SMEX02 Surface: NWS Cooperative Observer 15-Minute Precipitation Data Contact: Archiving Data Center: National Climatic Data Center Federal Building 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801-5001 Technical Contact: Neal Lott Federal Building 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801-5001 Phone 704-271-4994; e-mail nlott@ncdc.noaa.gov 1.0 DATA SET OVERVIEW This data set contains 15-minute resolution precipitation data from the National Weather Service Cooperative Network. These stations are located across the SMEX02 region. This data set covers the period from 1 June to 31 July 2002. 2.0 DATA FILES The following files are included in your data order: NCDC_COOP_stnlist.txt - Listing of all NCDC Cooperative stations td3260.doc - Word format documentation file from NCDC jun2002_15min_COOP-precip.dat - June data file jul2002_15min_COOP-precip.dat - July data file 3.0 NCDC DOCUMENTATION Note: A Word version of this document is included in your data order. This document is also available from: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/documentlibrary/datasets.html National Climatic Data Center DATA DOCUMENTATION FOR 15 Minute Precipitation Data TD-3260 July 1, 1998 By Greg Hammer National Climatic Data Center 151 Patton Ave. Asheville, NC 28801-5001 USA TABLE OF CONTENTS TOPIC PAGE INTRODUCTION 1. Data Set ID 1 2. Data Set Name 1 3. Data Set Alias 1 DESCRIPTION 4. Access Method and Sort for Archived Data 1 5. Access Method and Sort for Supplied Data 5 6. Element Names and Definitions 8 7. Start Date 18 8. Stop Date 18 9. Coverage 18 10. Location 18 11. Keywords 18 12. How to Order Data 18 DATA CENTER 13. Archiving Data Center 19 14. Technical Contact 19 DATA QUALITY 15. Known Uncorrected Problems 19 16. Quality Statement 19 17. Revision Date 19 OTHER DATA SETS 18. Source Data Sets 20 19. Essential Companion Data Sets 20 20. Derived Data Sets 20 SUMMARIZATION 21. References 20 22. Summary 20 1. Data Set ID: TD3260 2. Data Set Name: 15 Minute Precipitation Data 3. Data Set Alias: HPD-15 Minute 4. Access Method and Sort for Archived Data: Data are archived in a variable length element file structure. Archived data are currently sorted by Station-ID (excluding the Division Number) as the primary key and year, month, and day as secondary keys. Data may also be received in a fixed length record structure described in topic 5, ?Access Method and Sort for Supplied Data?. Each logical record contains one day of one station's 15-minute data values for a specific meteorological element. The record consists of a control word and identification portion, and a data portion. The control word is used by the computer operating system for record length determination. The identification portion identifies the observing station, year and record element code. The data portion contains the meteorological observation for the 15-minute precipitation value and flags. The data portion is repeated for as many values as occur in the given time interval. It stands to reason that for most periods the non-occurrence of precipitation is prevalent. Therefore in order to save space in the digital file there are entries only for: 1. The first 15-minute period of the first day of each month where observations were taken even if no precipitation occurred during that month. 2. 15-minute periods with precipitation greater than zero. 3. Beginning and ending 15-minute periods of missing data. 4. Beginning and ending periods of accumulated precipitation. 