rda-python-icoads 1.0.7__py3-none-any.whl → 1.0.9__py3-none-any.whl

rda_python_icoads/msg

@@ -0,0 +1,457 @@
+===============================================================================
+International Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS):     Release 2.4
+Monthly Summary Groups (MSG1)                                 22 September 2007
+==========================================================================<msg>
+
+Document Revision Information (previous version: 27 February 2004):  Updates
+(heading only) for Release 2.4.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+{1. Introduction}
+
+This document provides a technical description of the Monthly Summary Groups
+(MSG) format.  This format is designed to store both 1-degree, and 2-degree,
+latitude x longitude monthly summaries (the format also has the capability,
+unused at present, to store 0.5-degree data).
+
+MSG products are currently available covering the global domain (1-degree
+and/or 2-degree boxes) and an equatorial domain (1-degree), with 1-degree
+products available only for 1960 forward.  The boundaries of the global
+2-degree boxes fall on even degrees of latitude and longitude (e.g., 0-2E,
+88-90N).  The 2-degree box system is the same as LLN2F1 as described in
+Release 1, supp. G, except omitting the polar boxes (16,200 boxes total).
+The boundaries of the global 1-degree boxes fall on units of latitude
+and longitude (e.g., 0-1E, 89-90N) (64,800 boxes total).  The equatorial
+domain comprises the latitude band 10.5N to 10.5S, and is global with
+respect to longitude.  The equatorial 1-degree boxes are shifted half a
+degree in latitude (only) in comparison to the global domain, such that
+the center-latitude of the central row of boxes is the equator (e.g., 0-1E,
+0.5S-0.5N).  See <stat_doc> for additional information about the details
+of products and time periods of data currently available in the MSG format.
+
+Six "groups" of variables make up MSG (Table 1a).  The variables comprise the
+19 variables that were produced for COADS Release 1 (groups 3-7) plus three
+additional variables that make up group 9: the cube of the wind speed, W**3, as
+well as the zonal and meridional contributions to the latent heat flux, U(QS-Q)
+and V(QS-Q).  The ten statistics calculated for each variable are listed in
+Table 1b.  Header fields, as defined below Table 1b, precede the statistics in
+the MSG format.
+
+The Fortran read program for the MSG format should provide ready access to the
+header fields and statistics included in each group (using the abbreviations
+given in Tables 1a and 1b, and for the header fields as follow Table 1b).  As
+background, however, a technical description of the format layout (bit lengths)
+is given in sec. 2, and detailed information about the reconstruction of
+floating point data is given in sec. 3.
+
+Each MSG record contains the data for a single year, month and (2- or 1-degree)
+box.  The MSG records are labeled with the year, month, and box-size, and
+the latitude/longitude coordinates of the lower-left corner of the box.  The
+weighted mean position of all observations within a box can be obtained from
+the corner coordinates plus the longitude and latitude offset statistics, x
+and y, for each variable.
+
+MSG records were output only for year-months and boxes containing at least one
+observation of at least one variable.  Records are supressed for boxes (and a
+few entire year-months) without any extant data.  This provides an inherent
+form of data compression for sparsely populated spatial grids.  The records
+are sorted by year, month, and either 2- or 1-degree box.  The 2- and 1-degree
+box systems proceed east from the prime meridian (i.e., starting with the
+box with its SW corner longitude at 0E) and spiral down through each zone of
+latitude.
+
+
+Table 1a.  Variables in MSG.  Each group contains four variables and ten
+selected statistics (Table 1b) for each variable.  Derived variables in groups
+5-8 are computed as indicated from individual observations of other variables,
+e.g., the wind-stress parameter "X" is the product of W and U.  In addition,
+QS denotes saturation Q at SST.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+                                      Group
+3                  4               5                6          7     9
+===============================================================================
+Sea sfc. temp. (S) Scalar wind (W) Total cloud. (C) D=S - A    I=UA  M=FU
+Air temp. (A)      Wind U-comp.(U) R                E=(S - A)W J=VA  N=FV
+Specific hum. (Q)  Wind V-comp.(V) X=WU             F=QS - Q   K=UQ  B1=(W**3)*
+Relative hum. (R)  SLP (P)         Y=WV             G=FW       L=VQ  B2=(W**3)*
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+* B1 and B2 are high- and low-resolution representations of B = W**3 (i.e.,
+data increments of 0.5 or 5 m**3/s**3; see Table 4b).
