Title of Dataset: VIMS Hydrofile: Ambient Water Monitoring and Meteorological Data for Chesapeake Bay and Near Coastal Shelf Waters, 1942-1982. https://doi.org/10.25773/3spn-1654 Overview Bulk water parameters were routinely measured during cruises conducted in Chesapeake Bay and nearshore coastal waters conducted by VIMS over a 40-year period ending in 1982. Data were punched on 80-character cards known as ‘Form 1’ format by the VIMS central Computer Center. These were later converted to digital files. For this publication the Form 1 files were unpacked into yearly flat files containing two record types: Station records - Contain surface observations at the time a station was occupied, including secchi depth, total depth, wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, tide stage, sea state, and cloud cover. Depth records - Contain observations at one or more depths per station and include salinity, temperature, conductivity, suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, trace elements and current speed and direction. The full suite of parameters were not always measured, the observations made were specific to the purpose of the individual cruises. The original files in Form 1 format are included as well. See the ASSOCIATED PUBLICATION referenced below for complete description of the Form 1 format and data management plan. Yearly Station and Depth files are provided in Text (.csv) and MS Access format. Supporting Documentation Documentation containing parameter codes and the original Form 1 record format can be found online here: Moncure, R. W. (1972) Instructions for using Oceanography Form 1 (Virginia Institute of Marine Science Hydrographic Data Form). Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://doi.org/10.25773/g4wp-k611 Data Processing Steps Original Form 1 files were processed into yearly Form 1 files using the example SAS program Extract_Hydro77.sas. Yearly Form 1 files were then unpacked into the Station and Depth record .csv files using the program Extract_Hydro.exe This is a Windows executable program and is provided along with the original c++ source code and example SAS programs in the folder titled ‘Useful Hydro programs’. Errors were sometimes encountered when extracting records using Extract_Hydro.exe Most common were an incorrect number of depth records in the Station header or incorrect number of parameter codes in the Depth record. These records were either edited or deleted in order for the program to complete processing of the yearly files. Data Dictionary: STATION Records: Position Name Description 1 cruise Cruise ID 2 river River ID 3 date Date 4 cardcode Unique ID linking Station to Depth records 5 stime Sample time 6 lat Latitude in decimal degrees 7 long Longitude in decimal degrees 8 station Station ID 9 vessel Vessel ID 10 tdepth Total Depth (m) 11 tide Tide Stage 12 diskvs Secchi Depth (m) 13 winddir Wind Source Direction 14 windspd Wind Speed (m/s) 15 airtemp Air Temperature (c) 16 numdepths Number of depth records 17 nffb Number of Freeform code characters to follow 18 freeform Free text codes and/or information DEPTH Records: Position Name Description 1 cruise Cruise ID 2 river River ID 3 date Date 4 cardcode Unique ID linking Depth to Station records 5 depth Sample Depth (m) 6 code Parameter Code 7 value Measured value 8 lat Latitude in decimal degrees 9 lng Longitude in decimal degrees Water Quality (WQ) codes The following highlights some of the more important water quality parameter codes found in the Depth records. These are excerpted from Table 12 of the supporting Form 1 documentation (Moncure, R. W., 1972). The same codes are also provided in a table file named WQcodes.csv 2-digit parameters staring with A through G are temperature, different instruments are used; J through N salinity, different instruments are used; S through V currents, again different instruments. 