Uniformat - Uniform Format
All of the coastal station and floating platform data are in "uniformat," that is, as ASCII files with columns for parameters described in the table below (although none of the station types have observations for all parameters). The naming convention for the uniformat data files is uni.[station_name].dat for all stations without World Meteorological Organization (WMO) numbers, and uni.[station_name].[WMO_number].dat for those with WMO numbers.
Table 2. Uniformat file description.
Parameter Number | Parameter Name |
Columns | Value for Missing | Comments |
1 | WMO station number | 0-4 | 99999 | For Russian coastal stations, this is the station number provided by AARI. For 21 of these stations, the number is not contained in a recent listing of WMO stations. |
2 | Year | 5-9 | Not Applicable | |
3 | Month | 10-12 | Not Applicable | |
4 | Day | 13-15 | -1 | (-1 means monthly, not synoptic data) |
5 | Time | 16-20 | -1 | (-1 means monthly, not synoptic data) |
6 | Position interpolation flag | 21-22 | 9 |
Code to indicate position characteristic: 9: Missing. Used if either lat. or lon. is missing 1: Default. Means observed, fixed position 2: Linearly interpolated. Used only for NP stations. 3: Rounded to nearest degree. Used for some western drifting station and Ice Patrol ship data. 4: Monthly mean position. Used only for monthly mean data from NP stations. |
7 | Latitude, decimal degrees North | 23-28 | 99.99 | For Russian coastal stations, this position is the position provided by AARI, not that provided for the station by WMO. |
8 | Longitude, decimal degrees East | 29-36 | 999.99 | (0 - 360). As for latitude. |
9 | Air temperature (°C) | 37-43 | 999.99 | |
10 | Sea level pressure (mbar) | 44-50 | 9999.9 | |
11 | Wind direction (deg.) | 51-56 | 999.9 | |
12 | Wind speed (m/s) | 57-62 | 999.9 | |
13 | Total cloud amount (tenths) | 63-67 | 99.9 | Visual estimates. Note that Russian drifting stations may have "11", meaning "10, with gaps." |
14 | Low cloud amount (tenths) | 68-72 | 99.9 | Visual estimates. Note that Russian drifting stations may have "11", meaning "10, with gaps." |
15 | Relative humidity (percent) | 73-78 | 999.9 | |
16 | Dew point (°C) | 79-85 | 999.99 | |
17 | Wet bulb temperature (°C) | 86-92 | 999.99 | |
18 | Vapor pressure (mbar) | 93-99 | 9999.9 | |
19 | Precipitation (millimeters) | 100-106 | -1.00 | "Trace" precipitation is coded in uniformat files as 0.1 mm. |
20 | Soil or ice surface temperature (°C) | 107-113 | 999.99 | See documentation for each station type. |
21 | Sea surface temperature (°C) | 114-120 | 999.99 | |
22 | Station name | 121- | Text field of varying length. |
An example of uniformat records for the T-3 Western drifting station:
99999 1952 7 26 300 3 89.00 267.00 0.56 9999.9 999.9 999.9 10.0 99.9 999.9 -0.56 0.00 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 700 3 89.00 352.00 0.00 1009.4 999.9 999.9 10.0 99.9 999.9 0.56 0.00 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 1000 3 89.00 352.00 0.56 1007.9 999.9 999.9 10.0 99.9 999.9 0.56 0.56 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 1300 3 89.00 352.00 0.56 1007.6 999.9 999.9 10.0 99.9 999.9 0.56 0.56 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 1600 3 89.00 352.00 0.56 1007.7 999.9 999.9 10.0 99.9 999.9 0.56 0.56 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 1900 3 89.00 352.00 0.00 1007.8 999.9 999.9 8.0 99.9 999.9 0.00 0.00 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 26 2200 3 89.00 352.00 0.00 1008.3 999.9 999.9 9.0 99.9 999.9 0.00 0.00 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 27 500 3 89.00 347.00 999.99 9999.9 999.9 999.9 1.0 99.9 999.9 999.99 999.99 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 27 500 3 99.99 347.00 -0.56 1009.3 999.9 999.9 3.0 99.9 999.9 -1.11 -0.56 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 27 800 3 88.00 347.00 0.00 1009.9 999.9 999.9 3.0 99.9 999.9 -0.56 -0.56 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3
99999 1952 7 27 1100 3 88.00 347.00 0.56 1010.7 999.9 999.9 3.0 99.9 999.9 -1.11 0.00 9999.9 -1.00 999.99 999.99 T-3