+----------
+
+Table 1b.  Statistics in MSG.  Each statistic is assigned a number and a
+lower-case abbreviation (from Release 1, supp. A, Table A1-2).
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No.  Abbrev. Variable
+===============================================================================
+ 9    s1     1/6 sextile (a robust estimate of the mean minus 1 standard dev.)
+11    s3     3/6 sextile (the median)
+13    s5     5/6 sextile (a robust estimate of the mean plus 1 standard dev.)
+ 6    m      mean
+ 5    n      number of observations
+ 7    s      standard deviation
+ 1    d      mean day-of-month of observations
+ 2    ht     fraction of observations in daylight
+ 3    x      mean longitude of observations
+ 4    y      mean latitude of observations
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Following is a definition of the MSG header fields preceding the statistics
+in the MSG format:
+
+   RPTIN
+   RPTID
+The RPTIN field is reserved for use of the RPTIN unblocking utility, where
+available (e.g., NCAR), and RPTID indicates the MSG format version number (1).
+
+   YEAR
+The year can range from 1800 to 2054.
+
+   MONTH
+     1=January, 2=February, ..., 12=December.
+
+   BSZ  box size 
+     0 = 0.5 degree latitude x longitude (not currently used)
+     1 = 1   degree latitude x longitude
+     2 = 2   degree latitude x longitude
+
+   BLO  box left (W) corner longitude (E)
+   BLA  box lower (S) corner latitude (+N, -S)
+Coordinates (half-degree precision) of the lower-left (SW) corner of the box
+(BSZ gives the box size).  For a given variable, the mean sample position
+of the observations within a box can be obtained from:
+     mean longitude = BLO + x
+     mean latitude  = BLA + y
+Note that longitude is always measured in east coordinates.  Because the x
+values can range up to two degrees (one degree) for 2-degree (1-degree) boxes,
+the resultant range of mean longitude is 0-360E.
+
+   PID1  product identification part 1
+   PID2  product identification part 2
+Presently, PID1 is unused.  PID2:
+     0 = standard statistics (3.5 sigma trimming limits; ship data)
+     1 = enhanced statistics (4.5 sigma trimming limits; ship + other data)
+
+   GRP  group
+Group number (3-7 or 9).
+
+   CK  checksum
+A checksum was computed and stored with each packed summary as a measure of
+reliability during storage and transmission.  The Fortran read program will
+recalculate the checksum and compare it to the stored checksum.  If
+disagreement is found data processing will stop and an error statement will
+be issued.  This problem indicates that the data file is corrupted or the
+access software is not correctly implemented.
+
+
+{2. Details of Monthly Summary Groups (MSG)}
+
+Table 2 shows the bit layout in common to any MSG (regardless of group number);
+Tables 3a through 3f show the bit layout of each of the 64-bit or 16-bit
+sections of groups 3-7 and 9 (note that Tables B1-1b through B1-1f in Release
+1, supp. B give identical bit layouts for groups 3-7 in the MSTG1 format).
+Each variable is assigned a number and an upper-case abbreviation (from Release
+1, supp. A, Table A1-1).
+
+Example of bit layout:  If we denote the lower-case abbreviation for each
+statistic by "a" and the upper-case abbreviation for each variable by "B",
+group 3 contains, in order, RPTIN, RPTID, ..., CK followed by:
+   ((aB, B = S,A,Q,R), a = s1,s3,s5,m,n,s,d,ht,x,y)
+I.e., s1 of S, s1 of A,..., s1 of R; s3 of S, s3 of A,..., s3 of R; ... ;
+y of S, y of A,..., y of R.
+
+The MSG format was developed as an extension and enhancement to the MSTG
+format; following is a summary of changes in comparison to MSTG2:
+     a) Header information (first 64 bits): The 2- and 10-degree box numbers
+        are omitted.  Instead, the box size and coordinates are specified
+        (thus accommodating different box systems within the MSG format).