5. Beginning and ending periods of deleted data. 6. The first and last day of each month where the required charts or forms never were received or processed at NCDC. NCDC archive files are structured as follows: Record Length : Variable with maximum of 1230 characters Blocked : 12000 characters maximum Media : IBM-type 3480 cartridge, 18-track Density : 36,000 BPI Parity : Odd Label : ANSI Standard Labeled File : one file per tape The first eight tape fields, the ID PORTION of the record, describe the characteristics of the entire record. The DATA PORTION of the record contains information about the element value reported. This portion is repeated for as many values as occur in the daily record of the 15 minute data. Each logical record is of variable length with a maximum of 1230 characters. Each logical record contains a station's data for a specific meteorological element over a one day interval. The form of a record is: Field Width Position Record Type 3 001-003 Station ID 8 004-011 Meteorological Element Type 4 012-015 Meteorological Element Units 2 016-017 Year 4 018-021 Month 2 022-023 Day (rt. justified 0 filled) 4 024-027 Number of Data Groups that follow 3 028-030 Hour and Minutes 4 031-034 Value of Meteorological Element 6 035-040 Measurement Flag 1 1 041-041 Quality Flag 2 1 042-042 Hour and Minutes, 043-1230 Value of Meteorological Element, Measurement Flag 1 and Quality Flag 2 repeated as many times as needed Coding Guidelines: The following statements may be used to read a logical record in COBOL or FORTRAN for variable length. (1) Typical ANSI COBOL FD INDATA LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD RECORDING MODE D BLOCK CONTAINS 12000 CHARACTERS DATA RECORD IS DATA-RECORD 01 DATA RECORD 02 RECORD TYPE PIC X(3) 02 STATION-ID PIC X(8) 02 ELEMENT-TYPE PIC X(4) 02 ELEMENT-UNITS PIC XX 02 YEAR PIC 9(4) 02 MONTH PIC 99 02 DAY PIC 9(4) 02 NUMBER-VALUES PIC 9(3) 02 DAILY ENTRY OCCURS 1 TO 100 TIMES DEPENDING ON NUMBER VALUES 04 HR-MIN PIC 9(4) 04 DATA-VALUE PIC 9(6) 04 FLAG-1 PIC X 04 FLAG-2 PIC X (2) Typical FORTRAN 77 Data and File Description DEFINE FILE 10 (ANSI, VB, 1230, 12000) CHARACTER*3 RECTYP CHARACTER*8 STNID CHARACTER*4 ELMTYP CHARACTER*2 EUNITS CHARACTER*1 FLAG1, FLAG2 DIMENSION IHRMN(100), IVALUE(100), FLAG1(100), FLAG2(100) READ (10,20,END=999) RECTYP, STNID, ELMTYP, EUNITS, IYEAR, IMON, IDAY, NUMVAL, ((IHRMN(J), IVALUE(J), FLAG1(J), FLAG2(J)), J=1, NUMVAL) 20 FORMAT (A3, A8, A4, A2, I4, I2, I4, I3, 100(I4, I6, 2A1)) NOTE: If you do not have FORTRAN 77 you can read the character data described above into integer variable. 005815M17010000QPCPHT19810400060020345b00010bb2500b00010bb (The symbol 'b' denotes a blank) DUMP RECORD POSITION POSITION CONTENTS MEANING 1-4 0058 Record control word used by the operating system. (Contains the total number of characters in the record - not available to user programs.) 5-7 1-3 15M RECORD-TYPE 8-15 4-11 17010000 STATION-ID for state 17, station 0100, Division 00 16-19 12-15 QPCP ELEMENT-TYPE 20-21 16-17 HT ELEMENT-UNITS 22-25 18-21 1981 YEAR 26-27 22-23 04 MONTH 28-31 24-27 0006 DAY OF THE MONTH (Day 06 right justified) 32-34 28-30 002 NUM-VALUES; two data entries to follow 35-38 31-34 0345 TIME-OF-VALUE (Precipitation from 03:31 to 03:45) 39-44 35-40 b00010 DATA-VALUE 45 41-41 b FLAG-1 46 42-42 b FLAG-2 47-50 43-46 2500 TIME-OF-VALUE (daily total) 51-56 47-52 b00010 DATA-VALUE 57 53-53 b FLAG-1 58 54-54 b FLAG-2 In this example for April 6, 1981, 15 minute periods 0015-0330 and 0346-2400 reported zero precipitation. 5. Access Method and Sort for Supplied Data: In addition to a variable length record structure, users may also receive data in a fixed length record structure as described below. Supplied data are in the same sort as archived data (see topic 4 "Access Method and Sort for Archived Data"). Each record contains one station's specific occurrence for a one 15 minute time interval. The record consists of an identification portion, and a data portion. The identification portion identifies the observing station, element code, year, month, and day. The data portion contains one 15 minute time interval data value and flags. The data portion is not repeated. It stands to reason that for most hours the non-occurrence of precipitation is prevalent. Therefore, in order to save space in the digital file, there are entries only for: 1. The first day and hour of each month where observations were taken even if no precipitation occurred during that month. 2. Hours with precipitation > zero. 3. Beginning and ending hours of missing periods. 4. Beginning and ending hours of accumulating periods. 