# load_sbe

##

Last updated Fri Nov 19 12:58:01 1999

Load CTD data from SBE files

## 1. USAGE

load_sbe control_file

## 2. DESCRIPTION

This utility loads CTD data from SBE files. These are ASCII output files from package SEASOFT for SeaBird CTD. Optionally, a database with the content of bottle data can also be loaded. The producer definition file ctd_hm.def (or similar) is required in order to create the CTD database, and ctdbothm.def for the database with bottle data. This utility is a modified copy load_ctd in the CODAS package.

Unfortunately, automatic time and position stamping at acquisition time is very badly resolved by package SEASOFT. Sometime, it is even necessary to turn it off and enter data by hand. This implies that any kind of format can be encountered. In order to avoid problems, header files should be scanned for correct time and position format. This can be done with scan_sbe(1). The following formats are implemented:

time

  Time is read from field System UpLoad Time which must contain the following space separated elements:

  Mmm

    The first three character of the English month name. The first character must be in upper case letter, the two other one in lower case.

  dd

    The number of the day.

  YYYY

    The year in four digits.

  hh

    Hour.

  mm

    Minutes.

  ss

    Seconds.

Latitude

  Latitude is read from field Latitude which is made up like dd mm ss H or H dd mm ss, where H is the hemisphere, i.e. N or S. The character separating these elements (a space in this case) is not important.

Longitude

  Longitude format is similar to the one required for latitude, except of course the hemisphere character. It is read from the field Longitude.

Station number

  The station number is read from field Station.

Depth

  The bottom depth is read from field Depth.

## 3. PARAMETERS

The control file must define the following parameters:

DATABASE_NAME: name

  Name of CTD database to create.

DEFINITION_FILE: file

  Name (with path) of producer definition file for creating the database.

SHIP_NAME: name

  The name of the ship (max 11 characters).

CRUISE: name

  Cruise identification (max 11 characters).

START_PRESSURE: p_min

  Smallest value for pressure in dbar.

MAX_PRESSURE: p_max

  Largest value for pressure in dbar.

PRESSURE_INCREMENT: delta_p

  Pressure increment in dbar.

HDR_FILES: file

  Name of file (with path) containing list of header files to parse successively. These are files with suffix hdr.

ASC_FILES: file

  Name of file (with path) containing list of CTD data files to parse successively. These have the same base name as the header files, but have suffix asc.

Parameters START_PRESSURE, MAX_PRESSURE and PRESSURE_INCREMENT define the grid for CTD data in the database. Only the values closest to these grid points are saved, i.e. no interpolation or extrapolation is carried out.

## 4. OPTIONS

In addition to the parameters listed above, the following options are available:

OPTIONS:

  This key word can be used to improve the clarity of the control file and specify the beginning of options. It has no effect.

bottles:

  Specify this for loading data from the bottle files into a separate database. The following options must be defined:

  db_name: name

    Name (with path) of database for bottle data.

  def_file: file

    Name (with path) of producer definition file for CTD bottle database.

  btl_files: file

    File containing list of bottle files to process successively. These have the same base name as header files, however with suffix btl.

  end

    This keyword is mandatory and terminates the list of selected sub-options.

end

  This keyword is mandatory and terminates the list of selected options.

## 5. OUTPUT FILES

The specified database files.

## 6. SEE ALSO

load_ctd(1) and

scan_sbe(1)

## 7. AUTHORS

- The author of the original file `load_ctd.c` is unknown
- Pierre Jaccard, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, 1999

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