TITLE: Buoy NDBC Moored Buoy and C-MAN Station Data CONTACTS: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ * Email: webmaster.ndbc@noaa.gov * Mailing address and telephone number: National Data Buoy Center 1100 Balch Blvd. Stennis Space Center, MS 39529 228-688-2805 1.0 DATA SET OVERVIEW This data set contains hourly resolution surface meteorological and oceanographic data and 10 minute resolution wind data from the NOAA National Data Buoy Center moored buoy and Coastal Marine (C-MAN) networks along the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern Atlantic coast. There are 21 moored buoys and 17 C-MAN stations included in this data set. This data set covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2005. The data are in space delimited ASCII format. These data have not had additional quality control performed by NCAR/EOL. 2.0 INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION Information in this readme is from the NDBC. 2.1 Instrumentation and Station Locations Station 41008 - GRAYS REEF - 40 NM Southeast of Savannah, GA Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy ARES payload 31.40 N 80.87 W (31 24'08"N 80 52'14"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 18.0 m Watch circle radius: 64 yards Station 41009 - CANAVERAL 20 NM East of Cape Canaveral, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 6-meter NOMAD buoy ARES payload 28.50 N 80.17 W (28 30'03"N 80 09'55"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1m below site elevation Water depth: 41.5 m Watch circle radius: 140 yards Station 41010 - CANAVERAL EAST 120NM East of Cape Canaveral Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 6-meter NOMAD buoy ARES payload 28.95 N 78.47 W (28 57'10"N 78 28'43"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1m below site elevation Water depth: 872.6 m Watch circle radius: 1,136 yards Station 41012 - St. Augustine, FL 40NM ENE of St Augustine, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy ARES payload 30.0 N 80.6 W (30 02'38" N 80 33'01" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 38.4 m Watch circle radius: 81 yards Station 41040 - West Atlantic Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 6-meter NOMAD buoy ARES payload 14.50 N 53.02 W (14 29'59" N 53 01'18" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1m below site elevation Water depth: 4,572.0 m Watch circle radius: 5,703 yards Station 41041 - Middle Atlantic Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 6-meter NOMAD buoy ARES payload 14.53 N 46.00 W (14 30'24" N 45 59'48" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1m below site elevation Water depth: 3,352.8 m Watch circle radius: 3,515 yards Station 42001 - MID GULF 180 nm South of Southwest Pass, LA Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 12-meter discus buoy ARES payload 25.90 N 89.67 W (25 54'00"N 89 40'00"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 3,246.0 m Watch circle radius: 3,172 yards Station 42002 - W GULF 240 nm South-Southeast of Sabine, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 10-meter discus buoy MARS payload 25.17 N 94.42 W (25 10'00"N 94 25'00"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 3,200.0 m Watch circle radius: 2,987 yards Station 42003 - E GULF 260 nm South of Panama City, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 6-meter NOMAD buoy ARES payload 26.07 N 85.94 W (26 03'59"N 85 56'39"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1m below site elevation Water depth: 3,233.0 m Watch circle radius: 3,678 yards Station 42007 - BILOXI 22 nm South-Southeast of Biloxi, MS Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 30.09 N 88.77 W (30 05'25"N 88 46'07"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 14.0 m Watch circle radius: 44 yards Station 42019 - Freeport, TX 60 NM South of Freeport, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 27.91 N 95.36 W (27 54'47"N 95 21'36"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 82.3 m Watch circle radius: 275 yards Station 42020 - Corpus Christi, TX 50NM Southeast of Corpus Christi, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 26.94 N 96.70 W (26 56'39"N 96 41'47"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 88.1 m Watch circle radius: 142 yards Station 42035 - GALVESTON 22NM East of Galveston, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 29.25 N 94.41 W (29 14'47"N 94 24'30"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 13.7 m Watch circle radius: 52 yards Station 42036 - W. TAMPA 106NM West Northwest of Tampa, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy ARES payload 28.50 N 84.52 W (28 30'00"N 84 31'00"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 54.5 m Watch circle radius: 126 yards Station 42038 - North Mid Gulf of Mexico Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy ARES payload 27.42 N 92.55 W (27 25'15" N 92 33'17" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 1,152.0 m Watch circle radius: 1,178 yards Station 42039 - PENSACOLA - 115NM East Southeast of Pensacola, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 28.79 N 86.02 W (28 47'38"N 86 01'17"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 291.4 m Watch circle radius: 474 yards Effective June 2, 2005, wave measurements were one hour older than the indicated observation time. This was corrected during the August 24 service visit. Station 42040 - MOBILE SOUTH 64 nm South of Dauphin Island, AL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 3-meter discus buoy DACT