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This section provides an overview of the file formats supported by Source. Table 1 lists the supported time-series data file formats. Raster data file formats are listed This section provides an overview of the file formats supported by Source. Table 1 lists the supported time-series data file formats. Raster data file formats are listed in Table 2. Several GIS, graphics and other formats that are also recognised by Source are listed in Table 3 but are not otherwise described in this guide. Click on the link associated with each file extension to go directly to information about that time series.

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TimeseriesDataFormats TimeseriesDataFormats

Table 1. Text-based time-series data file formats

Table 2. Text-based raster data file formats

Table 3. Other supported file formats

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Annual stochastic time series Annual stochastic time series

Annual stochastic time series

The .AR1 format contains replicates of annual time-series data generated using the AR(1) stochastic method. The file format is shown in Table 4. This format is not the same as the AR(1) format (.GEN) generated and exported by the Stochastic Climate Library.

Table 4. AR1 data file format

where:

desc is a title describing the collection site

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Arcinfo grid coverages can be converted to .ASC files using ESRI’s GRIDASCII command. ASC files can be imported into ArcGIS using the ASCIIGRID command.

Table 5. .ASC data file format

where:

nc is the number of columns

nr is the number of rows

xref is either XLLCENTER (centre of the grid) or XLLCORNER (lower left corner of grid)

yref is either YLLCENTER (centre of the grid) or YLLCORNER (lower left corner of grid)

(x,y) are the coordinates of the origin (by centre or lower left corner of the grid)

size is the cell side length

sentinel is a null data string (eg -9999)

value is a data point. There should be nc × nr data points.

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AWBM daily time series AWBM daily time series

AWBM daily time series

An AWBM daily time series format file (.AWB) is an ASCII text file containing daily time series data formatted as shown in Table 6. Dates (the year and month) were optional in the original AWBM file format, but are not optional in the format used in Source.

Table 6. AWB data file format

where:

ndays is the number of days in the month (28..31)

value is the data point corresponding with a given day in the month (ie. ndays columns)

year is the year of observation (four digits)

month is the month of observation (one or two digits).

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SWAT BSB time series SWAT BSB time series

SWAT BSB time series

A .BSB is a line-based fixed-format file, typically used by applications written in FORTRAN. The header line gives the fields for the file with subsequent lines providing data for each basin to be used for each time-step. The format is shown in Table 7. For   For more details, refer to the SWAT 2012 input/output manual (Arnold et al., 2012).

Table 7. .BSB data file format (first 7 data columns only)

where:

id is the basin identifier (both SUB and the id are text4-digit integer, left -alignedaligned, e.g. "1")

gis is the GIS value (8-digit integer, right-aligned, eg. "1")

month is the month of observation (4-digit integer, right-aligned, eg. "0")

area is the basin area in square kilometers (real, right aligned, eg "1.14170E+02")

precip is the basin precipitation in millimetres (real, right aligned, eg "1.2000").

snomelt is the basin snow melt in millimetires (real, right aligned, eg "0.111E+01")

pet is the basin potential evapotranspiration (PET) in millimetres (real, right aligned, eg "10.2000900E+01").

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BOM 6 minute time series BOM 6 minute time series

BOM 6 minute time series

A .BSM (also .PLUV) is a fixed-format file, typically supplied by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for 6 minute pluviograph data. The file has two header lines (record types 1 and 2) followed by an arbitrary number of records of type 3. The formats of record types 1..3 are shown in Table 8, Table 9 and Table 10, respectively.

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Table 8. .BSM data file format (record type 1)

where:

snum is the station number

blank ASCII space characters

Table 9. .BSM data file format (record type 2)

where:

snum is the station number

year is the year of the observation (four digits)

month is the month of the observation (one or two digits, right-aligned, space padded)

day is the date of the observation (one or two digits, right-aligned, space padded)

rain_i is a rainfall data point as explained below.

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Comma delimited time series Comma delimited time series

Comma delimited time series

A .CDT comma delimited time-series format file is an ASCII text file that contains regular (periodic) time-series data. The file type commonly has no header line but, if required, it can support a single line header of "Date,Time series 1".

You can use the .CDT format to associate observations with a variety of time interval specifications. Table 10 shows how to structure annual data, Table 11 how to specify daily data aggregated at the monthly level, and Table 12 the more traditional daily time series (one date, one observation). Table 13 explains how to supply data in six-minute format.