+        Data falling precisely at the North (or theoretically at the South)
+        Pole are handled differently in MSG: there are no 2-deg (or 1-deg)
+        boxes dedicated to +90 or -90 latitude, as in the 2-degree box system
+        used for MSTG.  Instead, data are assigned to boxes adjoining the
+        poles based on reported longitude and other box inclusivity rules
+        (see Release 1, supp. G).  Header fields also were added for product
+        identification (i.e., standard versus enhanced statistics).
+
+     b) The 1st and 5th sextiles were added, and the estimated standard
+        deviation was replaced by the actual standard deviation; the estimate
+        can however still be computed, i.e., (s5 - s1)/2.
+
+     c) The units and ranges (of true values) of the mean longitude and
+        latitude of the observations (x and y) depend on the box size, as
+        detailed in sec. 3.
+
+
+Table 2.  The Monthly Summary Group (MSG1) format.  Fields added (with respect
+to MSTG2) are marked by a double asterisk (**), and when the number of bits for
+a field has changed (*), the old MSTG2 value is shown in parentheses.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No.        Abbrev.        Description                        Bits
+===============================================================================
+               Header fields:
+           RPTIN          (reserved)                           12
+           RPTID          (reserved)                            4
+           YEAR                                                 8
+           MONTH                                                4
+           BSZ            box size                              3**
+           BLO            box left (W) corner longitude         10**
+           BLA            box lower (S) corner latitude         9**
+           PID1           product identification part 1         3**
+           PID2           product identification part 2         3**
+           GRP            group                                 4
+           CK             checksum                              4*(8)
+
+               Statistics:
+9          s1             1/6 sextile (est minus 1 sigma)      64**
+11         s3             3/6 sextile (the median)             64
+13         s5             5/6 sextile (est plus 1 sigma)       64**
+6          m              mean                                 64
+5          n              number of observations               64
+7          s              standard deviation                   64**
+1          d              mean day-of-month of observations    16
+2          ht             fraction of observations in daylight 16
+3          x              mean longitude of observations       16
+4          y              mean latitude of observations        16
+
+                          total                               512*(384) = 64B
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3a.  Group 3, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+1    S    sea surface temperature                                      16     4
+2    A    air temperature                                              16     4
+8    Q    specific humidity                                            16     4
+9    R    relative humidity                                            16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3b.  Group 4, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+3    W    scalar wind                                                  16     4
+4    U    vector wind eastward component                               16     4
+5    V    vector wind northward component                              16     4
+6    P    sea level pressure                                           16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3c.  Group 5, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+7    C    total cloudiness                                             16     4
+9    R    relative humidity                                            16     4
+14   X    WU                                                           16     4
+15   Y    WV (14-15 are wind stress parameters)                        16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3d.  Group 6, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+10   D    S - A = sea-air temperature difference                       16     4
+11   E    (S - A)W = sea-air temperature difference*wind magnitude     16     4
+12   F    QS - Q = (saturation Q at S) - Q                             16     4
+13   G    FW = (QS - Q)W (evaporation parameter)                       16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3e.  Group 7, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+16   I    UA                                                           16     4
+17   J    VA                                                           16     4
+18   K    UQ                                                           16     4
+19   L    VQ (16-19 are sensible and latent heat transport parameters) 16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table 3f.  Group 9, 64-bit or 16-bit sections.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbr. Variable                                                   Bits  Bits
+===============================================================================
+20   M    FU                                                           16     4
+21   N    FV                                                           16     4
+22   B1   B = W**3 (high-resolution representation)                    16     4
+23   B2   B = W**3 (low-resolution representation)                     16     4
+
+          total                                                        64    16
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+{3. Reconstruction of floating point data}
+
+The Fortran access program provides the logic necessary to transfer binary data
+into memory and then extract into INTEGER variables the bit strings whose
+lengths are given in sec. 2.  Refer to Release 1, supp. H for more information
+about the techniques used.
+
+Compression was achieved by packing data represented as positive integers
+into fields whose lengths are specified in the bits column of Tables 2 and
+3a through 3f.  To accomplish this, a field's floating point true value
+was divided by its units (the smallest increment of the data that has been
+encoded).  Then the base was subtracted to produce, after rounding, a coded
+positive integer, which was finally right-justified with zero fill in the
+field's position within the summary.  Using the true value mean of sea surface
+temperature value 28.61 degrees C as an example, (28.61/0.01) - (-501) = 3362.