5. Beginning and ending periods of deleted data. 6. First and last day of each month where the required charts or forms never were received or processed at NCDC. Fixed Length files are structured as follows: Data Length: 42 characters Blocked: 6300 characters Media: ASCII or EBCDIC Modes - 9 Track or 18 Track, IBM-Type 3480 Cartridges Parity: Odd Label: ANSI standard labeled (ASCII only) or unlabeled File: 1 file per tape Density: 1600, 6250, or 36,000 (cartridge) BPI The first eight tape fields, the ID PORTION of the record, describe the characteristics of the entire record. The DATA PORTION of the record contains information about each element value reported. This portion contains only one hourly occurrence. Each record is fixed with 42 characters. Each record contains a station's hourly time interval for the specified day. The format of a record is: Field Width Position Record Type 3 001-003 Station ID 8 004-011 Meteorological Element Type 4 012-015 Meteorological Element Units 2 016-017 Year 4 018-021 Month 2 022-023 Day (Right Justified) 4 024-027 Number of data Groups that follow 3 028-030 Hour 4 031-034 Value of Meteorological Element 6 035-040 Data Measurement Flag 1 1 041-041 Data Quality Flag 1 042-042 Coding Guidelines: The following statements may be used to read fixed length records in COBOL or FORTRAN. (1) Typical ANSI COBOL FD INDATA LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD RECORD MODE F BLOCK CONTAINS 6300 CHARACTERS DATA RECORD IS DATA-RECORD. 01 DATA-RECORD. 02 RECORD-TYPE PIC X(3). 02 STATION-ID PIC X(8). 02 ELEMENT-TYPE PIC X(4). 02 ELEMENT-UNITS PIC XX. 02 YEAR PIC 9(4). 02 MONTH PIC 99. 02 DAY PIC 9(4) 02 NUMBER-VALUES PIC 9(3) 02 DAILY ENTRY OCCURS 1 TO 100 TIMES DEPENDING UPON NUMBER OF VALUES 04 HR-MIN PIC 9(4) 04 DATA-VALUE PIC 9(6) 04 FLAG-1 PIC X 04 FLAG-2 PIC X (2) Typical FORTRAN 77 Data and File Description DEFINE FILE 10 (ANSI, VB, 1230, 12000) CHARACTER*3 RECTYP CHARACTER*8 STNID CHARACTER*4 ELMTYP CHARACTER*2 EUNITS CHARACTER*1 FLAG1, FLAG2 DIMENSION IHRMN(100), IVALUE(100), FLAG1(100), FLAG2(100) READ (10,20,END=999) RECTYP, STNID, ELMTYP, EUNITS, IYEAR, IMON, IDAY, NUMVAL, ((IHRMN(J), IVALUE(J), FLAG1(J), FLAG2(J)), J=1, NUMVAL) 20 FORMAT (A3, A8, A4, A2, I4, I2, I4, I3, 100(I4, I6, 2A1)) NOTE: If you do not have FORTRAN 77 you can read the character data described above into integer variable. EXAMPLE OF FIXED LENGTH RECORD (As seen from a tape dump) 15M17010000HPCPHT19810400060010345b00010bb (The symbol 'b' denotes a blank) COLUMN CONTENTS MEANING 1-3 15M RECORD-TYPE 4-11 170100 STATION-ID for state 17, station 0100, Division 00 12-15 QPCP ELEMENT-TYPE 16-17 HT ELEMENT-UNITS 18-21 1981 YEAR 22-23 04 MONTH (April) 24-27 0006 DAY OF THE MONTH (Day 06 right justified) 28-30 001 NUM-VALUES; One data entry follows 31-34 0345 TIME-OF-VALUES (Precipitation from 03:31 to 03:45) 35-40 b00010 DATA-VALUE (0.10 inches of precipitation) 41 b FLAG-1 42 b FLAG-2 6. Element Names and Definitions: TAPE TAPE RECORD ELEMENT FIELD POSITION NAME CODE DEFINITIONS AND REMARKS 001 1-3 Record-Type The type of data stored in this record. Value is "15M". _____________________________________________________________________________________ 002 4-11 Station-ID This 8-character station identifier is assigned by the National Climatic Data Center. See State Code Table. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 4-5 State-Code STATE CODE as indicated. Range of value is 01 to 48, 50, 51, 66, 67, and 91. STATE CODE TABLE 01 Alabama 28 New Jersey 02 Arizona 29 New Mexico 03 Arkansas 30 New York 04 California 31 North Carolina 05 Colorado 32 North Dakota 06 Connecticut 33 Ohio 07 Delaware 34 Oklahoma 08 Florida 35 Oregon 09 Georgia 36 Pennsylvania 10 Idaho 37 Rhode Island 11 Illinois 38 South Carolina 12 Indiana 39 South Dakota 13 Iowa 40 Tennessee 14 Kansas 41 Texas 15 Kentucky 42 Utah 16 Louisiana 43 Vermont 17 Maine 44 Virginia 18 Maryland 45 Washington 19 Massachusetts 46 West Virginia 20 Michigan 47 Wisconsin 21 Minnesota 48 Wyoming 22 Mississippi 49 Not Used 23 Missouri 50 Alaska 24 Montana 25 Nebraska 51 Hawaii 26 Nevada 66 Puerto Rico 27 New Hampshire 67 Virgin Islands 91 Pacific