payload 29.18 N 88.21 W (29 11'03"N 88 12'48"W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 4 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 0.6 m below site elevation Water depth: 443.6 m Watch circle radius: 485 yards Station 42055 - Bay of Campeche Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 12-meter discus buoy ARES payload 22.01 N 94.05 W (22 01'02" N 94 02'45" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 3,380.5 m Watch circle radius: 3,131 yards Station 42056 - Yucatan Basin Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 12-meter discus buoy ARES payload 19.87 N 85.06 W (19 52'27" N 85 03'33" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 4,446.0 m Watch circle radius: 5,083 yards Station 42057 - Western Caribbean Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 10-meter discus buoy ARES payload 17.60 N 80.75 W (17 36'16" N 80 44'58" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 1,400.0 m Watch circle radius: 1,804 yards Station 42058 - Central Caribbean Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center 10-meter discus buoy ARES payload 14.98 N 74.99 W (14 58'40" N 74 59'34" W) Site elevation: sea level Air temp height: 10 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: sea level Sea temp depth: 1 m below site elevation Water depth: 4,042.0 m Watch circle radius: 4,583 yards Station BURL1 - Southwest Pass, LA Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 28.90 N 89.43 W (28 54'18" N 89 25'42" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 11.9 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 30.5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 12.5 m above mean sea level Station CDRF1 - Cedar Key, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station VEEP Payload 29.14 N 83.03 W (29 08'10" N 83 01'45" W) Site elevation: 1.8 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 9.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10.0 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 3.0 m above mean sea level Station DPIA1 - Dauphin Island, AL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station VEEP payload 30.25 N 88.07 W (30 14'54" N 88 04'24" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 9.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 13.5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 8.5 m above mean sea level Station DRYF1 - Dry Tortugas, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 24.64 N 82.86 W (24 38'18" N 82 51'42" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 5.2 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 5.7 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 4.5 m above mean sea level Station FWYF1 - Fowey Rocks, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 25.59 N 80.10 W (25 35'25" N 80 05'48" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 11.0 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 43.9 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 29.3 m above mean sea level Station GDIL1 - Grand Isle, LA Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 29.27 N 89.96 W (29 16'00" N 89 57'24" W) Site elevation: 1.8 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 15.2 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 15.8 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 9.1 m above mean sea level Station KTNF1 - Keaton Beach, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 29.82 N 83.59 W (29 49'02" N 83 35'30" W) Site elevation: 1.8 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 9.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 10.0 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 3.0 m above mean sea level Station LONF1 - Long Key, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 24.84 N 80.86 W (24 50'36" N 80 51'42" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 6.7 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 7.0 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 5.8 m above mean sea level Station MLRF1 - Molasses Reef, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station VEEP payload 25.01 N 80.38 W (25 00'36" N 80 22'48" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 15.5 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 15.8 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 11.3 m above mean sea level Station PTAT2 - Port Aransas, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 27.83 N 97.05 W (27 49'42" N 97 03'00" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 9.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 14.9 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 6.4 m above mean sea level Station SANF1 - Sand Key, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 24.46 N 81.88 W (24 27'25 N 81 52'42" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 12.8 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 13.1 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 6.1 m above mean sea level Station SAUF1 - St. Augustine, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station VEEP payload 29.86 N 81.26 W (29 51'24" N 81 15'54" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 7.6 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 16.5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 8.8 m above mean sea level Station SGOF1 - Tyndall AFB Tower C (N4), FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 29.41 N 84.86 W (29 24'24" N 84 51'48" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 35.