[Dart-dev] [3245] DART/branches/nancy_work/obs_sequence/merge_obs_seq.html: My test branch; *not done* start of being able to

[nancy at subversion.ucar.edu]

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Modified: DART/branches/nancy_work/obs_sequence/merge_obs_seq.html
===================================================================
--- DART/branches/nancy_work/obs_sequence/merge_obs_seq.html	2008-03-07 23:25:06 UTC (rev 3244)
+++ DART/branches/nancy_work/obs_sequence/merge_obs_seq.html	2008-03-07 23:27:27 UTC (rev 3245)
@@ -59,16 +59,35 @@
 <H2>OVERVIEW</H2>
 
 <P>
-This program can merge two or more compatible observation sequences 
-and create a single observation sequence file with the 
-combined observations. The number of input files, their filenames,
-and the output filename are read from the namelist file.
+This program merges one or more compatible observation sequences 
+into a single observation sequence file.
+The number of input files, their filenames,
+and the output filename are read from the
+<em class=code>&#38;merge_obs_seq_nml</em> namelist 
+in file <em class=file>input.nml</em>.
 <BR><BR>
-This program is also a convenient way to convert observation sequence
-files from ASCII to (more compact) binary, or vice-versa. Simply specify
-that there is 1 input file. The output format is specified by the 
+The observations copied to the output file can be restricted in
+time by setting the namelist items for first and last observation
+timestamps (in Gregorian days and seconds).
+All observations before the start time and 
+after the last time will be removed before merging. 
+It is ok for some of the input
+files to have no observations in the requested time range, and 
+the files can have overlapping time ranges.
+<BR><BR>
+<em class=unix>merge_obs_seq</em> does several things which can
+be useful even when there is only a single input file.
+The program will always sort the output observation
+sequence in increasing time order, and will not copy
+any unreferenced observations from the input sequence. 
+It can also be used to convert an observation sequence file from
+ASCII to (more compact) binary, or vice-versa. 
+The output format is specified by the 
 <em class=code>&#38;obs_sequence_nml</em> namelist 
 in file <em class=file>input.nml</em>.
+To process a single input file,
+set the number of input files to 1, and merge from an existing filename
+into a new file.
 <BR><BR>
 This routine also uses a MUCH faster insertion method than the
 versions that used only two input files. A test on
@@ -79,13 +98,6 @@
 one starts looking to insert the next observation. Consequently, inserting
 and appending are now equally fast. Snappy!
 <BR><BR>
-<em class=unix>merge_obs_seq</em> can be used to sort observations in an
-observation sequence as well as physically delete broken nodes from 
-the sequence. The only trick is to merge with an empty 
-<em class=file>obs_seq</em> file. The empty <em class=file>obs_seq</em> 
-must be specified first in the list of files to merge, it has to have a header, 
-and first = last = -1. Pretty Sneaky.
-<BR><BR>
 Sequence files can be trimmed, or partial files combined by setting the
 namelist entries for first and last observation timestamps (in Gregorian
 days and seconds).
@@ -117,7 +129,7 @@
  '&#38;' and terminating with a slash '/'.
  </P>
  <div class=namelist><pre>
- <em class=call>namelist / merge_obs_seq / </em> num_input_files, filename_seq,
+ <em class=call>namelist / merge_obs_seq_nml / </em> num_input_files, filename_seq,
   filename_out, first_obs_days, first_obs_seconds, last_obs_days, last_obs_seconds
  </pre></div>