Islands _____________________________________________________________________________________ 6-9 Cooperative Cooperative Network Index Number Network Index assigned by NCDC. (Station List) Range 0001 through 9999. ______________________________________________________________________________ TAPE TAPE RECORD ELEMENT FIELD POSITION NAME CODE DEFINITIONS AND REMARKS 002 10-11 Cooperative Cooperative Network Division Number Network Division The division number was 00 in this 15M data set until September 1993. The current Cooperative Network Division Number (01 - 10) is recorded in this element, beginning in October 1993. ______________________________________________________________________________ 003 12-15 Element-Type The type of data element stored in this record. Range of values is listed below. (Includes the daily total) QPCP 15-minute precipitation data. Prior to January 1996 ?QPCP? was the only element in this data set. (Includes the daily total) QGAG This element type was added with the January 1996 data. ?QGAG? indicates that quarter-hour Fischer/Porter gage values and the Daily total are stored. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 004 16-17 Element-Units The units and decimal position of the data value for this record. Range of values is listed below. HI Hundredths of inches. Data stored and observed to the same accuracy. HT Tenths of inches. Data stored to tenths only. __________________________________________________________________________________ 005 18-21 Year This is the year of record. Range of values is generally 1971 through current year processed. ( A few stations begin earlier.) ___________________________________________________________________________________ 006 22-23 Month Month of record. Range of values = 01-12. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 007 24-27 Day Day of record. Range of values = 01-31. Days are right justified zero filled. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 008 28-30 Number-Reported Values This denotes the actual number of values. Tape Fields 009-012 are repeated by the number of reported values in Tape Field 008. Range of values is 002 to 100. NOTE: A record may contain fewer or more data values than you might expect. A daily record of 15 minute values may contain as few as 2 data values or as many as 97 data values. Only 15 minute time periods which have recorded precipitation are included (no entry for zero precipitation). There are some exceptions: 1) the begin and end 15 minutes of a missing, accumulation or deleted period are reported, 2) the first day and 15 minute of each month that a site is in operation, whether precipitation occurs or not TAPE TAPE RECORD ELEMENT FIELD POSITION NAME CODE DEFINITIONS AND REMARKS is included. See Flag 1 definitions for further details. If a particular data value was not taken or is unavailable, there is no entry for it. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 009 31-34 Time-Of-Value This contains the ending time of the precipitation in hours and minutes 0015 - 2500. (Example, 15 minute period 0345 is defined as 0331 - 0345.) Midnight = 2400. Hour 2500 will indicate the daily total, and it will be the last value. Hour is in the 2 left digits, and minutes are in the 2 right digits. Local Standard Time in use. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 010 35-40 Data-Value The actual 15-minute precipitation data value. The data value portion is the five-digit integer with a leading algebraic sign. The sign is blank to indicate positive and the ?-? to indicate negative is never used in this data set data-value portion is a six-digit integer. Units and decimal position, if appropriate, are indicated in the Element-Units field described in Tape Field 004. Range = 000000-099999. 000000 will be used only on the first day 15 minute time period of each month unless there is precipitation, a begin missing, a begin delete or a begin accumulation all of which would be noted or the measured value provided. On other days during the month with no precipitation, no entry will be made. 099999 indicates that the data-value is unknown. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 011 41 Flag1 The Data Measurement Flag. Flag1 Table (Measurement Flag) a Begin accumulation. A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. For TD3260, it indicates that the accumulation has begun sometime during the 15 minute period. A End accumulation (amount is associated with this flag). For TD3260, it indicates the accumulation has ended sometime during the 15 minute period. Accumulated period indicates that the precipitation amount is correct, but only the inexact beginning and ending times are known. A data value of 99999 occurring on the last day and hour of a month indicates the accumulation continues into the next month (see Flag 1 ?,?) , The "," flag is used at the beginning of a data month when an accumulation is in progress from the previous month. A data value of 99999 always accompanies this flag. This flag is used prior to 1984. { Begin deleted period during the 15 minute period (inclusive). The original data were received, but were unreadable or clearly recognized as noise. A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. Primarily used since 1984. Also used in Alaska for 1976-1978. } End deleted period during the 15 minute period (inclusive). The original data were received, but were unreadable or clearly recognized as noise. A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. Primarily used since 1984. Also used in Alaska for 1976-1978. [ Begin missing period during the 15 minute period (inclusive). A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. ] End missing period during the 15 minute period (inclusive). A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. Prior to 1984, if precipitation occurred during the last 15 minutes of the missing period, the ending missing value appears with a non-zero value (example ?00021]?). Beginning in 1984, the beginning and ending 15 minute period of the missing period are recorded as ?99999[? and ?99999]?, respectively. A missing flag indicates that the data were not received. This flag appears on the first and last day of each month for which data were not received or not processed by NCDC. E Evaporation may have occurred. Data may or may not be reliable. This flag was used during the period 1984-1993. g Only used for day 1, hour 0015 when precipitation is zero. b (blank) no Flag needed. FLAG1 Table (Data Measurement Flag for Daily Total Data- Values) I Incomplete or Inexact daily total occurring only with hour 2500. Value is not a true 24-hour amount. One or more periods are missing and/or an accumulated amount has begun but not ended during the daily period. P A daily total excludes erroneous values (those flagged q, Q, {, or }. A ?P? flag will also be present when an accumulation has ended (but not begun) during the daily period. b (blank) no Flag needed. ______________________________________________________________________________ 012 42 FLAG2 The Data Quality Flag. FLAG2 Table (Data Quality Flag) X Used for data prior to 1996 as part of a 1997 data rehabilitation effort. Indicates value failed an extreme value test; data are to be used with caution. Extremes tests were: 1)If the value was not an accumulated precipitation total, the value failed the one-hour statewide 100 year return period precipitation. 2)If the value was an accumulated precipitation total, the value failed the 24-hour statewide extreme precipitation total. Z Used since January 1996. Indicates probable amounts as a result of melting frozen precipitation. When assigned to a daily total, it indicates some or all of the total contains values assigned a flag of Z. This flag may be used to identify those sites that are deficient in which the manner the snow shields are employed. R Used since January 1996. Indicates data values are suspect with regard to the times or period of occurrence. When assigned to a daily total, it indicates data with suspect "times" are included in the daily amount. Q Used since January 1996. A single erroneous datum (value will be present.) Lowest data resolution is hourly. This