TITLE: University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Buoy Data
     
CONTACTS:

http://www.cengoos.org/

Contact Information:
Department of Marine Science
CenGOOS Feedback
1020 Balch Blvd.
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

Phone:  (228)688-3177
Fax:  (228)688-1121

1.0  DATA SET OVERVIEW
     

This data set contains 30 minute resolution surface meteorological and 
oceanographic data from the University of Southern Mississippi Department
of Marine Science buoy located in the Gulf of Mexico of the coast of 
Mississippi.  These data were retrieved from the National Data Buoy Center 
(NDBC).  There is 1 station in this data set.  This data set covers the period 
from 1 June to 29 August 2005.  The data are in space delimited ASCII format.
NCAR/EOL has conducted no additional quality control on these data.

2.0  INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION


Information in this readme is from the NDBC.

2.1  Instrumentation and Station Locations

Station 42067 - USM3M01
Owned and maintained by University of Southern Mississippi
30.04 N 88.65 W (30 2'40" N 88 39'30" W)
Site elevation: sea level
Air temp height: 4.0 m above site elevation
Anemometer height: 5.0 m above site elevation
Barometer elevation: 4.0 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).
Derived Met Values

StationName_2005_met.txt
e.g.
42013_2005_met.txt


5.0  DATA REMARKS


None.


6.0  REFERNCES


None.