[Met_help] [rt.rap.ucar.edu #61541] History for quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools

John Halley Gotway via RT met_help at ucar.edu
Thu May 30 09:42:19 MDT 2013


----------------------------------------------------------------
  Initial Request
----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi John:

I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the WRF.out NETCDF
(data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis tools or does
it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear about this
key question.

Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,

Alex-

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alexandre Fierro, PhD
Research Scientist-
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL/NOAA)
*The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies* (OU/NOAA)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (LANL)

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a Gift; That is
why it is called the Present"

"There are only 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

"My opinions are my own and not representative of OU, NSSL,
AOML, HRD, LANL or any affiliates."
         ^.^
       (o  o)
     /(   V   )\
   ---m---m----


----------------------------------------------------------------
  Complete Ticket History
----------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Re: [rt.rap.ucar.edu #61541] quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools
From: John Halley Gotway
Time: Fri May 24 11:36:14 2013

Alex,

MET cannot read the wrfout files directly.  They must first be post-
processed.  For WRF-ARW output you have two choices:

(1) The "pinterp" utility may be used to interpolate NetCDF output to
pressure levels.  Its output is a NetCDF file pretty similar to the
original wrfout file.  The downside is that it does not
de-stagger the winds.  So MET can read the variables defined at the
mass points, but not those that are staggered - namely winds.

(2) The Unified PostProcessor (UPP) post-processes WRF output to
pressure levels and de-staggers all of the variables.  It's output is
a GRIB file.  MET should be able to read all of the GRIB records
in the UPP output.  Additionally, you can use the copygb utility to
regrid the GRIB file to any other grid that you need.  This is often
necessary when doing grid-to-grid comparisons to analysis fields.

So MET has full support for GRIB data and limited support for the
NetCDF output of the pinterp utility.

Hope that helps clarify.

Thanks,
John

On 05/24/2013 11:19 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
>
> Fri May 24 11:19:25 2013: Request 61541 was acted upon.
> Transaction: Ticket created by alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>         Queue: met_help
>       Subject: quick question - input data format for all METV4.0
tools
>         Owner: Nobody
>    Requestors: alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>        Status: new
>   Ticket <URL:
https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>
>
> Hi John:
>
> I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the WRF.out
NETCDF
> (data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis tools or
does
> it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
> The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear about
this
> key question.
>
> Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,
>
> Alex-
>

------------------------------------------------
Subject: quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools
From: Alex Fierro
Time: Fri May 24 11:56:25 2013

Hi John:

Many thanks for your detailed answer.

Your reply is what I feared most - that the MET developers havent come
up
with a code able to handle WRF NETCDF data directly (a code that
destaggers
and save in a GRIB format compliant with MET at runtime)- I have
installed
and ran UPP but I find it rather complicated to use in comparison to
ARWpost.

The first issue is that the scripts provided by the developers are in
Korn
shell and not in C-shell (the latter which is more widely used and
which is
also compliant with T-shell). Also, it is *extremely difficult* to add
an
array into the plotting/grib fields - In ARWpost, one just need adding
the
exact same VAR ID into the namelist and voila !

Right now, I am struggling to add a new 2-D array in UPP for plotting
and
for storing in GRIB format. The documentation on this basic task is
very
obscure as well. Making it more difficult are that the VAR IDs in UPP
do
not match those of the actual WRF Registry (as seen with NCDUMP and
NCVIEW)
- why, I have no idea.

I would very much appreciate if you could provide me with a detailed
itemized "to do" list for adding a new 2-D array A(x,y) (z=surface)
present
in the WRF.OUT file to the UPP code.

