[Met_help] adding a new data source

[John Halley Gotway]

Hey Joe,

I wanted to let you know that I got some good answers to my questions from
the Iberdrola folks.  I'm pretty busy this week and next with the MET
tutorial (part of the WRF tutorial) and a few other tasks.

One thing I did notice about the observations is that we have the station
ID name, but are missing the lat/lon and elevation for the station.  When
reformatting these observations for use in MET, you'll need to retrieve
the lat/lon and elevation for each station from some other file or lookup
table.

I'll take a closer look at your data when I get a chance.  You sent me
some sample observations, but could you also send me a sample forecast
file you'd like to verify?  I want to see what the vertical levels look
like for your forecasts.

Thanks,
John

> Hi John,
>
> Just to be sure about some of these questions, I think we better ask
> the Iberdrola guys...
> I was assuming that we would only need the "avg" values for
> verification. The other
> quantities may have more relevance for data assimilation.
>
> Justin & Mike,
>
> Could you please address some of these questions below. I've
> reattached the file
> that I sent to John. We need clarification on some variables so MET
> can read the files
> correctly.
>
> -joe
>
>
> On Jul 14, 2009, at 2:29 PM, John Halley Gotway wrote:
>
>> Joe,
>>
>> I took a look at the sample file you sent, but I'm pretty confused
>> about
>> the data.
>>
>> In the header for that file, it seems to indicate that the wind
>> speeds are
>> measured in a particular direction.  For example, the wind speeds at
>> 30m,
>> 50m, and 60m are relative to 270 degrees.  At 59m, wind speeds are
>> relative to 240 degrees.  And at 2m and 3m, they're relative to 360
>> degrees.  Am I understanding that correctly?
>>
>> When verifying wind speed, MET currently looks in the forecast file
>> for a
>> wind speed record.  If one exists, it uses it.  If not, it grabs U
>> and V,
>> rotates from grid-relative to earth-relative, if necessary, and
>> computes
>> the wind speed field from U and V.  But are we able to compare these
>> wind
>> speeds to the observations that are defined "relative" to a particular
>> direction?
>>
>> Do you see a problem here?
>>
>> For the vertical levels relative to 360, do you actually want to be
>> comparing to the V-component of wind?  And for those relative to
>> 270, do
>> you want to be comparing to the U-component?
>>
>> And just to clarify...
>> Are the "Anemometer" speeds in m/s?
>> Are the "Wind Vane" values directions where 0 degrees = north?
>> What is a "Pyranometer" and what do the values mean?
>>
>> And do you want to just use the "avg" value as the observation or
>> would
>> you prefer to take into account the other measures like min, max,
>> std, and
>> dq?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>>
>
>