U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time Series Data Collection

The oceanographic time series data collected by U.S. Geological Survey scientists and collaborators are served in an online database at http://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/index.html. These data were collected as part of research experiments investigating circulation and sediment transport in the coastal ocean. The experiments (projects, research programs) are typically one month to several years long and have been carried out since 1975. New experiments will be conducted, and the data from them will be added to the collection. As of 2016, all but one of the experiments were conducted in waters abutting the U.S. coast; the exception was conducted in the Adriatic Sea. Measurements acquired vary by site and experiment; they usually include current velocity, wave statistics, water temperature, salinity, pressure, turbidity, and light transmission from one or more depths over a time period. The measurements are concentrated near the sea floor but may also include data from the water column. The user interface provides an interactive map, a tabular summary of the experiments, and a separate page for each experiment. Each experiment page has documentation and maps that provide details of what data were collected at each site. Links to related publications with additional information about the research are also provided. The data are stored in Network Common Data Format (netCDF) files using the Equatorial Pacific Information Collection (EPIC) conventions defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. NetCDF is a general, self-documenting, machine-independent, open source data format created and supported by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). EPIC is an early set of standards designed to allow researchers from different organizations to share oceanographic data. The files may be downloaded or accessed online using the Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP). The OPeNDAP framework allows users to access data from anywhere on the Internet using a variety of Web services including Thematic Realtime Environmental Distributed Data Services (THREDDS). A subset of the data compliant with the Climate and Forecast convention (CF, currently version 1.6) is also available.