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 35.1 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 19.8 m above mean sea level Station SMKF1 - Sombrero Key, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 24.63 N 81.11 W (24 37'36" N 81 06'36" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 10.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 48.5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 36.6 m above mean sea level Station SPGF1 - Settlement Point, GBI Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 26.70 N 79.00 W (26 42'16" N 78 59'40" W) Site elevation: 1.5 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 9.1 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 9.8 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 2.7 m above mean sea level Station SRST2 - Sabine, TX Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station MARS payload 29.67 N 94.05 W (29 40'12" N 94 03'00" W) Site elevation: 0.9 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 11.9 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 12.5 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 5.4 m above mean sea level Station VENF1 - Venice, FL Owned and maintained by National Data Buoy Center C-MAN station ARES payload 27.07 N 82.45 W (27 04'12" N 82 27'00" W) Site elevation: 0.0 m above mean sea level Air temp height: 7.3 m above site elevation Anemometer height: 11.6 m above site elevation Barometer elevation: 4.9 m above mean sea level NCAR/EOL conducted no processing or quality control on these data. 4.0 DATA FORMAT AND FILE NAMING 4.1 Data Format These data are in space delimited ASCII format. Measurement Descriptions and Units Note: The measurements are generally in metric units, as described below. STATION ID Five-digit WMO Station Identifier used since 1976. ID's can be reassigned to future deployments within the same 1 degree square. DATE In UTC (formerly called Greenwich Mean Time - GMT) TIME In UTC Data are classified according to the following groups. Any data field that contains "9 filled" represents missing data for that observation hour. (Example: 999.0 99.0) Standard Meteorological Data ATMP Air temperature (Celsius). WTMP Sea surface temperature (Celsius). DEWP Dewpoint temperature taken at the same height as the air temperature measurement. PRES Sea level pressure (hPa). WSPD Wind speed (m/s) averaged over an eight-minute period for buoys and a two-minute period for land stations. Reported Hourly. See Wind Averaging Methods. WDIR Wind direction (the direction the wind is coming from in degrees clockwise from true N) during the same period used for WSPD. See Wind Averaging Methods GST Peak 5 or 8 second gust speed (m/s) measured during the eight-minute or two-minute period. The 5 or 8 second period can be determined by payload, See the Sensor Reporting, Sampling, and Accuracy section. WVHT Significant wave height (meters) is calculated as the average of the highest one-third of all of the wave heights during the 20-minute sampling period. See the Wave Measurements section. APD Average wave period (seconds) of all waves during the 20-minute period. See the Wave Measurements section. DPD Dominant wave period (seconds) is the period with the maximum wave energy. See the Wave Measurements section. MWD Mean wave direction corresponding to energy of the dominant period (DOMPD). The units are degrees from true North just like wind direction. See the Wave Measurements section. VIS Station visibility (statute miles). Note that buoy stations are limited to reports from 0 to 1.9 miles. TIDE The water level in feet above or below Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW). Continuous Winds DIR Ten-minute average wind direction measurements in degrees clockwise from true North. SPD Ten-minute average wind speed values in m/s. GDR Direction, in degrees clockwise from true North, of the GSP, reported at the last hourly 10-minute segment. GSP Maximum 5-second peak gust during the measurement hour, reported at the last hourly 10-minute segment. GMN The minute of the hour that the GSP occurred, reported at the last hourly 10-minute segment. What are continuous wind measurements? Continuous wind measurements are six 10-minute average values of wind speed (in m/s) and direction (in degrees clockwise from North) reported each hour. These measurements provide wind data for those users who need better temporal resolution in wind data, such as for micro-scale studies of air quality and sea breeze effects. Note that NDBC uses two types of payload-dependent wind averaging methods. Not all NDBC stations report continuous winds. These measurements are usually associated with C-MAN sites along the south Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico and at most deep-water moored buoys of the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, and the northern Atlantic. The acquisition interval of the continuous wind measurements depends on the end-of-acquisition minute. For example, let's examine a buoy reporting continuous wind speed and direction measurements reported for hour 12 which has the end-of- acquisition minute set at minute 50. The first average speed (WS1) and direction (WD1) measurements will be the average of the speed and direction data, respectively, collected from 1140 to 1150. The second average speed and direction measurements will be the average of the speed and direction data, respectively, collected from 1130 to 1140. The sixth and final average speed (WS1) and direction (WD6) measurements will be the average of the speed and