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TSTool Documentation 2.1 Time Series Objects and Identifiers TSTool considers time series as objects that are queried, manipulated, viewed and output. A time series is defined as a series of date/time versus data pairs. Data generally consist of floating point values; however, time series may contain other data (e.g., data quality flags). TSTool treats time series as either regular interval (equal spacing of date/time) or irregular interval (e.g., infrequent measurements). Regular time series lend themselves to simpler storage and faster processing because date/time information only needs to be stored for the endpoints. TSTool defines each time series as having an interval base and multiplier (e.g., 1Month, 24Hour). In many cases, the multiplier is 1 and is not shown in output (e.g., Month rather than 1Month is shown). In addition to a period of record, interval, and data values, time series have attributes that include: • units (e.g., CFS) • data type (e.g., Streamflow) • data limits (the maximum, minimum, etc.) • description (generally a station or structure name) • missing data value (used internally to mark missing data and trigger data filling, often - 9 9 9 or in some cases NaN [Not a Number]) • comments (often station comments, if available) • genesis history (a list of comments about how the time series was created and manipulated) To manage time series, TSTool associates each time series with an identifier that uses the notation: Location.Source.Type.Interval.Scenario~InputType~InputName The first five parts (Location .Source .Type .Interval .Scenario) are used to identify time series, similar to a variable name. The last two parts (InputType~ InputName) are used indicate input information so that a time series can be located in a file or database, and also simplify the use of input types where more than one time series can be stored in the input (e.g., multiple time series in a file or database). The input information was introduced starting with TSTool version 05.04.00. A summary of input types that are currently supported or under development is listed in the following table (see the input type appendices for more information about how time series identifiers are formatted for specific input types). Features for these input types may or may not be available, depending on the TSTool configuration (see the TSTool Installation and Configuration appendix). The main constraint on whether an input type is considered for TSTool is that the input type should be a standard that is used in a relatively wide audience. By supporting general formats, TSTool can support the largest group of users and provide the most useful general features. Introduction - 2