+
+Once a given field has been extracted into the coded value, the true value can
+be reconstructed by reversing the process:
+      true value = (coded + base) * units
+
+The above true value example is reconstructed by (3362 + (-501)) * 0.01) =
+28.61 degrees C.  NOTE: in each coded value, zero is reserved as an indicator
+of missing data.
+
+The coded and true value ranges, the units, and the base associated with each
+header field and statistic will be found in Table 4a.  In the case of the first
+and fifth sextiles, median, mean, and standard deviation, these quantities are
+different for each variable, hence cross-reference to Table 4b.  Similarly for
+the mean longitude and latitude of the observations, where the units depend on
+box size, hence cross-reference to Table 4c.
+
+
+Table 4a.  Unpacking header fields and statistics.  Notation is as follows:
+m:n denotes m through n inclusive; @ is used as a plain text abbreviation for
+the degree symbol.  "Units" gives the smallest increment of the data that has
+been encoded; thus a change of one unit in the integer coded value represents
+a change in the true value of one of the units shown (units of 1 are explained
+in the text).
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  Abbr. Description                           True value   Units   Base  Coded
+===============================================================================
+                 Header fields
+  --------------------------------------------
+  RPTIN (reserved)                             n/a          n/a      n/a    n/a
+  RPTID (reserved)                             n/a          n/a      n/a    n/a
+  YEAR                                         1800:2054    1       1799  1:255
+  MONTH                                        1:12         1          0   same
+  BSZ   box size                               0:2          1         -1    1:3
+  BLO   box left (W) corner longitude (E)      0:359.5      0.5@      -1  1:720
+  BLA   box lower (S) corner latitude (+N, -S) -90.0:90.0   0.5@    -181  1:361
+  PID1  product identification part 1                 (presently unused)
+  PID2  product identification part 2          0:1          1         -1    1:2
+  GRP   group                                  3:9          1          0   same
+  CK    checksum                               n/a          n/a      n/a    n/a
+
+                 Statistics
+  --------------------------------------------
+  s1    1/6 sextile (est minus 1 sigma)           (all as given in Table 4b)
+  s3    3/6 sextile (the median)                  (all as given in Table 4b)
+  s5    5/6 sextile (est plus 1 sigma)            (all as given in Table 4b)
+  m     mean                                      (all as given in Table 4b)
+  n     number of observations                 1:65535      1          0   same
+  s (e) standard deviation (or estimate; MSTG) 0:#          Table 4b  -1   1:#
+  d     mean day-of-month of observations*     2:30         2 days   0.0   1:15
+  ht    fraction of observations in daylight   0.0:1.0      0.1       -1   1:11
+  x     mean longitude of observations         Table 4c     Table 4c  -1   1:11
+  y     mean latitude of observations          Table 4c     Table 4c  -1   1:11
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+* A coded value of 16, which would otherwise result when the calculated mean
+day-of-month is 31 (e.g., 31/2 = 15.5, rounded = 16), is avoided by changing
+16 into a coded value of 15 prior to storage.  This means that the coded value
+15 represents a slightly larger numeric interval than the other values.
+# Standard deviations have a true value ranging upwards from zero for all
+variables, thus the base is always -1.  Units for each variable are still
+chosen from Table 4b.  [NOTE: The MSTG format contains the standard deviation
+estimate instead of the standard deviation about the mean (s); this robust
+estimate is computed from the fifth and first sextiles: e = (s5 - s1)/2.
+For unpacking purposes, e is treated exactly like the corresponding standard
+deviation of each respective variable.]
