load_sbe

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

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