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Re: CDL file problems for NCEP gribs

Hi Art,

You wrote:

> We're trying to use the Unidata decoders package (gribtocdl, gribtonc) to 
> convert NCEP gribs (as relayed by Unidata) into netcdf files.  However, 
> the gribtocdl program seems unable to use some of the levels and variables 
> available in the NCEP gribs and gribtonc ends up quitting with errors.

Are you using the recently released 4.0 decoders package described in
the email forwarded below that was sent to the decoders mailing list?

If so, please send reports of problems to address@hidden and
we will try to investigate them.  

--Russ

------- Forwarded Message

Date:    Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:28:13 -0600
From:    Robb Kambic <address@hidden>
To:      address@hidden
Subject: New Release

  This message is in MIME format.  The first part should be readable text,
  while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.
  Send mail to address@hidden for more info.

---559023410-1804928587-1128702493=:1056
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

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/
===============================================================================
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