| File Format | Types of Files |
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| Field | Value | Units |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Point number | Ordinal |
| 2 | Latitude | Degrees |
| 3 | Longitude | Degrees |
| 4 | Time | Days Since 01Jan1985 |
| 5 | Sea surface height anomaly | Meters |
The data is written to file by tracks. For each track within the file there is a header. For every good data point within that track there follows a record.
| Header format | Record format | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Calendar day format:yyyymmdd where yyyy = year, mm = month, and dd = day. Time of day format:hhmmsscc where hh = hour, mm = minute, ss = second, and cc = hundredths of a second. |
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The data files are of two types:
Daily files are created each day to include only the new data that was received and processed that day. For many of the altimeters raw data is first received with a quickly derived orbit and then an improved orbit set of data is received soon after. Separate daily files are maintained for each of these data sets. Each of these files generally contain one day of data, but may contain more or less depending on when the raw data files are received.
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File name format: ppppyyyy_ddd pppp = prefix yyyy = year ddd = julian day |
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Archive or permanenet files are created as the data becomes available. Each file contains 10 days of data. These files contain the best data available. It is assumed that the improved orbit data is better and generally comprises the data in these files.
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File name format: ppp_yyyy_ddd_ddd ppp = prefix yyyy = year ddd = julian day(first and last) |
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Please note: All files are compressed and will have a .Z suffix