[Met_help] [rt.rap.ucar.edu #42082] History for MODE for METv3.0, variables to verify

[RAL HelpDesk {for John Halley Gotway}]

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  Initial Request
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Hi,
I am a frequent user of METv2.0 and am working on switching to v3.0.  I
mostly use pcp_combine and MODE.  I noticed a significant change to how MODE
is run in terms of how to specify which variables to verify in the config
file.  For version 2.0, I used APCP/A6 or NCPCP/A1 to verify 6 hour total or
1 hour non-convective precipitation accumulation, respectively, for example,
having used pcp_combine on some GRIB files to get the desired accumulation
interval in netCDF format.  I don't understand the instructions for how to
label the variables in the config file, and when I try to run MODE, I get
errors like

ERROR:: process_fcst_obs_files() -> APCP(*,*) not found in file:
../control_18Z-17Z_difference

Please explain to me the changes and how to use MODE v3.0.  Thanks.

Jeff Duda

-- 
Jeff Duda
Iowa State University
Meteorology Graduate Student
3134 Agronomy Hall
www.meteor.iastate.edu/~jdduda


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  Complete Ticket History
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Subject: Re: [rt.rap.ucar.edu #42082] MODE for METv3.0, variables to verify
From: John Halley Gotway
Time: Thu Nov 11 11:11:56 2010

Jeff,

Sure, we're glad to help.  Yes, we did make a change in METv3.0 in how
to specify which fields you want to verify in the configuration files.
This change was necessitated by adding support for the
NetCDF output of the pinterp tool.  In METv2.0, we were making some
rather clumsy assumptions in converting GRIB codes into strings to
look for as variable names in NetCDF files.

For example in METv2.0, if you were verifying "61/A6", it interpreted
the GRIB code of 61 as accumulated precip and A6 as a six-hour
accumulation.  And it went looking in the NetCDF file for a
variable named "APCP_06".  We've generalized this so that you can
explicitly specify the NetCDF variable name you want to use.  This was
necessary to support the NetCDF output of pinterp.

Just do an "ncdump -h" on your NetCDF output of PCP-Combine.  You'll
probably find a variable defined as "APCP_06(lat, lon)".  Then in your
MODE config file, try setting:
   fcst_field = "APCP_06(*,*)";
The *'s are used to tell the MET tools which dimensions define the 2D
grid you'd like to verify.  Alternatively, if your NetCDF variables
are just 2-dimensional, you can leave off the (*,*) and the
MET tools will assume that you want to use those two dimensions.  So
either of these would work:
   fcst_field = "APCP_06(*,*)";
   fcst_field = "APCP_06";

Sorry for the confusion.  We considered making the logic for
specifying which field you want backwards compatible, but decided that
would be rather messy and lead to even more confusion.

Please let us know if you continue being stuck.

Thanks,
John

On 11/11/2010 10:36 AM, RAL HelpDesk {for jdduda at iastate.edu} wrote:
> Please explain to me the changes and how to use MODE v3.0.  Thanks.

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