CLIWOC Release 1.5 This file contains the full database in ASCII format and contains 280,280 records of variable length (file CLIWCOC15 is Unix compatible - ending with LF only -, while the file CLIWOC15.txt includes the character combination CR/LF for every record). Since this length may exceed three thousand characters, it is recommended to use either the Access version (97 or 2000) or the limited core version. The records are built according to the proposed format, given in the IMMA document, updated 20 February 2004 (www.cdc.noaa.gov/coads/e-doc/imma/imma.pdf). The idea behind this format is that the user can easily start with the data, without having to concern about unit conversions. The first 108 characters are the same as in the limited core version CLIWOC15corelimit.txt, then an identification for the attachment and the attachment itself follows. The attachment is delimited with a semi-colon (;), starting at character 114 the actual attachment begins. The explanation of the fields (separated by a semi-colon) is given below.

All data has been expressed in present day SI-units (e.g. UTC, Celsius, nautical miles, degrees, m/s and hPa).

In the process of keying the data from different sources, duplicate records may have been keyed when more than one source was available from the same voyage. Usually these records are not exact copies, but are more or less complementary to each other. The identification of the duplicates is handled in the ShipLogbookID file (ShipLogbookIid.txt). If the user wants to avoid duplicates, he/she has to ignore those ID’s that have the Duplicate-field in the ShipLogbookID file set to other values than 0.
In the following tables the record in the file CLIWOC15.txt are explained. 

 

Variable Start End Format Description
YR 1 4 A4 Year (UTC)
MO 5 6 A2 Month (UTC)
DY 7 8 A2 Day (UTC)
HR 9 12 A4 Hour (UTC)
LAT 13 17 A5 Latitude in hundredths of a degree; North of the equator is positive, South of the equator is negative
LON 18 23 A6 Longitude in hundredths of a degree; convention: 0-359.99, East of Greenwich
IM 24 25 A2 IMMA version; 0 = this prototype version
ATTC 26 26 A1 Attachment Count; in this version there is one attachment, so the count is 1
TI 27 27 A1 Time indicator; only 0 (= nearest whole hour)
LI 28 28 A1 Latitude/longitude indicator; all 6 (= other)
DS 29 29 A1 Not in use
VS 30 30 A1 Not in use
NID 31 32 A2 Not in use
II 33 34 A2 ID indicator; all 10 (= composite information from early ship data).
ID 35 43 A9 Identification; In this release a number is given that identifies the ship and the ships' logbook and the possibility that the current record is a duplicate.
With this number you can look up this information in the file: ShipLogbookId.txt
C1 44 45 A2 Country code; gives the nationality of the ship that made the observation:
ES = Spain
FR = France
NL = The Netherlands
UK = United Kingdom
SE = Sweden
US = USA
DE = Germany, in this case especially it is restricted to Hamburg
DK = Denmark
DI 46 46 A1 Not in use
D 47 49 A3 Wind direction (from which the wind is blowing) in whole degrees from:
1-360; 361 = calm, 362 = variable.
WI 50 50 A1 Wind speed indicator; all reported wind forces are more or less given in Beaufort classes (WI = 5);
W 51 53 A3 Wind speed; given in tenths of a meter per second. From the descriptive terms of wind force given in the observations, a first division into “Beaufort” classes resulted in the m/s given here. Most of the values are the midpoints of each Beaufort class, cf. WMO-1100. In those cases that more information was available, other values may have been used. Bft 0: 0-0.2 m/s
Bft 1: 0.3-1.5 m/s
Bft 2: 1.6-3.3 m/s
Bft 3: 3.4-5.4 m/s
Bft 4: 5.5-7.9 m/s
Bft 5: 8.0-10.7 m/s
Bft 6: 10.8-13.8 m/s
Bft 7: 13.9-17.1 m/s
Bft 8 17.2-20.7 m/s
Bft 9: 20.8-24.4 m/s
Bft 10: 24.5-28.4 m/s
Bft 11: 28.5-32.6 m/s
Bft 12: >32.6 m/s
VI 54 54 A1 Not in use
VV 55 56 A2 Not in use
WW 57 58 A2 Not in use
W1 59 59 A1 Not in use
SLP 60 64 A5 Sea level pressure in tenths of hPa. Still under study; No temperature correction was applied and for this moment the following factors have been used for the conversion to hPa:
2.54 cm in an inch
13.596 specific gravity of mercury
980.65 cm/s gravity at 45° latitude
A 65 65 A1 Not in use
PPP 66 68 A3 Not in use
IT 69 69 A1 Indicator for air temperatures, originating from:
3 = mixed precision Celsius
7 = mixed precision Fahrenheit
9 = mixed precision Réaumur
AT 70 73 A4 Air temperature in tenths of a degree Celsius
WBTI 74 74 A1 Not in use
WBT 75 78 A4 Not in use
DPTI 79 79 A1 Not in use
DPT 80 83 A4 Not in use
SI 84 85 A2 Method by which SST was taken; 10 = implied bucket
SST 86 89 A4 Sea surface temperature in tenths of a degree Celsius
N 90 90 A1 Not in use
NH 91 91 A1 Not in use
CL 92 92 A1 Not in use
HI 93 93 A1 Not in use
H 94 94 A1 Not in use
CM 95 95 A1 Not in use
CH 96 96 A1 Not in use
WD 97 98 A2 Not in use
WP 99 100 A2 Not in use
WH 101 102 A2 Not in use
SD 103 104 A2 Not in use
SP 105 106 A2 Not in use
SH 107 108 A2 Not in use
ATTI 109 110 A2 Attachment ID (=99)
ATTL 111 112 A2 Attachment length (set at 0, meaning "unspecified")
ATTE 113 113 A1 Attachment encoding (blank: ASCII)