+----------
+
+Table 4b.  Unpacking variables (notation as for Table 4a).  Variables 20-23
+are unique to the MSG format; otherwise the information presented here follows
+Release 1, supp. A, Table A2-4b.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+No. Abbrev.  Variable              True value*     Units         Base    Coded
+===============================================================================
+            "Observed"
+    ------------------------------   
+ 1  S  sea surface temperature     -5.00:40.00     0.01 @C       -501   1:4501
+ 2  A  air temperature             -88.00:58.00    0.01 @C       -8801  1:14601
+ 3  W  scalar wind                 0.00:102.20     0.01 m/s      -1     1:10221
+ 4  U  vector wind eastward comp.  -102.20:102.20  0.01 m/s      -10221 1:20441
+ 5  V  vector wind northward comp. -102.20:102.20  0.01 m/s      -10221 1:20441
+ 6  P  sea level pressure          870.00:1074.60  0.01 hPa      86999  1:20461
+ 7  C  total cloudiness            0.0:8.0         0.1 okta      -1     1:81
+ 8  Q  specific humidity           0.00:40.00      0.01 g/kg     -1     1:4001
+
+            Derived
+    ------------------------------   
+ 9  R  relative humidity           0.0:100.0       0.1 %         -1     1:1001
+10  D  S - A                       -63.00:128.00   0.01 @C       -6301  1:19101
+11  E  (S - A)W                    -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 @C m/s     -10001 1:20001
+12  F  (saturation Q at S) - Q     -40.00:40.00    0.01 g/kg     -4001  1:8001
+13  G  FW                          -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 g/kg m/s  -10001 1:20001
+14  X  WU                          -3000.0:3000.0  0.1 m**2/s**2 -30001 1:60001
+15  Y  WV                          -3000.0:3000.0  0.1 m**2/s**2 -30001 1:60001
+16  I  UA                          -2000.0:2000.0  0.1 @C m/s    -20001 1:40001
+17  J  VA                          -2000.0:2000.0  0.1 @C m/s    -20001 1:40001
+18  K  UQ                          -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 g/kg m/s  -10001 1:20001
+19  L  VQ                          -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 g/kg m/s  -10001 1:20001
+20  M  FU                          -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 g/kg m/s  -10001 1:20001
+21  N  FV                          -1000.0:1000.0  0.1 g/kg m/s  -10001 1:20001
+22  B1 B = W**3 (high-resolution)  0.0:32767.0     0.5 m**3/s**3 -1     1:65535
+23  B2 B = W**3 (low-resolution)   0:327670        5   m**3/s**3 -1     1:65535
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+* Each individual observation is checked against the given range of true values
+(with B1 as an exception, as discussed below), and only individual observations
+within range are included in the statistics.  The total cloudiness code N=9 for
+"sky obscured or cloud amount cannot be estimated" is thereby always rejected.
+Generally other variables should fall within the true value ranges due to the
+application of trimming (e.g., Release 1, Table C2-3) and other preprocessing.
+B1 is handled differently, in that each observation of W**3 is checked only
+against the true value column for B2 (not B1).  Once final statistics for W**3
+have been calculated, the attempt is made to store each W**3 statistic in both
+B1 and B2.  Should a given statistic exceed the highest value allowed for B1,
+it is stored only in B2.  Note that in this case one statistic (e.g., m) may
+be stored in both B1 and B2, but another (e.g., s5) only in B2.
+----------
+
+Table 4c.  Unpacking mean longitude and latitude (x and y) of the observations,
+depending on box size (BSZ) (notation as for Table 4a).  After unpacking, it
+should be noted that the resultant true values corresponding to the lower- and
+upper-most coded values are not centered in the numerical intervals that they
+represent.  The lower portion of the table provides information about this
+issue, also listing "best" adjusted values.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  Abbr. Description                            True value   Units   Base  Coded
+===============================================================================
+             BSZ = 2 = 2   degree latitude x longitude:
+  x     mean longitude of observations         0.0:2.0      0.2@      -1   1:11
+  y     mean latitude of observations          0.0:2.0      0.2@      -1   1:11
+             BSZ = 1 = 1   degree latitude x longitude:
+  x     mean longitude of observations         0.0:1.0      0.1@      -1   1:11
+  y     mean latitude of observations          0.0:1.0      0.1@      -1   1:11
+             BSZ = 0 = 0.5 degree latitude x longitude (not currently used):
+  x     mean longitude of observations         0.0:0.5      0.05@     -1   1:11
+  y     mean latitude of observations          0.0:0.5      0.05@     -1   1:11
+
+Resultant (and best numeric fit) mappings of coded values into true values:
+        Coded     2-degree              1-degree              0.5-degree