Cheers and many thanks,

Alex-

On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 12:36 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:

> Alex,
>
> MET cannot read the wrfout files directly.  They must first be
> post-processed.  For WRF-ARW output you have two choices:
>
> (1) The "pinterp" utility may be used to interpolate NetCDF output
to
> pressure levels.  Its output is a NetCDF file pretty similar to the
> original wrfout file.  The downside is that it does not
> de-stagger the winds.  So MET can read the variables defined at the
mass
> points, but not those that are staggered - namely winds.
>
> (2) The Unified PostProcessor (UPP) post-processes WRF output to
pressure
> levels and de-staggers all of the variables.  It's output is a GRIB
file.
>  MET should be able to read all of the GRIB records
> in the UPP output.  Additionally, you can use the copygb utility to
regrid
> the GRIB file to any other grid that you need.  This is often
necessary
> when doing grid-to-grid comparisons to analysis fields.
>
> So MET has full support for GRIB data and limited support for the
NetCDF
> output of the pinterp utility.
>
> Hope that helps clarify.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> On 05/24/2013 11:19 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
> >
> > Fri May 24 11:19:25 2013: Request 61541 was acted upon.
> > Transaction: Ticket created by alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
> >         Queue: met_help
> >       Subject: quick question - input data format for all METV4.0
tools
> >         Owner: Nobody
> >    Requestors: alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
> >        Status: new
> >   Ticket <URL:
https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
> >
> >
> > Hi John:
> >
> > I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the
WRF.out
> NETCDF
> > (data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis tools
or does
> > it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
> > The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear
about this
> > key question.
> >
> > Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,
> >
> > Alex-
> >
>
>


--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alexandre Fierro, PhD
Research Scientist-
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL/NOAA)
*The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies*
(OU/NOAA)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (LANL)

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a Gift; That
is
why it is called the Present"

"There are only 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

"My opinions are my own and not representative of OU, NSSL,
AOML, HRD, LANL or any affiliates."
         ^.^
       (o  o)
     /(   V   )\
   ---m---m----

------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: [rt.rap.ucar.edu #61541] quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools
From: John Halley Gotway
Time: Fri May 24 12:00:58 2013

Alex,

Sorry for the trouble you're experiencing running UPP.  I agree that
it is pretty cumbersome.

But I'm not the right person to provide direction on making
modifications to UPP.  Support for UPP is provided via
wrfhelp at ucar.edu.  Please resend your message wrfhelp.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thanks,
John

On 05/24/2013 11:56 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
>
> <URL: https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>
> Hi John:
>
> Many thanks for your detailed answer.
>
> Your reply is what I feared most - that the MET developers havent
come up
> with a code able to handle WRF NETCDF data directly (a code that
destaggers
> and save in a GRIB format compliant with MET at runtime)- I have
installed
> and ran UPP but I find it rather complicated to use in comparison to
> ARWpost.
>
> The first issue is that the scripts provided by the developers are
in Korn
> shell and not in C-shell (the latter which is more widely used and
which is
> also compliant with T-shell). Also, it is *extremely difficult* to
add an
> array into the plotting/grib fields - In ARWpost, one just need
adding the
> exact same VAR ID into the namelist and voila !
>
> Right now, I am struggling to add a new 2-D array in UPP for
plotting and
> for storing in GRIB format. The documentation on this basic task is
very
> obscure as well. Making it more difficult are that the VAR IDs in
UPP do
> not match those of the actual WRF Registry (as seen with NCDUMP and
NCVIEW)
> - why, I have no idea.
>
> I would very much appreciate if you could provide me with a detailed
> itemized "to do" list for adding a new 2-D array A(x,y) (z=surface)
present
> in the WRF.OUT file to the UPP code.
>
> Cheers and many thanks,
>
> Alex-
>
> On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 12:36 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
> met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:
>
>> Alex,
>>
>> MET cannot read the wrfout files directly.  They must first be
>> post-processed.  For WRF-ARW output you have two choices:
>>
>> (1) The "pinterp" utility may be used to interpolate NetCDF output
to
>> pressure levels.  Its output is a NetCDF file pretty similar to the
>> original wrfout file.  The downside is that it does not
>> de-stagger the winds.  So MET can read the variables defined at the
mass
>> points, but not those that are staggered - namely winds.
>>
>> (2) The Unified PostProcessor (UPP) post-processes WRF output to
pressure
>> levels and de-staggers all of the variables.  It's output is a GRIB
file.
>>   MET should be able to read all of the GRIB records
>> in the UPP output.  Additionally, you can use the copygb utility to
regrid
>> the GRIB file to any other grid that you need.  This is often
necessary
>> when doing grid-to-grid comparisons to analysis fields.
>>
>> So MET has full support for GRIB data and limited support for the
NetCDF
>> output of the pinterp utility.
>>
>> Hope that helps clarify.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>>
>> On 05/24/2013 11:19 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
>>>
>>> Fri May 24 11:19:25 2013: Request 61541 was acted upon.
>>> Transaction: Ticket created by alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>>>          Queue: met_help
>>>        Subject: quick question - input data format for all METV4.0
tools
>>>          Owner: Nobody
>>>     Requestors: alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>>>         Status: new
>>>    Ticket <URL:
https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi John:
>>>
>>> I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the
WRF.out
>> NETCDF
>>> (data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis tools
or does
>>> it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
>>> The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear
about this
>>> key question.
>>>
>>> Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,
>>>
>>> Alex-
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

