no. 3609 DATA PROCESSING SEABIRDS — KING, WATSON, GOULD 



17 



day cards. Only those sightings that were made within the time 

 interval on the fractional day card are flagged for special parametric 

 analysis. Because the data are flagged on the basis of times of 

 observation, the computer does not require geographic information 

 to define the area; thus, bird densities may be computed for areas 

 of any size or shape. These areas may be mutually exclusive or may 

 overlap wholly or in part (fig. 10). The computer also will provide 

 density figures based on total observations made within a given area 

 during all fractional days within a requested time span. Areas may 



Figure 10. — Three overlapping areas along a day's cruise path with the coded representa- 

 tions for various subareas. All sightings made within the time the ship was in the square 

 are flagged with a 1 in first column of the SPA field; those in the circle and the triangle, 

 with l's in the second and third columns respectively. 



be selected for special parametric analysis either before the data 

 have been entered on punch cards or at any future time by fractioniz- 

 ing the appropriate day cards. 



The revised intermediate coded sheet for the day card is shown in 

 figure 3. 



Plankton measurements were made only once daily on the Cromwell 

 cruises, but in other programs plankton abundance may be sampled 

 more frequently. The plankton field (62-64), therefore, should be 

 moved to the environment card where it would occupy columns 69-71. 