direction data, respectively, collected from 1050 to 1100. For those payloads where the end-of-acquisition minute was minute 25, the time stamping of the six measurements is as follows. The first set of average speed and direction measurements for 1200 UTC are the average of the speed and direction data, respectively, collected from 1210 to 1220. The second set is the average of the measurements collected from 1200 to 1210. The sixth and final set is the average of the measurements taken from 1120 to 1130 UTC. Other measurements reported by stations which report continuous winds are: 1. hourly peak wind (MXGT)-- maximum 5-second peak during the entire hour ending at the acquisition time 2. direction of the hourly peak wind (DIRMXGT) 3. the minute that the hourly peak wind occurred (MXMIN) What averaging procedures are performed on the wind measurements? Two wind averaging methods are used to calculate average wind speed and direction. 1. The first wind averaging technique applies to those measurements reported by all DACT, VEEP, and ARES payloads. The average wind speed is the simple scalar average of the wind speed observations. A "unit-vector" average is used to calculate the average wind direction. In this technique, unity serves as the length of the vector, and the wind direction observations serve as the orientation of the vector. The u and v components are then calculated for each observation. Next, the average u and v components are computed and the average wind direction is derived from "arctan(u/v)." Note that this technique will produce greater wind speeds than if a true vector average was used. 2. The second method, used to calculate average speed and direction reported by NDBC's older GSBP payloads, is a true vector average. In this scheme, the magnitude of the vector is represented by the wind speed observation and the direction observations are used for the orientation. The vectors are then broken down into their u and v components. All u and v components are then averaged separately. The resulting average speed and direction are calculated from the Pythagorean Theorem and "arctan(u/v)," respectively. For a comparison of vector and scalar averaging of winds, see: Gilhousen, D.B., 1987: A field evaluation of NDBC moored buoy winds. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology,4, 94-104. Do NDBC's meteorological and oceanographic sensors measure data for the entire hour? Sensors that are installed on board moored buoys and at C-MAN sites generally do not measure and record data for the entire hour. Continuously recording data drastically increases power consumption. Therefore, for most NDBC-measured environmental data, with spectral wave measurements and continuous winds being exceptions, an eight-minute period is used for data collected by sensors on board moored buoys and a two-minute acquisition period is used for data collected by sensors at C-MAN sites. Starting in July 2004, the end-of-acquisition time is reported as the official observation time, to the hour and minute resolution. Before July 2004, the observation time is simply the rounded hour nearest to the acquisition period, not displaying minutes. July's change makes the observation times more consistent with the data provided to the archive centers. Starting in August 1993, the end-of-acquisition time is reported as the official observation time for data provided to the national archive centers. Before August 1993, the observation time is the rounded hour nearest to the acquisition period. Note: Wave data normally have acquisition periods that do not overlap meteorological data acquisition. Currently, wave data times are rounded to the nearest hour for 40 minute acquisition systems or nearest half hour for 20 minute acquisition systems. Reporting the actual end-of-acquisition time for wave data is under consideration. However, on some pages, wave information is displayed on the same lines as meteorological data, and will always appear to have the meteorological data time for those displays. For ocean current measurements, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) times are rounded to the nearest hour. For oceanographic data measurements, times are rounded to the nearest hour. Reporting the actual end-of-acquisition times for these data will be taken under consideration. For Continuous Wind stations, the end-of-acquisition time is given in the record. For other stations, the actual acquisition period may be determined by knowing the station type and payload. The end-of- acquisition minute is reported for DACT and VEEP payloads, and is minute 50 for those payloads installed on moored buoys. This means that 1200 UTC data was recorded from 1142-1150 UTC. The start of acquisition is reported for all GSBP payloads, and is minute 40 for GSBP's installed on moored buoys. This means that 1200 UTC data was recorded from 1140-1148 UTC. The end-of- acquisition minute for C-MAN sites is the top of the hour. Prior to January 1992, the end-of-acquisition time was minute 25 for Gulf of Mexico C-MAN stations. During the period from September 1993 to August 1994, the end-of-acquisition times on West Coast C-MAN sites were changed from minute 25 to the top of the hour. However, some stations do not follow the above timing convention and have non-standard acquisition times. For the meteorological and oceanographic files: StationName_2005_met.txt e.g. 42013_2005_met.txt For the continuous wind files: StationName_2005_wind.txt e.g. 42013_2005_wind.txt 5.0 DATA REMARKS None. 6.0 REFERNCES None.