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Obtaining & supplying data

Sea level data can be obtained as a complete copy of the PSMSL holdings, or for individual stations. The PSMSL help file is available to:-

• Explain the format of the Data Catalogue
• Explain terminology used
• Differences between the Metric and RLR data sets

If you use data from the PSMSL, then please make sure to acknowledge the Service in your reports.

The PSMSL Data Catalogue

The catalogue of data held by the PSMSL can be inspected from:

• Data Catalogue
• Data Catalogue (condensed format)

The formats of both versions of the catalogue are explained in the PSMSL help file.

The following two lists will also be of use in understanding the catalogue. These lists include all sites from which the PSMSL has any data irrespective of whether the data are in the RLR data set or not:

• List of Authorities and the Country/Station codes of the stations they are responsible for
• Lists of Countries and Stations in code order and alphabetical order

Note that a station code followed by 'R' in these two files means that the station is in the RLR data set.

How to Acquire Files of Monthly and Annual Mean Values for Individual Stations

• Data for individual stations

Click above to obtain monthly and annual mean values of Metric and RLR data for each individual station, with RLR data provided only for those stations in the PSMSL RLR data set, together with brief documentation in each case. In addition, time series plots are provided for each RLR monthly and annual record. (Note that, in common with most other climate variables, by 'monthly' we mean CALENDAR monthly means.)

The listing is in country/station code order (essentially west to east around the world coastline) from which the data and information can be obtained.

Here are some notes about the various directories and files which can be accessed this way:

Metric and RLR Data Files

These files have been optimised for easy inspection by packages such as Excel.

The monthly files list year-month, mean sea level value for the month, number of missing days of data in the month, and 'flag for attention' in format 1x,f10.3,1x,i5,1x,a2,1x,a1. The year-month parameter is given by year + (month-1)/12. + 1./24. thereby centering the monthly mean essentially in the middle of the calendar month in question. The monthly mean values are in mm.

If there are no data for a month, but if there are data for other months in that year, then the entry for that month will contain just the year-month parameter followed by a blank. If the entire year of data is missing, then the whole year will be omitted from the file.

The annual files (RLR only as Metric annual means have little application) list year (integer), mean sea level value for the year (mm), missing days flag for the year, and 'flag for attention' in format 1x,i4,1x,i5,1x,a2,1x,a1.

In both sets of files, a number of missing days values of 'XX' indicates that some form of interpolation has been used in short data gaps during the month. The PSMSL help file provides full information on the missing days codes.

If the 'flag for attention' is present, this indicates that this year of data should be treated with caution, as indicated in the corresponding documentation file.

The Metric monthly mean data sub-directory and the RLR monthly mean data sub-directory and the RLR annual mean data sub-directory which hold all the Metric and RLR data files respectively also contain zip files called 'metdata.zip', 'rlrdata.zip' and 'rlrdata.zip' respectively which contain a bundle of all the individual data files and which can be transferred to a user's computer using a web browser with the binary transfer option. Advice on zipping.

GENERAL WARNING: Before using any PSMSL data it is important to acquire an appreciation of some of the terminology used, and especially of the differences between 'Metric' and 'Revised Local Reference (RLR)' data values. PLEASE READ the PSMSL help file.

RLR Plots Directories

The RLR monthly plots sub-directory contains plots of all RLR monthly mean time series in TIFF format. The RLR annual plots sub-directory contains plots of all RLR annual mean time series in TIFF format.

Documentation Files

The documentation files give brief information on station name, location etc. together with benchmark definitions and comments on whether particular years, or the whole record, have been flagged for attention (i.e. are to be treated with caution).

The documentation sub-directory which holds all the documentation files also contains a zip file 'docu.zip' which contains a bundle of all the individual documentation files and which can be transferred to a user's computer using a web browser with the binary transfer option. Advice on zipping.

How to Acquire the Complete PSMSL Data Set

And once again a warning: Before using any of these PSMSL data files, please appreciate the differences between 'Metric' and 'RLR' data values.

The complete PSMSL data set of monthly and annual mean values of sea level (psmsl.dat), an associated information file describing the format of the file (psmslrd.hel), and a fortran job which can read the data file (psmslrd.f) can be download from here:

• "psmsl.dat" data file [approx. 10MB]
• "psmslrd.hel" data file description
• "psmslrd.f" fortran job to read "psmsl.dat"

The 'psmsl.dat' file contains all PSMSL data (i.e. all Metric data) with 'RLR factor' information for those station-years which are in the RLR set.

A much smaller file containing only annual mean values from the PSMSL RLR data set (rlrann.dat), an associated information file describing the format of the file (rlrannrd.hel), and a fortran job which can read the data file (rlrannrd.f) can also be download from here:

• "rlrann.dat" data file [approx. 1MB]
• "rlrannrd.hel" data file description
• "rlrannrd.f" fortran job to read "rlrann.dat"

For people for whom fortran is not convenient, the two files below contain printouts of all monthly values in the PSMSL data set in 'Publication Format':

• Printouts of Metric (i.e. all) values [approx. 10MB]
• Printouts of RLR values [approx. 6MB]

The PSMSL help file contains a description of the format of these printout files.

CDROM

The complete set of PSMSL data and information files are also available on CDROM for people without web access. Mail us for copies.