------------------------------------------------
Subject: quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools
From: Alex Fierro
Time: Fri May 24 13:29:26 2013

Hi John:

My overall experience with wrfhelp is that (i) they take forever to
answer
(time by which a given user would probably already have figured out
the
problem) and that (ii) the info they provide is generally basic. By
basic
would be in the same line of e.g., calling the IT for a computer
problem
and them telling you you should restart your machine with
ctrl+alt+delete.

Is there then any other stand alone simple fortran program out there
that
can read the WRF.OUT NETCDF and un-stagger the data and write it into
a
GRIB format compliant with METV4 ? I can do the plotting with ARWpost
but
need a program that does the above (the simpler the better).

Cheers and many thanks once again for any help you could provide,

Alex-

On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 1:00 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:

> Alex,
>
> Sorry for the trouble you're experiencing running UPP.  I agree that
it is
> pretty cumbersome.
>
> But I'm not the right person to provide direction on making
modifications
> to UPP.  Support for UPP is provided via wrfhelp at ucar.edu.  Please
resend
> your message wrfhelp.
>
> Sorry I can't be of more help.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> On 05/24/2013 11:56 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
> >
> > <URL: https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
> >
> > Hi John:
> >
> > Many thanks for your detailed answer.
> >
> > Your reply is what I feared most - that the MET developers havent
come up
> > with a code able to handle WRF NETCDF data directly (a code that
> destaggers
> > and save in a GRIB format compliant with MET at runtime)- I have
> installed
> > and ran UPP but I find it rather complicated to use in comparison
to
> > ARWpost.
> >
> > The first issue is that the scripts provided by the developers are
in
> Korn
> > shell and not in C-shell (the latter which is more widely used and
which
> is
> > also compliant with T-shell). Also, it is *extremely difficult* to
add an
> > array into the plotting/grib fields - In ARWpost, one just need
adding
> the
> > exact same VAR ID into the namelist and voila !
> >
> > Right now, I am struggling to add a new 2-D array in UPP for
plotting and
> > for storing in GRIB format. The documentation on this basic task
is very
> > obscure as well. Making it more difficult are that the VAR IDs in
UPP do
> > not match those of the actual WRF Registry (as seen with NCDUMP
and
> NCVIEW)
> > - why, I have no idea.
> >
> > I would very much appreciate if you could provide me with a
detailed
> > itemized "to do" list for adding a new 2-D array A(x,y)
(z=surface)
> present
> > in the WRF.OUT file to the UPP code.
> >
> > Cheers and many thanks,
> >
> > Alex-
> >
> > On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 12:36 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
> > met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> Alex,
> >>
> >> MET cannot read the wrfout files directly.  They must first be
> >> post-processed.  For WRF-ARW output you have two choices:
> >>
> >> (1) The "pinterp" utility may be used to interpolate NetCDF
output to
> >> pressure levels.  Its output is a NetCDF file pretty similar to
the
> >> original wrfout file.  The downside is that it does not
> >> de-stagger the winds.  So MET can read the variables defined at
the mass
> >> points, but not those that are staggered - namely winds.
> >>
> >> (2) The Unified PostProcessor (UPP) post-processes WRF output to
> pressure
> >> levels and de-staggers all of the variables.  It's output is a
GRIB
> file.
> >>   MET should be able to read all of the GRIB records
> >> in the UPP output.  Additionally, you can use the copygb utility
to
> regrid
> >> the GRIB file to any other grid that you need.  This is often
necessary
> >> when doing grid-to-grid comparisons to analysis fields.
> >>
> >> So MET has full support for GRIB data and limited support for the
NetCDF
> >> output of the pinterp utility.
> >>
> >> Hope that helps clarify.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> John
> >>
> >> On 05/24/2013 11:19 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Fri May 24 11:19:25 2013: Request 61541 was acted upon.
> >>> Transaction: Ticket created by alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
> >>>          Queue: met_help
> >>>        Subject: quick question - input data format for all
METV4.0
> tools
> >>>          Owner: Nobody
> >>>     Requestors: alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
> >>>         Status: new
> >>>    Ticket <URL:
> https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Hi John:
> >>>
> >>> I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the
WRF.out
> >> NETCDF
> >>> (data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis
tools or
> does
> >>> it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
> >>> The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear
about
> this
> >>> key question.
> >>>
> >>> Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,
> >>>
> >>> Alex-
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>


