with bottle data appended at the proper depths. The metadata may contain up to a dozen files that contain summaries, processing information, and database ready .csv files.

CSV-Plot Files

The .csv data is comprised of 49 columns for each depth bin. Salinity, oxygen, chloropyhll A, and nitrate have additional columns of cruise and station averages as they are corrrected using bottle data. These data are corrected using coefficients derived from regressions of bottle versus CTD comparisons. The data are saved as .csv and selected variables (e.g., temperature and salintiy) are plotted in .png format for both the up and down cast for each station.

Metadata Files