INTRODUCTION 



The primary purpose of this manual is to provide the necessary- 

 instructions and conversion tables to code and keypunch reduced physical^ 

 chemical^ and meteorological data collected at oceanographic stations in 

 accordance with the storage-retrieval system developed by the National 

 Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) in conjunction with the oceanographic 

 coramixnity. 



The punch card format and codes described in this manual are based 

 on the report of the Eastern Pacific Oceanic Conference (EPOC) Committee 

 on Machine Processing for Oceanographic Data; the International Council 

 for the Exploration of the Sea (iCES) oceanographic station card format j 

 the Canadian Oceanographic Data Centre (CODCj; and the card format 

 originally used at the U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office (formerly the 

 U. S. NaAry Hydrographic Office). 



The secondary purpose of this manual is to acquaint the oceanographic 

 community with the format of the processed oceanographic station data in 

 the NODC archives. 



Part II of this manual^ now in preparation, will contain detailed 

 descriptions of the formulas and techniques used for the interpolations 

 and computations performed by the NODC. 



Part III of this manual will contain descriptions of the quality 

 control methods and criteria used in the processing of oceanographic 

 station data. 



