The tabular format requires the entry of five lines in the header block followed by an arbitrary number of lines of data. It is useful for multiple parameters at a single station for any range of dates and times. Items on a line in the header block are separated by tab, space, and/or comma delimiters as described above.
Header Block
Line 1: Keyword, File description
Line 2: Station_ID, NumColumns, Row_Incr, Min_Incr
Line 3: Column1, Column2, Column3...
Line 4: Ccode1, Ccode2, CCode3...
Line 5: Mult1, Mult2, Mult3...
Line 1: The keyword that describes the format of this file: TABULAR.
The file description is used to describe the contents, purpose, and/or origin of the file. It’s contents can be anything defined by the user.
Line 2: Station_ID is the station identifier associated with this entire dataset. The Station_ID must be present in the WRDB STATIONS Support table. If data from more than one station are to be input, they must be placed in separate input files. The governing rule is: one file, one station.
NumColumns is the number of columns in the following data block. All columns, including the date and time and "ignored" columns (see below), are counted.
A Row_Incr of n indicates that every nth row will be processed. This is useful when you want to filter very short-time-increment time series data. Enter a blank or 0 if no filtering is required. If Row_Incr is used, then Min_Incr should be zero.
Alternatively, Min_Incr specifies the multiple of the minute value desired for input. For example, if 15 minute data are in the input file and only hourly data (on the hour) are desired, Min_Incr should be set to 60. If 4-hour values are desired (e.g., 4 a.m., 8 a.m., 12 a.m., etc.), 240 should be entered for Min_Incr. Enter a blank or 0 if no filtering is required. If Min_Incr is used, then Row_Incr should be zero.
Line 3: Column headings are entered on the third line. One of the following keywords must be entered:
DATE date in one of several forms:
mm/dd/yy, mm-dd-yy, m/d/yy, m-d-yy, mmddyy, mddyy
JULIAN elapsed days from January 1 in a given year (the user is prompted for the year). You must use either DATE or JULIAN, but not both, for the date column of data. This form is generally only used by Corps of Engineers continuous monitors.
TIME "standard" time in one of several forms:
hh:mm, h:mm, hhmm, hmm, hhmmss, hmmss, hh:mm:ss AM, h, hh
TIME_DST time in daylight saving time. This will be internally converted to standard time for a given time zone. You must use either TIME or TIME_DST, but not both for the time column of data. DBCONV will not convert from one time zone to another.
LEW_PCT data for the database field representing sampling location expressed as percent of the channel width from the left edge of water looking downstream. If LEW data are not used then the LEW_PCT heading should be omitted. Only three data characters are allowed for a given entry; any decimal point that may be included counts as one character. No error checking on valid entry of LEW characters is done by DBCONV.EXE.
DEPTH_M data for this database field representing sampling depth in meters. If depth data are not used then the DEPTH_M heading should be omitted. Only four characters are allowed; any decimal point that may be included counts as one character. No error checking on valid entry of depth characters is done by DBCONV.EXE.
IGNORE a special column heading that indicates that all data in this column of the data block are to be ignored.
PCODE any valid PCode (parameter code) found in the WRDB PCODES Support table can be used to designate data appearing in the data block column below. For example, to designate that a column contains dissolved oxygen values, enter the PCode of "DO" on line 3.
Line 4: CCodes (compositing codes) apply to entire columns of PCoded values. The CCode entered must match one found in the WRDB CCODES Support table–blank values are not allowed.
Line 5: Numeric multipliers on Line 6 will be applied to all values in data block columns below valid PCodes; they will be ignored otherwise. For example, to convert input flows in gpm to cfs, enter a multiplier of 0.00223. In addition to simple multipliers, the following special keywords are recognized:
blank no multiplier or multiplier is 1.0
C2F convert degrees C to degrees F
F2C convert degrees F to degrees C
COEF2C convert degrees F to degrees C after multiplying by 0.10 (needed for special files created by Corps of Engineers monitors)
Line 5 must be included, even if all entries are blank (indicating 1.0 multipliers).
Data Block
Directly below the header block, tabular data follow in the Data Block with one value below each column heading defined in the header block. When entering values under PCoded columns, the following special provisions apply:
<x.xx non-detect value, where the detection limit is specified as x.xx. There should be no space between the < and x.xx or DBCONV will consider them to be in different columns.
< or ND non-detect value, where the detection limit is taken from the WRDB PCODES Support table.
>x.xx data exceeded some maximum value for that parameter. The maximum value is specified as x.xx. There should be no space between the > and x.xx or DBCONV will consider them to be in different columns.
NA or N/A skip this value. Upper or lower case are allowed. Blank entry also skips the value. Note that blank cells are not allowed in space-delimited files, but they are allowed if comma or tab delimiters are used. To be safe, always explicitly indicate that a reading is to be skipped using NA or N/A.
See also Example of Tabular Format.