data value is excluded from the daily total. q Used since January 1996. An hourly value excludes one or more 15 minute periods. Lowest data resolution is 15 minutes. __________ A Accumulated period and amount. An accumulated period indicates that the precipitation amount is correct, but the exact beginning and ending times are only known to the extent that the precipitation occurred sometime within the accumulation period. The begin accumulation period 'data value' in Tape Field 010 will always be 099999. The examples below do not represent the actual data format. They are used to illustrate the use of data measurement FLAG1. Example 1: 01 0015099999Ab 01 2500 099999Ib 02 1345000080Ab 02 2500 000080Ib. (Precipitation on the 1st day of month began accumulating at 0015 hours. At 2500 hours (daily total) was listed as incomplete (I). On day 02, the accumulation period ended at 1345 hours at which .80 inch of precipitation was measured. The daily total on day 02 was listed as incomplete due to the accumulation period from day 01 to day 02.) Example 2: 01 0630099999Ab 01 221500140Ab. Accumulation of 1.40 inches of precipitation was recorded from 0630 hours to 2215 hours on day 01. D Deleted Flag. (Beginning and ending of a deleted period.) A deleted value indicates that the original data were received, but were unreadable or clearly recognized as noise. NOTICE: The data prior to January 1996 will have a blank followed by 99999D to indicate a deleted time period. The data from January 1996 to current will have a delete denoted by 099999D. TAPE TAPE RECORD ELEMENT FIELD POSITION NAME CODE DEFINITIONS AND REMARKS Flag1 41 I Incomplete Flag. This flag occurs only in the daily total. M Missing Flag. (Beginning and ending of a missing period.) A missing flag indicates that the original data were never received for a given period. b (blank) No Flag needed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!N O T I C E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EFFECTIVE WITH THE JANUARY 1996 DATA, THE FLAG1 ELEMENT(ABOVE) IS DEFINED AS FOLLOWS: FLG1 a Begin accumulation. A value of 99999 accompanies this flag. FLG1 A End accumulation (amount is associated with this flag). FLG1 , The "," flag is used at the beginning of a data month when an accumulation is in progress. This enables a data month to be examined as a singularly context consistent entity. (suggested by the National Weather Service, Office of Hydrology). The post 1983 processing system does not provide for accumulations to span data months. The ?,? flag is intended to correct erroneous flag sequences in the historical data. FLG1 [ Begin missing period during the hour (inclusive) FLG1 ] End missing period during the hour (inclusive) note... [ ] replace the present paired M context dependent flags. FLG1 { Begin deleted period during the hour (inclusive). FLG1 } End deleted period during the hour (inclusive) note... { } replace the present paired D context dependent flags. note... the ] and the [ and the } and the { will be placed on monthly boundaries when the period covered crosses a monthly boundary. In this way, a given months data will "stand on its own two feet". FLG1 g Accompanies the Zero "day one" value. FLG1 T Indicates a "trace" amount. Data value will be zero. "T" flags appear on NWS First Order data only. FLG1 I Incomplete data. Daily totals only. NOTE: These new symbols were not introduced in the HPD publication until the January 1997 data month. GAGE data flags. Beginning January 1996, TD3260 contains the archive of the original gage translation data. These data are in units of gage weight. The element is QGAG (counterpart of QPCP). The measurement flags are: FLAG1 (measurement) a begin accumulation (indicates measurement periods from one tape to the next have overlapped) A End accumulation. [ Begin Missing ] End Missing { Begin Delete ] End Delete S gage reset N New tape NOTA BENE: The gage reading antecedent to a missing or deleted time period can be very different from the gage reading subsequent to a missing or deleted time