--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alexandre Fierro, PhD
Research Scientist-
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL/NOAA)
*The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies*
(OU/NOAA)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (LANL)

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a Gift; That
is
why it is called the Present"

"There are only 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't"

"My opinions are my own and not representative of OU, NSSL,
AOML, HRD, LANL or any affiliates."
         ^.^
       (o  o)
     /(   V   )\
   ---m---m----

------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: [rt.rap.ucar.edu #61541] quick question - input data format for all METV4.0 tools
From: John Halley Gotway
Time: Fri May 24 20:42:08 2013

Alex,

Creating a GRIB file is not, in general, a very easy thing to do.  And
I'm
not aware of other WRF post-processors that produce GRIB output other
than
UPP.  I believe the pinterp utility is less complex than UPP, but it
produces NetCDF output and leaves the winds staggered.

It's possible that there are other post-processors out there - I'll
bet
NASA has their own - but I don't know of any other ones that are
publicly
available and supported.

If you'd like GRIB output, I'd suggest wading the UPP details.  You
could
adapt their sample scripts to run it in a more convenient way.  All
they
basically do is link in a bunch of files, create an ASCII "itag" file,
and
then call the UPP executable.  I believe the scripts assume a rather
rigid
directory structure, which I've also found frustrating at times in the
past.