The attachment to the core, explained above, in this form is delimited with semi-colons. The record length is undefined.

 

Field abbreviation Explanation Remarks
InstAbbr Abbreviation of the Institute where the original data is stored  
InstName Name of the Institute where the original data is stored  
InstPlace Place of the Institute where the original data is stored  
InstLand Country of the Institute where the original data is stored  
NumberEntry Administrative number under which the data is found within the Institute  
NameArchiveSet Administrative name under which the data is found within the Institute  
ArchivePart Part of the archive set in which the data is found  
Specification Specification of the part of the archive set in which the data is found  
LogbookIdent Identification of the logbook that holds the underlying data a number or code
LogbookLanguage Language used in the logbook  
EnteredBy Name of the person who entered the record  
DASnumber Dutch Asiatic Shipping Number  
ImageNumber Identification Number of the original image  
VoyageFrom Place or country where the ship departed from  
VoyageTo Place or country where the ship sailed to  
ShipName Name of the ship  
ShipType Type of ship; e.g. schooner, barque, frigate  
Company Company which owns or manages the ship  
OtherShipInformation Other ship information  
Nationality Nationality of ship and crew  
Name1 Name of principal observer  
Rank1 Full rank of principal observer  
Name2 Name of second observer  
Rank2 Full rank of second observer  
Name3 Name of third observer  
Rank3 Full rank of third observer  
ZeroMeridian Meridian that is used as the reference for the ships' longitude See: Geodata.txt
StartDay Start time of the ships' day (midnight or midday)  
TimeGen Field, originally used in the Spanish database. Contains remarks about the time(s) used for this observation  
ObsGen Field, originally used in the Spanish database. Contains general remarks about the observation  
RefenceCourse Reference that is used for the ships' course (e.g. true north or magnetic north)  
ReferenceWindDirection Reference that is used for the wind direction (e.g. true north or magnetic north)  
DistUnits Units of distances, other than the following two fields  
DistToLandmarkUnits Units of distances to landmarks  
DistTravelledUnits Units of distances travelled by the ship  
LongitudeUnits Longitudes used (e.g. 180E-180W or 0-360E)  
VoyageIni Initial date of the start of the voyage of this ship. Format is year-month-day (YYYYMMDD) and is extracted from the logbooks date (i.e. it is not corrected to UTC)  
UnitsOfMeasurement Units of other values that may be used (e.g. current speed units)  
Calendar Calendar used in original: 1=Julian; 2=Gregorian  
Year Year of the observation  
Month Month of the observation  
Day Day of the observation  
DayOfTheWeek Day of the week (Monday - Sunday)  
PartDay If applicable e.g morning, evening or night may be noted  
TimeOB Time on board of the observation  
Watch Watch, name of the period of 4 hours which is known as a "watch" or duty on board ships  
Glasses Number of glasses within a watch; one watch equals 8 glasses  
UTC Date and time expressed in UTC and (if possible) corrected for longitude format is year-month-day-hours-minutes (YYYYMMDDHHmm)
CMG Course made good; course of the ship during the past 24 hours  
ShipSpeed Ships' speed; average speed of the ship during the previous 24 hours  
Distance Distance travelled during the previous 24 hours Units
drLatDeg Dead reckoning degrees latitude  
drLatMin Dead reckoning minutes latitude  
drLatSec Dead reckoning seconds latitude  
drLatHem Dead reckoning hemisphere (N/S)  
drLongDeg Dead reckoning degrees longitude  
drLongMin Dead reckoning minutes longitude  
drLongSec Dead reckoning seconds longitude  
drLongHem Dead reckoning hemishere (E/W)  
LatDeg True degrees latitude  
LatMin True minutes latitude  
LatSec True seconds latitude  
LatHem True Hemisphere (N/S)  
LongDeg True degrees longitude  
LongMin True minutes longitude  
LongSec True seconds longitude  
LongHem True Hemisphere (E/W)  
Lat3 Decimal Latitude, derived from the best position available  
Lon3 Decimal Longitude, derived from the best position available, corrected (if needed) for the correct zero-meridian See: Geodata.txt
LatInd Position Indicator, explains what was the origin of the given final decimal latitude 1: originates from dead reckoning
2: originates from true navigation (bearing/distance, celestial)
3: Interpolated manually
4: Interpolated
5: Inserted actual position (ports, islands, etc.)
6: Missing
LonInd Position Indicator, explains what was the origin of the given final decimal longitude 1: originates from dead reckoning
2: originates from true navigation (bearing/distance, celestial)
3: Interpolated manually
4: Interpolated
5: Inserted actual position (ports, islands, etc.)
6: Missing
PosCoastal True if position is considered to be coastal (in port or near coastal disturbances)  
EncName Name of ship that was encountered For cross-references encounters with other ships or fleets were noted.
