Sontek Ocean Current Data

These data are provided by the TAO Project of NOAA/PMEL/OCRD
for the EPIC program, by explicit request directed to 
Dr. Meghan F. Cronin at 

  Meghan.F.Cronin@noaa.gov

See the EPIC home page for more information about the program
of enhanced observations on TAO buoys at 95W

  http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/epic

Sontek data are point doppler measurements at a fixed depth.
See these web pages for more detailled information about 
Sonteks

  http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/sensors.shtml

  http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proj_over/sampling.html


Data files are in NetCDF format, and contain the following
variables

	Zonal Current		(cm/s)
	Meridional Current	(cm/s)
	Speed			(cm/s)
	Direction		(cm/s)
	Speed quality
	Direction quality
	Data source

Quality and source values are defined below.

All of these variables have the same dimensions in depth
and time. We use the oceanographic convention for vectors, 
i.e., a vector with a value (1,1) means a current flowing
toward the NE at sqrt(2) cm/s.

You will find the following time resolutions available:

  daily (dy), hourly (hr), 20-minute (20m), 10-minute (10m)

The buoys internally compute the 10-minute and 20-minute
averages, and the hourly and daily values are computed from
these highest resolution data.

All of the NetCDF files have an evenly spaced time axis 
except cur12n95w_10m.cdf and cur3.5n95w_10m.cdf which has 
one deployment with center times at 1,11,21,31, rather 
than the standard 0,10,20,30.

{This may need tweaking to give it the EPIC slant}

If you use these data in publications, please acknowledge the TAO Project
Office, Dr. Michael J. McPhaden, Director.  Also, we would appreciate
receiving a preprint and/or reprint of those publications utilizing
the data for inclusion in the TAO Project bibliography. Relevant
publications should be sent to:

The TAO Project Office
NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115

Please send comments, questions, or problems to "atlasrt@pmel.noaa.gov".


Quality Code Definitions:

0 = datum missing

1 = highest quality; Pre/post-deployment calibrations agree to within
sensor specifications.  In most cases only pre-deployment calibrations have
been applied

2 = default quality; Pre-deployment calibrations applied.  Default
value for sensors presently deployed and for sensors which were either not
recovered or not calibratable when recovered.

3 = adjusted data; Pre/post calibrations differ, or original data do
not agree with other data sources (e.g., other in situ data or climatology),
or original data are noisy.  Data have been adjusted to correct for error.

4 = lower quality; Pre/post calibrations differ, or data do not agree
with other data sources (e.g., other in situ data or climatology), or data
are noisy.  Data could not be confidently adjusted to correct for error.

5 = sensor or tube failed

Source code definitions:

    0 - No Sensor, No Data 
    1 - Real Time (Telemetered Mode)
    2 - Derived from Real Time
    3 - Temporally Interpolated from Real Time
    4 - 
    5 - Recovered from Instrument RAM (Delayed Mode)
    6 - Derived from RAM
    7 - Temporally Interpolated from RAM