period. ______________________________________________________________________________ 012 42 Flag2 This flag not used at this time. The field will always be blank. ______________________________________________________________________________ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!N O T I C E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EFFECTIVE WITH THE JANUARY 1996 DATA, THE FLAG2 ELEMENT(ABOVE) IS DEFINED AS FOLLOWS: FLG2 Z Indicates probable amounts as a result of melting frozen precipitation. When assigned to a daily total, it indicates some or all of the total contains values assigned a flag of Z. This flag may be used to identify those sites that are deficient in which the manner the snow shields are employed. FLG2 R Indicates data values are suspect with regard to the times or period of occurrence. When assigned to a daily total, it indicates data with suspect "times" are included in the daily amount. FLG1 B A single missing datum. FLG2 Q A single erroneous datum (value will be present). FLG2 P A daily total excludes erroneous value(s) (flagged Q). GAGE data flags. Beginning January 1996, TD3260 contains the archive of the original gage translation data. These data are in units of gage weight. The element is QGAG (counterpart of QPCP). The data quality flags are: FLAG 2 (Quality) Q Questionable value. Data not used. P Punch mechanism failure, missing punch assumed. Assumed punch value being used. V Evaporation likely. Gage value has dropped. Data are being used. ______________________________________________________________________________ FLAG EXAMPLES This precipitation accumulation occurs from 1st month, day 02 to 2nd month, day 04. Month Day Hour Data Value 01 0002 0500 000030bb 1115 099999Ab (Accumulation begins) 2500 000030Ib (Daily total incomplete) 02 0001 0100 099999Ab (Accumulation continues) 2500 099999Ib (Daily total) 0004 0845 000390Ab (3.90 inches) 2500 000390Ib (Daily total incomplete) This precipitation accumulation occurs for 1 month only. 01 0001 0015 099999Ab (Accumulation begins) 2500 099999Ib (Daily total incomplete) 0031 2400 000320Ab (3.20 inches) 2500 000320Ib (Daily total incomplete) This example includes several types of flags through month 01 and 02. 01 0001 0015 000008bb (.08 inches) 1145 099999Ab (Accumulation begins) 2500 000008Ib (Daily total incomplete) 02 0001 0015 099999Ab (Accumulation continues) 1430 000340Ab (Accumulation ends) 1545 099999Db (Deleted period begins) 2500 000340Ib (Daily total incomplete) 02 0028 1330 099999Db (Deleted period ended) 1600 099999Mb (Missing data) 2300 099999Mb (Missing data) 2500 099999Ib (Daily total incomplete) This example represents no chart or data record were received at NCDC for month 01 and 02. 01 0001 0015 099999Mb (Missing data) 2500 099999Mb 0031 2400 099999Mb 2500 099999Mb 02 0001 0015 099999Mb 2500 099999Mb 0028 2400 099999Mb 2500 099999Mb NOTE: blank = b SAMPLE VARIABLE RECORD (As seen from a tape dump) (column 1 2 3 4 5 6 scale) 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 (data) 005815M17001100QPCPHI19810400060020400000012bb2500000012bb (The symbol 'b' denotes a blank) DUMP RECORD POSITION POSITION CONTENTS MEANING 1-4 0058 Record control word used by the operating system. (Contains the total number of characters in the record - not available to user programs.) 5-7 1-3 15M RECORD-TYPE 8-15 4-11 17001100 STATION ID for state 17, station 0011. 16-19 12-15 QPCP ELEMENT-TYPE 20-21 16-17 HI ELEMENT-UNITS 22-25 18-21 1981 YEAR 26-27 22-23 04 MONTH 28-31 24-27 0006 DAY OF THE MONTH 32-34 28-30 002 NUM-VALUES; Two data entries follow 35-38 31-34 0400 TIME-OF-VALUE (Precip from 3:45 to 4:00) 39-44 35-40 000012 DATA-VALUE FIRST DATA 45 41 b FLAG-1 ENTRY 46 42 b FLAG-2 47-50 43-46 2500 TIME-OF-VALUE (daily total) 51-56 47-52 000012 DATA-VALUE SECOND DATA 57 53 b FLAG-1 ENTRY 58 54 b FLAG-2 In this case, hours/mins 0015-0345 and 0415-0000 reported zero precipitation. 7. Start Date: May 1971 8. Stop Date: On-going 9. Coverage (Latitude-Longitude Box): 14 Degrees 20 Minutes South Latitude (Malaeloa) to 65 Degrees 13 Minutes North Latitude (Mile 42 Steese, AK). 