Section III. DATA PROCESSING 

 1. Meteorological and Oceanographic Variables 



a. Tabular Output 



As stated, the objective o f this report is to make the data 

 available for study in tabular and graphical form. Data printouts of 

 this type are available for all sites participating in this program. 



Because of the tremendous volume of data to be collected, forms ap- 

 plicable to optical scanning techniques are used to record the variables. 

 An IBM 1232 Optical Mark Page Reader is used to convert the data on the 

 scanning forms to punched cards. Each card contains, in addition to 

 various meteorological and oceanographic variables, a code number 

 identifying the site or location at which data was collected and the 

 date the data was recorded. 



Computers tabulate all the data and generate a monthly printout for 

 each site. Appendix B is an example of the computer printout. This data 

 was collected at Manchester State Beach (identification code No. 05023) 

 for the period April through December 1968. The data is presented as 

 it was recorded on CERC Form 32 without any corrections or editing. The 

 computer printout page has been reduced to fit in this report . 



Information concerning the spacing (in feet) of rip currents and 

 beach cusps appears on CERC Form 32 but is not included in the example 

 printout. The presence or absence of these phenomena is recorded by 

 filling in the space provided on the recording form. However, the 

 spacing is not suitable for machine scanning, and the LEO forms must 

 be manually scanned to retrieve this information. CERC Form 32 has 

 space for any remarks the observer thinks pertinent. These remarks must 

 also be manually scanned for retrieval. 



b. Graphical Output 



A graphic portrayal of the littoral currents, beach charac- 

 teristics, and wind and wave direction has been developed for each site. 

 The graphical output was entirely drawn and written by computer apparatus 

 on tracing paper. The graphs were reduced to page size for this report. 

 These graphs, as described below, are presented in Appendix C. 



The plot at the top of each graph shows the magnitude and direction 

 of the littoral current on a daily basis. The littoral current is de- 

 fined as "the inshore current moving essentially parallel to the shore, 

 usually generated by waves breaking at an angle to the shoreline".* 



U. S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center (1966), "Shore Protection 

 Planning and Design", 3rd Edition, Coastal Engineering Research Center 

 Technical Report No. 4, Washington, D. C. 



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