EncNat Nationality of ship that was encountered  
EncRem Remarks on encountering  
Anchored True if ship at anchor or moored  
AnchorPlace Ship at anchor or moored at this place  
LMname1 Name of first landmark of which a bearing was recorded  
LMdirection1 Bearing of the first landmark  
LMdistance1 Distance to the first landmark Units
LMname2 Name of second landmark of which a bearing was recorded  
LMdirection2 Bearing of the second landmark  
LMdistance2 Distance to the second landmark Units
LMname3 Name of third landmark of which a bearing was recorded  
LMdirection3 Bearing of the third landmark  
LMdistance3 Distance to the third landmark Units
EstError Established error of the compass  
ApplError Applied correction to the compass  
WindDirection Wind direction, nearest to the hour of observation; the wind direction is the direction that points to where the wind comes from.  
AllWindDirections All reported wind directions on this day; the wind direction is the direction that points to where the wind comes from.  
WindForce Wind force (descriptive terms or number), reported nearest to the hour of observation  
WindForceScale If given the number of the wind force  
AllWindForces All reported wind forces on this day  
WindScale Name of, or reference to the wind scale that has been used  
Weather Weather description In many Dutch (extract) logbooks, symbols were used. These symbols were replaced by codes, to make entry of this data possible
ShapeClouds Shape of the clouds In many Dutch (extract) logbooks, symbols were used. These symbols were replaced by codes, to make entry of this data possible
DirClouds Directions of the clouds  
Clearness Clearness/Brightness of the sky In many Dutch (extract) logbooks, symbols were used. These symbols were replaced by codes, to make entry of this data possible
PrecipitationDescriptor The Spanish and British databases contained information about the precipitation, which is gathered in this field  
CloudFrac Clouded part of the sky  
Gusts True if wind gusts are reported  
Rain True if rain was reported  
Fog True if foawas reported  
Snow True if snowwas reported  
Thunder True if thunder and or lightning was reported  
Hail True if hail was reported  
SeaIce True if sea-ice or icebergs were reported  
Duplicate Duplicate record. 0=original, 1=1st duplicate, 2=2nd duplicate, etc. See: ShipLogbookID.txt
Release Number of the CLIWOC release in which the current record appeared first. If corrections/modifications were made to the observation, the release number was increased to the current version Release so far:
0.4: 7 Oct 2003
1.0: 20 Nov 2003
1.1: 23 Jan 2004
1.5: 15 Apr 2004
SSTReading Reading of the sea surface thermometer Units
SSTReadingUnits Units of the sea surface thermometer reading  
StateSea State of the sea In many Dutch (extract) logbooks, symbols were used. These symbols were replaced by codes, to make entry of this data possible
CurrentDir Direction of the current; This direction points to where the current is flowing towards to In many Dutch (extract) logbooks, symbols were used. These symbols were replaced by codes, to make entry of this data possible
CurrentSpeed Speed of the current Units
TairReading Reading of the (outside) air thermometer Units
AirThermReadingUnits Units of the (outside) air thermometer reading  
ProbTair Probable Air Temperature, expressed in Celsius  
BaroReading Reading of the air pressure Units
AirPressureReadingUnits Units of the reading of the air pressure  
BarometerType Barometer type Units
BarTempReading Reading of the attached thermometer  
BarTempReadingUnits Units of the reading of the attached thermometer  
HumReading Reading of the humidity instrument Units
HumidityUnits Units of the reading of the humidity instrument  
HumidityMethod Method of measuring the humidity  
PumpWater Amount of water reported at the pump Units
WaterAtThePumpUnits Units of the amount of water reported at the pump  
LifeOnBoard True if the following memo field was used  
LifeOnBoardMemo Any remarks, found in the logbook on this particular day, about life, illness, treatment, etc. on board.  
Cargo True if the following memo field was used  
CargoMemo Any remark found in the logbook on this day about the cargo  
ShipAndRig True if the following memo field was used  
ShipAndRigMemo Any remark, found in the logbook on this particular day, about the ship, sails, rigging, etc.  
Biology True if the following memo field was used  
BiologyMemo Any remark, found in the logbook on this particular day, about any biological item  
WarsAndFights True if the following memo field was used  
WarsAndFightsMemo Any remark, found in the logbook on this particular day, about wars and fights in which this ship was involved  
Illustrations True if there is an illustration available on the current page of the logbook. The image will become available in the database  
TrivialCorrection True if a trivial correction was made in this observation  
OtherRem Other remarks, that were not possible to put in the other remark fields