[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Displaying netCDF data

Hello,

I have just successfully installed the latest netCDF decoders package and
I'm creating RUC 40km netCDF files via the gribtonc program.  I was
wondering if anybody uses McIDAS or GrADS to display netCDF files that have
been created from gribtonc?  I cannot seem to set things up properly in
order to get the data to display in either one of these display packages.
It seems that McIDAS requires a config file (.cfg) in order to display NCDF
datasets and GrADS requires a control file (.ctl) in order to display netCDF
files.  Does anybody have any example McIDAS netCDF config files and/or
GrADS netcdf control files that would work with netCDF files that have been
created with gribtonc?  If not, what display program are you using to
display the data other than IDV?  I can display the files successfully in
IDV, so I know that the data are okay.

Thanks,
Brian Hoeth
Spaceflight Meteorology Group
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
281-483-3246

-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden
[mailto:address@hidden] On Behalf Of Robb Kambic
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 11:28 AM
To: address@hidden
Subject: New Release

hiya,

I am pleased to announce a new release of the netCDF decoders package
(decoders-4.0.0.tar.Z).

This release has so many changes that it warranted a change in the major
release number to 4.0.0

Summary:

- reference to perl's location changed /usr/local/bin/perl -> /usr/bin/perl
- perl decoders pqact entries argument yyyymm removed
- perl decoders have a new naming convention, ie
Surface_METAR_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc
- perl decoders have (-n old) flag for old naming convention, new is default
- perl decoders have -h flag for hourly files, daily files is default
- perl decoders manage log files to only keep 3 logs
- perl decoders station tables updated
- perl decoders bug fixes
- metar.cdl.new1 changed to added global attributes and to change some
variable
  names to be more descriptive.
- removed java Grib decoder jars etc, it's has it own release package now
  called GRIBJava.tar.gz.  Look at the Decoders web page
- gribtonc cdl files gfs_211.cdl, eta_211.cdl, and ruc2_236.cdl updated
- prepended model, coverage, and resolution to netCDF file names
- attached is decoders.pqact that contains the ldm pqact decoder entries
- installation requires the shut down of the ldm and the removal of *.log
and
  *.lst files otherwise netCDF files will not receive data for one day.

Decoders homepage:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/decoders/

Decoders downloads:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/decoders/index.jsp


Details:

Since many of the os's store the perl binaries in /usr/bin/, the location of
perl was changed perl from /usr/local/bin/perl to /usr/bin/perl. If your
system has different perl versions installed at the different locations,
then one should check that the netcdf-perl package is installed at
/usr/bin/perl.
One method of checking would be to run a perl decoder from the command
line,ie

% metar2nc metar.cdl data < <raw data file>

If the command line test fails, then one should install netcdf-perl on the
/usr/bin/perl installation. A temporary fix would be to change /usr/bin/perl
to /usr/local/bin/perl in the perl decoders.

The perl decoders pqact entries have the yyyymm argument removed because it
caused multiple decoders to run at the end of the month and possibly miss
data. The yyyymm inquires are now done inside the decoders.

The perl decoders have a new naming convention, ie
Surface_METAR_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc, Surface_Buoy_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc,
Surface_Synoptic_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc and Upperair_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc Since some
users would like to retain the old naming convention there is a flag "-n
old" to revert back to the old convention.

The perl decoders create files on a daily basis verses a hourly time period.
Since some users would like to have hourly files, a flag -h has been added
to write hourly files for the all perl decoders, the default is a daily
file.

The perl decoders managed log files to only keep 3 logs. When installing the
decoders it is wise to shut down the ldm and then to delete all the log
files and the *.lst files.  If the the ldm is not shut down, it is possible
to not receive data in the netCDF files for one day.

The following station tables have been updated: sfmetar.tbl, snworld.tbl and
systns_upc.tbl. If users know the information about missing table entries,
sent the information to address@hidden and they will be added to
the tables and made available in the next release.

Bugs:

- fixed bug in syn2nc decoder that returned wind DIR greater than 900
- buoy2nc decoder now store multiple reports for same time period
- metar2nc decoder had regular expression fixes
- changed testdata.wmo to testdata.wmo.bak in make files
- metar.cdl.new1 was changed to added global attributes and change some
variable names to be more descriptive.

    :title = "METAR Data from NWS";
    :version = 2.3;
    :processor =  "metar2nc  version v1.2";
    :Conventions = "Unidata Observation Dataset v1.0";
    :standard_name_vocabulary = "CF-1.0";
    :description = "Metar Data from NWS distributed through the Unidata IDD
    realtime datastream. 1 day's worth of data";
    :time_coordinate = "time_observation";
    :cdm_datatype = "Station";
    :stationDimension = "station";
    :station_id = "station_id";
    :station_description = "station_description";
    :latitude_coordinate = "latitude";
    :longitude_coordinate = "longitude";
    :altitude_coordinate = "altitude";
    :geospatial_lat_max = "90.0";
    :geospatial_lat_min = "-90.0";
    :geospatial_lon_max = "360.0";
    :geospatial_lon_min = "0.0";
    :time_coverage_start = "xxxxxxxxxx";
    :time_coverage_end = "xxxxxxxxxx";
    :observationDimension = "recNum";

variable changes: lastChild, numChildren, parent_index, prevChild, and
xfields

Thanks to all the users who sent in bug reports.

Removed java Grib decoder jars, it's has it own release package now called
GRIBJava.tar.gz.  Look at the Decoders web page

The cdl files gfs_211.cdl, eta_211.cdl, and ruc2_236.cdl were updated to add
new parmeters and levels.

The gribtonc netCDF file names have been changed to be more descriptive by
prepending the model, coverage, and resolution to the file. ie
NAM_CONUS_80km_yyyymmdd_hh00.nc One can use the old pqact entries to retain
the old naming convention.

As always send support questions to address@hidden

Robb...
============================================================================
===
Robb Kambic                                Unidata Program Center
Software Engineer III                      Univ. Corp for Atmospheric
Research
address@hidden             WWW: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
============================================================================
===