+        -----    ------------          ------------          ------------
+          1      0.0   (0.05)          0.0   (0.02)          0.0   (0.01)
+          2      0.2                   0.1                   0.05
+          3      0.4                   0.2                   0.1
+          4      0.6                   0.3                   0.15
+          5      0.8                   0.4                   0.2
+          6      1.                    0.5                   0.25
+          7      1.2                   0.6                   0.3
+          8      1.4                   0.7                   0.35
+          9      1.6                   0.8                   0.4
+         10      1.8                   0.9                   0.45
+         11      2.0   (1.95)          1.0   (0.98)          0.5   (0.49)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rda_python_icoads/msg3.0_subset_readme.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+##################################################################################
+#
+#     Title : msg3.0_subset_readme.txt
+#    Author : Zaihua Ji, zji@ucar.edu
+#      Date : 08/30/2016
+#             2025-02-28 transferred to package rda_python_icoads from
+#             https://github.com/NCAR/rda-icoads.git
+#   Purpose : template readme file for sending users the info of subset request 
+#             of ICOADS 3.0 MSG data
+#
+#    Github : https://github.com/NCAR/rda-python-icoads.git
+#
+##################################################################################
+#
+---------------------------------------------------
+   ICOADS 3.0 MSG Subset Data Summary
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+File naming conventions
+-----------------------
+MSGresol.variable.stattype.startdate.enddate_nn.comp
+
+ resol     - MSG data resolution
+ variable  - variable identifier, see Table 1a in document file "msg"
+ stattype  - statistic type, either standard (std) or enhanced (enh),
+             see file "R3.0-stat_doc.pdf" for more information on std and enh
+ startdate - starting date, yyyymm
+ enddate   - ending date, yyyymm
+ nn        - file sequence number, nn = 1,2,....
+             {nn = 2 and larger will only exist for large data requests.
+              Time increases monotonically in file nn = 1, 2, 3, etc.}
+ comp      - data file compression suffix, Z = Unix compress, .gz = GNU Zip,
+             no suffix means no compression.
+
+
+File Content
+------------        
+Each subset data file contains only one variable and begins with two header lines.  An example is:
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Variable name : S , description : sea surface temperature              0.01 @C, format(i5,2i4,2f7.1,i5,10f8.2)
+ YEAR MON BSZ    BLO    BLA PID2      S1      S3      S5       M       N       S       D      HT       X       Y 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The first line identifies the variable (S in this case), the precision and units, 
+and Fortran format. The second line  shows data column labels. Other variables 
+and statistic definition are found in the document file "msg" in Tables 1a and 1b.
+
+Lines three through the end of file are data records.  An example is:
+                                                           
+ 1960   1   2  310.0  -26.0    1   26.70   26.70   26.70   26.70    1.00    0.00   14.00    0.00    1.80    0.40
+ 1960   1   2  312.0  -26.0    1   25.05   25.60   26.20   25.64   23.00    0.87   16.00    0.30    1.20    0.80
+ 1960   1   2  314.0  -26.0    1   23.28   24.50   24.84   24.30    7.00    0.95   16.00    0.30    0.60    1.60
+ 1960   1   2  316.0  -26.0    1   25.62   26.10   26.58   26.08   11.00    0.44   16.00    0.50    1.00    1.00
+
+Things to NOTE:
+
+   1) Only boxes that have observations will have data records.  NO
+      interpolation is done to fill in temporal or spatial data gaps.
+
+   2) Reference longitude and latitude (BLO, BLA) refer to the south
+      west corner of the 2x2 or 1x1 box.  Longitude is always measured
+      in east (E) coordinates, i.e. (0-360).
+
+   3) The mean location of the observations within the box is determined
+      by, mean longitude = BLO + X, mean latitude = BLA + Y.
+
+
+Supporting documentation files
+------------------------------
+R3.0-stat_doc.pdf - general description of various COADS statistic products,
+                    resolutions, and available time periods
+
+msg               - specific description of the MSG data product
+
+
+Variables Selected
+------------------
+See document file 'msg' for details.
+
+__VARLIST__
+
+ Subsetting Summary
+ ------------------
+ user name                :  __USER__
+ latitude limits(+N,-S)   :  __LATS__
+ longitude limits(+E only):  __LONS__
+ date limits(yyyymm)      :  __DATES__
+ data resolution          :  __RESOL__
+ statistic type           :  __PTYPE__
+ records input            :  __INRECS__
+ records output           :  __OUTRECS__
+ size input               :  __INSIZES__
+ size output              :  __OUTSIZES__
+