Thanks,
John

>
> <URL: https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>
> Hi John:
>
> My overall experience with wrfhelp is that (i) they take forever to
answer
> (time by which a given user would probably already have figured out
the
> problem) and that (ii) the info they provide is generally basic. By
basic
> would be in the same line of e.g., calling the IT for a computer
problem
> and them telling you you should restart your machine with
ctrl+alt+delete.
>
> Is there then any other stand alone simple fortran program out there
that
> can read the WRF.OUT NETCDF and un-stagger the data and write it
into a
> GRIB format compliant with METV4 ? I can do the plotting with
ARWpost but
> need a program that does the above (the simpler the better).
>
> Cheers and many thanks once again for any help you could provide,
>
> Alex-
>
> On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 1:00 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
> met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:
>
>> Alex,
>>
>> Sorry for the trouble you're experiencing running UPP.  I agree
that it
>> is
>> pretty cumbersome.
>>
>> But I'm not the right person to provide direction on making
>> modifications
>> to UPP.  Support for UPP is provided via wrfhelp at ucar.edu.  Please
>> resend
>> your message wrfhelp.
>>
>> Sorry I can't be of more help.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>>
>> On 05/24/2013 11:56 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
>> >
>> > <URL: https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>> >
>> > Hi John:
>> >
>> > Many thanks for your detailed answer.
>> >
>> > Your reply is what I feared most - that the MET developers havent
come
>> up
>> > with a code able to handle WRF NETCDF data directly (a code that
>> destaggers
>> > and save in a GRIB format compliant with MET at runtime)- I have
>> installed
>> > and ran UPP but I find it rather complicated to use in comparison
to
>> > ARWpost.
>> >
>> > The first issue is that the scripts provided by the developers
are in
>> Korn
>> > shell and not in C-shell (the latter which is more widely used
and
>> which
>> is
>> > also compliant with T-shell). Also, it is *extremely difficult*
to add
>> an
>> > array into the plotting/grib fields - In ARWpost, one just need
adding
>> the
>> > exact same VAR ID into the namelist and voila !
>> >
>> > Right now, I am struggling to add a new 2-D array in UPP for
plotting
>> and
>> > for storing in GRIB format. The documentation on this basic task
is
>> very
>> > obscure as well. Making it more difficult are that the VAR IDs in
UPP
>> do
>> > not match those of the actual WRF Registry (as seen with NCDUMP
and
>> NCVIEW)
>> > - why, I have no idea.
>> >
>> > I would very much appreciate if you could provide me with a
detailed
>> > itemized "to do" list for adding a new 2-D array A(x,y)
(z=surface)
>> present
>> > in the WRF.OUT file to the UPP code.
>> >
>> > Cheers and many thanks,
>> >
>> > Alex-
>> >
>> > On Fri, May 24, 2013 at 12:36 PM, John Halley Gotway via RT <
>> > met_help at ucar.edu> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Alex,
>> >>
>> >> MET cannot read the wrfout files directly.  They must first be
>> >> post-processed.  For WRF-ARW output you have two choices:
>> >>
>> >> (1) The "pinterp" utility may be used to interpolate NetCDF
output to
>> >> pressure levels.  Its output is a NetCDF file pretty similar to
the
>> >> original wrfout file.  The downside is that it does not
>> >> de-stagger the winds.  So MET can read the variables defined at
the
>> mass
>> >> points, but not those that are staggered - namely winds.
>> >>
>> >> (2) The Unified PostProcessor (UPP) post-processes WRF output to
>> pressure
>> >> levels and de-staggers all of the variables.  It's output is a
GRIB
>> file.
>> >>   MET should be able to read all of the GRIB records
>> >> in the UPP output.  Additionally, you can use the copygb utility
to
>> regrid
>> >> the GRIB file to any other grid that you need.  This is often
>> necessary
>> >> when doing grid-to-grid comparisons to analysis fields.
>> >>
>> >> So MET has full support for GRIB data and limited support for
the
>> NetCDF
>> >> output of the pinterp utility.
>> >>
>> >> Hope that helps clarify.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> John
>> >>
>> >> On 05/24/2013 11:19 AM, Alex Fierro via RT wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Fri May 24 11:19:25 2013: Request 61541 was acted upon.
>> >>> Transaction: Ticket created by alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>> >>>          Queue: met_help
>> >>>        Subject: quick question - input data format for all
METV4.0
>> tools
>> >>>          Owner: Nobody
>> >>>     Requestors: alexandre.o.fierro at gmail.com
>> >>>         Status: new
>> >>>    Ticket <URL:
>> https://rt.rap.ucar.edu/rt/Ticket/Display.html?id=61541 >
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Hi John:
>> >>>
>> >>> I had a quick question. Is METV4.0 able to read directly the
WRF.out
>> >> NETCDF
>> >>> (data on the staggered Arakawa C grid) for all its analysis
tools or
>> does
>> >>> it need the data to be on a regular grid *AND* in GRIB format ?
>> >>> The lengthy documentation in the users guide is not very clear
about
>> this
>> >>> key question.
>> >>>
>> >>> Cheers and many thanks for your clarification,
>> >>>
>> >>> Alex-
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Alexandre Fierro, PhD
> Research Scientist-
> National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL/NOAA)
> *The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies*
(OU/NOAA)
> Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (LANL)
>
> "Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and Today is a Gift;
That is
> why it is called the Present"
>
> "There are only 10 types of people in the world:
> Those who understand binary, and those who don't"
>
> "My opinions are my own and not representative of OU, NSSL,
> AOML, HRD, LANL or any affiliates."
>          ^.^
>        (o  o)
>      /(   V   )\
>    ---m---m----
>



------------------------------------------------


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