Table 10. .CDT data file format (annual time series)

where:

year is the year of observation (four digits, eg. 2011)

value is the observed value (eg. 9876).

Table 11. .CDT data file format (time series with monthly data)

where:

mm is the month of observation (two digits, eg. 09)

yyyy is the year of observation (four digits, eg. 2011)

value is the observed value (eg. 2600).

Table 12. .CDT data file format (daily time series with daily data)

where:

date is the date of observation in ISO format (eg. 2000-12-31)

value is the observed value (eg. 2600).

Table 13. .CDT data file format (six-minute time series)

where:

date is the date of observation in ISO format (eg. 2000-12-31)

time is the time of observation in hours and minutes (eg 23:48)

value is the observed value (eg. 10).

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Comma-separated value Comma-separated value

Comma-separated value

A comma separated value or .CSV file is an ASCII text file that contains data in a variety of representations. When a .CSV contains regular (periodic) time-series data, there are at least two columns of data. The first contains a time-stamp and the remaining columns contain data points associated with the time-stamp. The format is shown in Table 14. All columns are separated using commas. Annual data can be entered using the notation 01/yyyy, where yyyy is a year. Header lines in .CSV files are usually optional.

Table 14. .CSV data file format

where:

desc is a title for the column (header rows are often optional)

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Table 15. .DAT data file format

where:

blank is ASCII space characters

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Table 16. IQQM data file format (header)

where:

title is a string describing the file’s contents

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Table 17. IQQM data file format (table)

where:

year defines the year implied for the following table (yyyy)

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Table 18. IQQM data file format (quality indicators)

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MFM monthly rainfall files MFM monthly rainfall files

MFM monthly rainfall files

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Table 19. .MRF data file format

where:

desc is a string describing the file’s contents (eg "Swiftflow River @ Wooden Bridge")

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Table 20. MWASC data file format

where:

nc is the number of columns

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A SWAT daily rainfall time-series format file (.PCP) is an ASCII text file that contains daily time-series rainfall data. The file has a four line header followed by daily data values as shown in Table 21. For more details, refer to the SWAT 2012 input/output manual (Arnold et al., 2012).

Table 21. .PCP data file format

where:

desc is a string describing the file’s contents (eg. "Precipitation Input File")

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vvv.v is the data value expressed as four digits with one decimal place. Missing data is written as "-99.0"

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Space delimited time series Space delimited time series

Space delimited time series

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Table 22. .SDT data file format

where:

year is the year of observation (four digits)

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Table 23. SILO 5 data file format

where:

year is the year of observation (four digits)

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Table 24. SILO 8 data file format

where:

maxt is the maximum temperature

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Table 25. .TAPESG data file format

where:

(x,y) are coordinates

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Table 26. Tarsier daily time series

Table 27. TTS data file format

where:

header is a 21-line header. Refer to Table 32

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The Climate data import tool will import any grids that follow the ESRI ASCIIGrid format and are in latitude-longitude projection. Therefore, it replaces the need to use a large set of Data Drills (eg. 10,000) by importing ASCIIGrid files of the catchment directly. The main benefits of ASCIIGrids are that the files are smaller and easier to manage, and Silo can usually supply them more easily than thousands of Data Drills.

Table 28 shows what type of gridded data file format can be used for input data in the Climate data import tool.

Table 28. Climate data import tool (gridded data file formats)

File format	Rainfall	PET
ASCIIGrids
Climate Atlas of Australia
QDNR Silo
Silo 2006 standard
Silo comma delimited
Silo Morton

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Table 29. Albers projection parameter values (Australia & QLD)

For importing all other file formats, only the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone needs to be defined. The UTM is a geographic coordinate system that provides locations on the Earth’s surface. It divides the Earth into 60 zones, from West to East. Australia falls into zones 49-56. Refer to the Geosceience Australia website (www.ga.gov.au) for details about the UTM zones in Australia.

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Figure 2. Importing ASCIIGrid files (case 2)

References

Arnold, J.G., J.R. Kiniry, R. Srinivasan, J.R. Williams, E.B. Haney, S.L. Neitsch (2012) Soil & Water Assessment Tool: Input/Output Documentation Version 2012. Texas Water Resources Institute. TR-439.