2-digit parameters starting with numbers are: 1: General chemistry (dissolved substances, C02, alkalinity, etc.); 2:Trace element chemistry; 3 Organic chemistry; 4: Nutrients: P, N, and C; 5: Algae, chlorophyll-a; 6: Dissolved oxygen; 7: Suspended solids. Table 12 is reproduced from the Form 1 reference document below. Table 12 - Page 1 PARAMETER CODE HEADER UNITS & PRECISION Bacteria Total Coliform OA TC mpn/100 ml (E notation) Fecal Coliform OB FC mpn/100 ml (E notation) Dissolved solids 1A DISOL ppt & hundredths Dissolved C02 1C DC02 ppm & tenths H2S 1D H2S ppm & hundredths Acidity 1E H+ meq/liter Alkalinity 1F OH- meq/liter & hundreths Hardness 1G HARD ppm Chlorides 1H CL- ppt & hundredths Sulfates 1I SO4= ppm & hundredths Carbonates 1J CO3= ppm & hundredths Trace Elements Arsenic 2A AS ppb Barium 2B BA ppb Boron 2D BA ppb Cadmium 2E CD ppb Chromium 2G CR ppb Cobalt 2K CO ppb Copper 2C CU ppb Flourine 2F F ppb Iron 2I FE ppb Lead 2L PB ppb Manganese 2M MN ppb Mercury 2H HG ppb Nickel 2N NI ppb Potassium 2P K ppb Sodium 2S NA ppb Tin 2T SN ppb Zinc 2Z ZN ppb Organics Pesticides DDT 3A DDT ppb DDE 3B DDE ppb DDD 3C DDD ppb Dieldrin 3D DIELD ppb PCB's 1242 3J PCB ppb 1254 3K PCB ppb BOD'S BOD 3S BOD ppm & hundredths -2 3E BOD-2 ppm & hundredths -3 3M BOD-3 ppm & hundredths -5 3P BOD-5 ppm & hundredths -6 3N BOD-6 ppm & hundredths -7 3Q BOD-7 ppm & hundredths -8 3R BOD-8 ppm & hundredths -9 3O BOD-9 ppm & hundredths COD 3T COD ppm Chlorine Demand 3U CLDEM Cyanide 3V HCN ppm Table 12 - Page 2 PARAMETER CODE HEADER UNITS & PRECISION Phosphorus Soluble Reactive 4A SRP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Particulate Reactive4B PRP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Soluble Unreactive 4C SUP ug atoms/liter & hundredths ParticulateUnreactive4D PUP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total Reactive 4E TRP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total Unreactive 4F TUP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total 4G TP ug atoms/liter & hundredths Nitrogen Soluble Organic 4J SON ug atoms/liter & hundredths Particulate Organic 4K PON ug atoms/liter & hundredths Ammonia 4L NH4 ppm & hundredths Nitrite 4M N02 ug atoms/liter & hundredths Nitrate 4N N03 ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total Organic 4O TOM ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total Inorganic 4P TIN ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total 4Q TN ug atoms/liter & hundredths Total KJELDAHL(unfiltered) 4R TKN ppm & hundredths Carbon Soluble Organic 4S SOC ppm Particulate Organic 4T POC ppm Total Organic 4U TOC ppm & hundredths Algae DA-1 5A ALGE1 cells/liter DA-2 5B ALGE1 cells/liter DA-3 5C ALGE2 cells/liter DA-4 5D ALGE3 cells/liter DA-5 5E ALGE4 cells/liter DA-6 5F ALGES cells/liter Chlorophyll "a" 5G CPHYL ppb & hundredths Loss on Ignition 5H LOI percent Chlorophyll "a" 5I CPHYL micrograms/liter & hundredths corrected for Phaeophytin Table 12 - Page 3 PARAMETER CODE HEADER UNITS & PRECISION Dissolved Oxygen Titrated 6A O2 mg/liter & tenths YSI (Sensor) 6B O2 mg/liter & tenths Weston & Stack 6C O2 mg/liter & tenths (DO Sensor) PH Meter 6J PH units & tenths Paper 6K PH units & tenths Suspended Solids Optical ratio 7A SSED mg/liter & tenths Filtration 7B SSED mg/liter & tenths Filter Identification 7C FILTER Sediment 7D SSED mg/liter Log ratio 7L RATIO log ratio & hundreths Turbidity 7F TURB FTU & tenths Turbidity 7G TURB JTU (whole number) Carboy 7K CARBOY mg/liter & hundreths Dye concentration 7J DYE ppb & hundreths Conductivity From STD Readout Units 4987 8A COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4984 8B COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4989 8C COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4985 8D COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4991 8L COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4988 8F COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4915 8G COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4916 8H COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4917 8I COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4918 8J COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4920 8K COND mmho/cm & hundreths 4921 8L COND mmho/cm & hundreths 49xx 8M COND mmho/cm & hundreths