This directory contains the 1-degree binned monthly means and number of
observations per bin used to derive the FSU3 fluxes. The data are gridded in a
manner so that the grid cell is centered on the whole degree in latitude and
longitude. For example, a grid with lat=1 would contain data from [0.5 to 1.5) 
degrees.

The individual monthly netCDF files are separated into yearly directories. 
Within each directory you will find 3 types of monthly files:

VOSYYYYMM.nc		- Ship observations
driftingYYYYMM.nc	- Drifting buoy observations
mooredYYYYMM.nc		- Moored buoy observations

To construct the FSU3 we separate VOS, drifting, and moored observations so that
we can independently weight these data in our variational analysis. The
processing procedure to create the gridded input files can be found online at: 

http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/RVSMDC/FSUFluxes/technical.php

The present version of the moored files also has been filtered to remove any
monthly mean that was derived from 4 or fewer observations. We found this to be
an effective tool to eliminate mis-identified platforms (e.g., ship tracks) from
the moored files. Even if a mooring was removed that was reporting 4 of fewer
observations, we feel this mooring would be unrepresentative of the mean
conditions over month.

Missing values are set to -9999. The number of observations is set to zero when
the value is missing.

These files may be replaced by more recent versions without warning. An update
history will be provided in this readme.

Update history:
The first version of the 1-degree input files was placed on line on 11 January 
2008.

9 Febrary 2011: Uploaded the 1-degree input files for the years 2005-2007. These
data were run using the ICOADS version 2.5 (an update since the pre-2005 years
were run). ICOADS version 2.5 is stored in a new ASCII format (the international
maritime meteorological archive format) which required COAPS to update our code
to handle the new format and some minor modifications to the way quality flags
were stored. We made every effort to match the quality flag handling used in the
pre-2005 files. Otherwise, the processing of these data are identical to
previous versions.

12 December 2011: Noted an error in the units for the specific humidity.
Although the units listed in the netCDF files are g/kg, the actual values of
specific humidity are in kg/kg. We are working to change the units in the netCDF
files and will replace the files when the change is made. 

23 December 2011: Units of specific humidity (spec_hum) have been corrected to
kg/kg and the files have been updated on the ftp site. If you are using files
downloaded prior to this date, you may wish to download the corrected files.

Questions or Comments: winds@coaps.fsu.edu

SRS - 12 December 2011