Description of the Argo GDAC File Checks: Data Format and Consistency Checks

Every Argo data filesubmitted by a DAC for distribution on the GDAC has its format and data consistency checkedby the ArgoFileChecker. Two types of checksare applied: 1. Format checks. Ensures the file formatsmatch the Argostandards precisely. 2. Data consistency checks. Additional data consistency checksare performed on a file after it passes the format checks. These checksdo not duplicate any of the quality control checksperformed elsewhere. These checkscan be thought of as “ sanity checks” to ensure that the data are consistent with each other. The data consistency checksenforce data standards and ensure that certain data values are reasonable and/or consistent with other information in the files. Examples of the “data standard” checksare the “mandatory parameters” defined for meta- data filesand the technical parameter names in technical data files. Files with format or consistency errors are rejected by the GDAC and are not distributed. Less serious problems will generate warnings and the file will still be distributed on the GDAC. Reference Tablesand Data Standards: Many of the consistency checksinvolve comparing the data to the published reference tablesand data standards. These tables are documented in the User’s Manual. (The FileChecker implements “text versions” of these tables.)