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>> File Naming Conventions
In order to convey useful information about Argo files and distinguish them
from the Argo GDAC files,
we have implemented a standardized naming convention for all files.
For a multi-profile float file, the name itself is broken into three parts, separated by underscore symbols:
- [prefix]_[float_ID_number]_[data_type].[ext]
- where
- prefix is always "nodc", an affix that indicates files are in the
NODC format.
- float_ID_number is a 7 digit number: A9xxxxx. The A is the WMO (World
Meteorological Organization) region of deployment, 9 is an indicator for a
float, and xxxx is a number allocated serially.
- data_type is a three or four-character string indicating the data
type of the file. The "dat" files contain vertical distribution
of measured parameters such as temperature, salinity, and conductivity of
profiling floats; the "inv" files are inventory table files for
each floats on this disk; the "sta" files contain the status of
each float as of the time of this CD production; and the "prof"
files contain the vertical distribution of measured parameters in the so called
"one-file per float" or "multi-profile" formats.
- ext is the filename extension, which indicates the kind of data stored
in the file. Those files in netCDF format have the .nc extension at the end
of the file name, files in the JOA spreadsheet format have the .jos extension,
while the tab-delimited ASCII text files have the .txt extension.
Filenaming conventions for mono-profile files are slightly different than for
the multi-profile float files. The filename has two parts, again, separated
by underscore symbols:
- [prefix]_[data_mode][float_ID_number]_[cycle_number].[ext]
- where
- prefix is an affix and is always "nodc"
- data_mode is a character indicating the data mode of the float, R
for real-time profile data and D for delayed-mode profile data,
- float_ID_number is a 7 digit number: A9xxxxx as described above,
and
- cycle_number is a three-digit numerical number indicating the cycle
number of the float. and ext is always 'nc' indicating the data type is netCDF
format.
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