Format description of blokq.dat
Brent Archinal

Abstract:

Table of contents:

1   Overview

2   Header section

3   Comments section

4   Station catalog section

5   Ocean Loading Catalog section

6   Source Catalog section

1   Overview

Records beginning with "$$" in the first two columns are considered comments and are ignored. There are five major sections in the blokq.dat file: I- Header II- Comments III- Station Catalog IV- Ocean Loading Catalog V- Source Catalog

2   Header section

This section contains four lines (maximum 80 characters per line). The two lines of data (line 2 & 4) are considered history entries. --------- Line 1- comment line to be given as follows: $$ FOLLOWING LINE IS SKELETON FILE DESCRIPTION --------- Line 2- file description line, an example follows: SKELETON 93SEP22: Updated SC-VLBA position -DG- --------- Line 3- comment line to be given as follows: $$ FOLLOWING LINE IS VERSION HISTORY ENTRY --------- Line 4- version history entry line, an example follows: SKELETON 93SEP22: Updated SC-VLBA position -DG-

3   Comments section

All lines in this section are comment lines about changes made to this file periodically, each line preceded by "$$" in the first two columns (maximum 80 characters per line). --------- A "header" comment at the beginning of this section should be as follows: $$ Add comments on changes below - date on last line added!!!!!!!!!!!! --------- The ending comment line for this section should be as follows: $$// This line needed for UNIX version of skeleton program in order $$ to properly skip over math constants. 90DEC07 -DG- $$--------------------------------------------------------------- ---

4   Station catalog section

The station coordinate and antenna data is given as follows: One line per station required (maximum of 80 characters used). Description Columns Read Notes Format Station name 5-12 A8 E.g. "CHLBOLTN". X-coordinate 14-28 D15.3 E.g. " +4008310.312D0". Units: meters. Y-coordinate 30-44 D15.3 E.g. " -100650.866D0". Units: meters. Z-coordinate 46-60 D15.3 E.g. " +4943794.642D0". Units: meters. Axis type 62 I1 "1"- HADEC, "2"- X/Y-FIXED AXIS N-S, "3"- AZEL, "4"- X/Y-FIXED AXIS E-W, "5"- RICHMOND--(HADEC at MD latitude moved to Florida), e.g. "1". Axis offset 64-70 F7.4 E.g. " 6.7056". Units: meters. Zenith atmosphere 71-75 F5.1 E.g. " 7.5". delay Units: nanoseconds. Default tectonic 77-80 A4 E.g. "NOAM". plate name --------- The ending lines for this section should be as follows: // $$ $$---------------------------------------------------------------

5   Ocean Loading Catalog section

For each station, one line for station name (maximum of 10 characters used, with the first two characters being blanks) and six lines for data required (maximum of 78 characters used). --------- Description Columns Read Notes Format Station name line: Station name 3-10 A8 E.g. "CHLBOLTN". First data line: Vertical tidal 2-78 11F7.5 These should be in the amplitudes order of M2, S2, N2, K2, K1, O1, P1, Q1, MF, MM, and SSA. E.g. " .00199". Units: meters. Second data line: East-west tidal 2-78 11F7.5 E.g. " .00637". amplitudes Units: meters. Third data line: North-sourth tidal 2-78 11F7.5 E.g. " .00091". amplitudes Units: meters. Fourth data line: Vertical tidal 2-78 11F7.1 Same order as amplitudes. phases E.g. " 322.2". Units: degrees. Fifth data line: East-west tidal 2-78 11F7.1 E.g. " 135.2". phases Units: degrees. Sixth data line: North-south tidal 2-78 11F7.1 E.g. " -6.2". amplitudes Units: degrees. --------- The ending lines for this section should be as follows: // $$ $$----------------------------------------------------------

6   Source Catalog section

One line per source required (maximum of 77 characters used). --------- Description Columns Read Notes Format Source name 5-12 A8 E.g. "0003+380". RA - hours 15-16 I2 Right ascension of star, e.g. "23". Units: hours. RA - minutes 18-19 I2 Right ascension of star, e.g. "42". Units: minutes. RA - seconds 21-29 F9.6 Right ascension of star, e.g. "16.679183". Units: seconds. DEC - degrees 35-37 I3 Declination of star, e.g. "-26". Units: degrees. DEC - minutes 39-40 I2 Declination of star, e.g. "10". Units: arcminutes. DEC - seconds 42-50 F9.6 Declination of star, e.g. "59.321119". Units: arcseconds. Source reference 58-77 A20 Source reference. --------- There is a section of comments following the source catalog with a maximum of 80 characters used per line. These comments expand on the meaning of the "source reference" information in the source catalog. The purpose of the comments is to explain any addition or update on a source position. For sources not yet observed, these references should include a reference to the publication or personal communication that the information about the radio source came from. For sources that have been observed (and in particular a new position determined), the experiment name and its associated database keyname and stations participating should be listed. It is also useful to indicate the affected radio source or sources in these comments - this is important since later updates may change the source reference for a particular source. --------- The last line in the file should be as follows: //


Questions and comments about this guide should be sent to:

Leonid Petrov ( pet@leo.gsfc.nasa.gov )

Last update: 2000.07.25