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