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20020508: unidata access (cont.)

>From: Max Bleiweiss <address@hidden>
>Organization: NMSU
>Keywords: 200204221849.g3MInAa13033 IDD

Hi Max,

re: what is it you are interested in getting from Unidata

>After reviewing the documentation, here is what I would like to do:

>I need access to NOGAPS data to run MM5 in an operational mode.

I want to make it very clear that the Unidata IDD is not to be
considered as an operational source of data.  A best effort is made to
insure that things work properly at all times, but the IDD and other
Unidata services are strictly for research and educational use.  You
can learn more about this point in the General Guidelines section of
our Data Usage Guidelines at:

http://unidata.ucar.edu/data/data_usage.html

If you need an operational feed of critical data, you are advised to
investigate use of a commercial data provider.  I don't know where this
would leave you with regards to the NOGAPS data, since I believe that
it is not available through commercial vendors (I could be wrong on
this point, however).

>My most
>immediate use for the MM5 is to use the regular grid of surface variables
>as input to "successive corrections" along with surface "observations" to
>distribute the observations to a regular grid.  Therefore, I would also
>need access to daily surface observations.  Eventually, the region over
>which I wish to process the data are for the "box" defined by 20N to 40N
>and 115W to 95W.  At this point, I am not sure what I would have to offer
>in return;  and, as I am new to all of this, I have much to learn.  Does
>this sound reasonable?

This sounds perfectly reasonable.  What you are going to want to do
at this point is:

o register as a Unidata User (URL in previous email)

o work your way through the download, build (if you do not want to install
  a binary version of the LDM, installation, and configuration of the
  LDM

o request a NOGAPS feed from FNMOC

o get assigned an upstream feed site for the surface observation data
  you require

>I do have a new LINUX machine with limited
>capability that would be used in this endeavor.

A couple of quick comments are in order at this point: we support use
of RedHat Linux, and recommend use of 7.1 at this time.  Also, our
experience is that sites that start getting data via the IDD rapidly
expand the volume of data they request from their upstream feed sites.
If your machine is short of resources at the outset, it will invariably
become usable as your desire for more data grows.  In particular, you
should make sure you have enough disk space for the data you want to
ingest (a few GBs should suffice to start); that your machine has
enough RAM (I would consider that being short on memory would mean that
you have less than 256 MB; you can get away with less, but your
performance _especially on Linux_ may suffer); and that it is fast
enough to handle the data that you want to ingest and process (modern
machines that have at least a 500 Mhz processor are sufficient).

Please make sure that your machine has all OS patches applied to it,
especially ones that deal with security.

As soon as you provide us informtion on the name/IP of the machine you
intend to use for running the LDM, please let Jeff Weber know (he is
CCed on this email), so he can arrange an upstream feed site for
you/NMSU.  Jeff can also provide you with the contact information for
someone at FNMOC so you can arrange for a NOGAPS feed.

>Max
>Max P. Bleiweiss                      voice:  505.678.3504 
>U.S. Army Research Laboratory         fax:  505.678.2432
>AMSRL-CI-EW                           e-mail:  address@hidden
>White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico USA 88002

Cheers,

Tom Yoksas