145 Degrees 15 Minutes East Longitude (Rota Airport) to 64 Degrees 47 Minutes East (Caneel Bay Plantation, VI). 10. Location: Areal coverage includes the United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and U.S. protectorates located in the Pacific. 11. Keywords: HPD TD3260 Rain gage Precipitation TD-9927 12. How to Order Data: Ask NCDC?s Climate Services about the cost of obtaining this data set. Phone 704-271-4800; FAX 704-271-4876; e-mail orders@ncdc.noaa.gov 13. Archiving Data Center: National Climatic Data Center Federal Building 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801-5001 14.Technical Contact: Neal Lott Federal Building 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801-5001 Phone 704-271-4994; e-mail nlott@ncdc.noaa.gov 15. Known Uncorrected Problems: None. However, the data prior to January 1996 will have a blank followed 99999D to indicate a deleted time period. The data from January 1996 to current will have a delete denoted by 099999D. 16. Quality Statement: Data is interactively quality controlled at NCDC using spatiotemporal techniques in a variety of ways. 17. Revision Date: This digital file was originally maintained on the 15-Minute Fischer-Porter Data (TD-9927) file. This digital file contained the period of record from May 1971 through December 1983. Data before 1984 were converted from existing digital files (TD-9927) to the element structure format. These (historical) data were processed through a gross value check only. Beginning January 1984 the 15-minute precipitation data were processed through a completely revised system which produces the element structure data base file. This system was further enhanced beginning with the January 1996 data month. The new interactive quality control system introduced many added features. Data are subjected to new computer editing procedures reducing the manual handling of the data. This data file was unique when compared to the other NCDC Element Files. No corrected or edited data are available in this data file for the pre-January 1996 data. The data were classified as original data. Beginning with the January 1996 data, however, both the gage data from the Fischer-Porter gages and the gage data refined into actual value amounts are available. 18. Source Data Sets: None 19.Essential Companion Data Sets: None 20. Derived Data Sets: TD3240 Hourly Precipitation Data is derived (except for station that record on an hourly basis) the data collected in the TD-3260 Hourly Precipitation Data--15 Minutes system. 21. References: National Weather Service Observing Handbook No. 2: Cooperative Station Observations, July 1989, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, Observing Systems Branch, Silver Spring, MD. 22. Summary: Fifteen minute data is available for over 2,000 stations located across the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the United states protectorates in the Pacific. Data are quality controlled at NCDC using spatiotemporal techniques in a variety of ways. The data are then archived at NCDC. SPECIAL NOTES 1. QUANTITY - DATA COMPACTION It stands to reason that for most periods the non-occurrence of precipitation is prevalent. Therefore in order to save space in the digital file there are entries only for: 1. The first 15-minute period of the first day of each month where observations were taken even if no precipitation occurred during that month. 2. 15-minute periods with precipitation greater than zero. 3. Beginning and ending 15-minute periods of missing data. 4. Beginning and ending periods of accumulated precipitation. 5. Beginning and ending periods of deleted data. 6. The first and last day of each month where the required charts or forms never were received or processed at NCDC. ERRONEOUS PUNCHES IN F/P PAPER TAPES Initial reading and evaluation of 15-Minute Fischer Porter paper tapes occasionally identified values that were clearly the result of instrument malfunction. These erroneous values were not allowed to become part of the 15-minute data set (TD-3260). These values were also eliminated from the hourly Data set (TD-3240). 21