HOWTO Drifter Data Processing

Kirk's HOWTO on processing Drifter data

Follow these steps to process 'raw' drifter data from pacificgyre to final posting on our website:

Notes:

• Once proficient, it takes about 20 min to process a typical day's deployment.
• Folders/files referenced here can be found on the ICESS network at /home/locl/users/kirk/ (hereafter referred to as '..../kirk/') in the data or user subfolders.
• You should copy the 'user' folder contents to your local computer and run the scripts there instead of on the server.

Folder: .../kirk/user/0_Info

1. On deployment day: be sure to fill out .../kirk/user/0_Info/drifter_hist.xls (drifter history) with the performance of the drifters to track if there are any consistent problems.
   
   

   Folder: .../kirk/user/1_get_data_from_web

2. Edit data_dates.m with the start/stop date/times to get.
   Notes:
   
   • Use the http://pacificgyre.com website (log: ohlmann, pass: drifterguy) if you need to get an estimation of when the drifters went in and came out of the water (look at in-water flag values), or go to http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/drifter/realtime/BETA.php and enter custom times.
   • Keep adding date/times to the bottom of this file (commented out), then copy your uncommented deployment times to the top of it to fetch the data.
   • You don't have to be exact on the times (cleanup happens in following steps), just be sure you have a time at least before or at start and a time after or at ending deployment.
3. Run get_data.m (be sure the IRIDIUM value in it is set correctly), data will be saved in '..../kirk/data/Drifter_Anal/2_data/yyyymmdd' folder as a yyyymmdd_drifter_dat.log file.
   
   • Now, move that folder into a 'deployment type' folder (e.g. .../kirk/data/Drifter_Anal/2_data/SBCLS)
     

   
   Notes:
   

   • Data format (column numbers):

         #1 drifter ID
         #2 year
         #3 month
         #4 day
         #5 hour
         #6 minute
         #7 second
         #8 lat
         #9 long
        #10 satelites availiable
        #11 satelites used
        #12 com flag
        #13 Secs to fix
        #14 Mobitex RSSI
        #15 in-water flag