ASCII2NC: Basic Use Case

met_tool_wrapper/ASCII2NC/ASCII2NC.conf

Scientific Objective

None. Simply converting file formats so point observations can be read by the MET tools.

Datasets

Observations: Precipitation accumulation observations in ASCII text files
Location: All of the input data required for this use case can be found in the met_test sample data tarball. Click here to the METplus releases page and download sample data for the appropriate release: https://github.com/dtcenter/METplus/releases
This tarball should be unpacked into the directory that you will set the value of INPUT_BASE. See Running METplus section for more information.
Data Source: Unknown

METplus Components

This use case utilizes the METplus ASCII2NC wrapper to generate a command to run the MET tool ASCII2NC if all required files are found.

METplus Workflow

ASCII2NC is the only tool called in this example. It processes the following run time:

Valid: 2010-01-01_12Z

METplus Configuration

METplus first loads all of the configuration files found in parm/metplus_config, then it loads any configuration files passed to METplus via the command line with the -c option, i.e. -c parm/use_cases/met_tool_wrapper/ASCII2NC/ASCII2NC.conf

[config]

# Documentation for this use case can be found at
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/generated/met_tool_wrapper/ASCII2NC/ASCII2NC.html

# For additional information, please see the METplus Users Guide.
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Users_Guide

###
# Processes to run
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Users_Guide/systemconfiguration.html#process-list
###

PROCESS_LIST = ASCII2NC


###
# Time Info
# LOOP_BY options are INIT, VALID, RETRO, and REALTIME
# If set to INIT or RETRO:
#   INIT_TIME_FMT, INIT_BEG, INIT_END, and INIT_INCREMENT must also be set
# If set to VALID or REALTIME:
#   VALID_TIME_FMT, VALID_BEG, VALID_END, and VALID_INCREMENT must also be set
# LEAD_SEQ is the list of forecast leads to process
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Users_Guide/systemconfiguration.html#timing-control
###

LOOP_BY = VALID
VALID_TIME_FMT = %Y%m%d%H
VALID_BEG = 2010010112
VALID_END = 2010010112
VALID_INCREMENT = 1M

LEAD_SEQ = 0


###
# File I/O
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Users_Guide/systemconfiguration.html#directory-and-filename-template-info
###

ASCII2NC_INPUT_DIR =
ASCII2NC_INPUT_TEMPLATE = {INPUT_BASE}/met_test/data/sample_obs/ascii/precip24_{valid?fmt=%Y%m%d%H}.ascii

ASCII2NC_OUTPUT_DIR =
ASCII2NC_OUTPUT_TEMPLATE = {OUTPUT_BASE}/ascii2nc/precip24_{valid?fmt=%Y%m%d%H}.nc

ASCII2NC_SKIP_IF_OUTPUT_EXISTS = False

ASCII2NC_FILE_WINDOW_BEGIN = 0
ASCII2NC_FILE_WINDOW_END = 0

###
# ASCII2NC Settings
# https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Users_Guide/wrappers.html#ascii2nc
###

#LOG_ASCII2NC_VERBOSITY = 1

ASCII2NC_CONFIG_FILE = {PARM_BASE}/met_config/Ascii2NcConfig_wrapped

ASCII2NC_INPUT_FORMAT =

ASCII2NC_MASK_GRID =
ASCII2NC_MASK_POLY =
ASCII2NC_MASK_SID =

ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_FLAG = False
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_RAW_DATA = False
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_BEG = 000000
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_END = 235959
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_STEP = 300
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_WIDTH = 600
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_GRIB_CODES = 11, 204, 211
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_VAR_NAMES =
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_TYPES = min, max, range, mean, stdev, median, p80
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_VALID_FREQ = 0
ASCII2NC_TIME_SUMMARY_VALID_THRESH = 0.0

MET Configuration

METplus sets environment variables based on user settings in the METplus configuration file. See How METplus controls MET config file settings for more details.

YOU SHOULD NOT SET ANY OF THESE ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES YOURSELF! THEY WILL BE OVERWRITTEN BY METPLUS WHEN IT CALLS THE MET TOOLS!

If there is a setting in the MET configuration file that is currently not supported by METplus you’d like to control, please refer to: Overriding Unsupported MET config file settings

Note

See the ASCII2NC MET Configuration section of the User’s Guide for more information on the environment variables used in the file below:

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Default ascii2nc configuration file
//
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

//
// The parameters listed below are used to summarize the ASCII data read in
//

//
// Time periods for the summarization
// obs_var (string array) is added and works like grib_code (int array)
// when the obs name is given instead of grib_code
//
${METPLUS_TIME_SUMMARY_DICT}

//
// Mapping of input little_r report types to output message types
//
message_type_map = [
   { key = "FM-12 SYNOP";  val = "ADPSFC"; },
   { key = "FM-13 SHIP";   val = "SFCSHP"; },
   { key = "FM-15 METAR";  val = "ADPSFC"; },
   { key = "FM-18 BUOY";   val = "SFCSHP"; },
   { key = "FM-281 QSCAT"; val = "ASCATW"; },
   { key = "FM-32 PILOT";  val = "ADPUPA"; },
   { key = "FM-35 TEMP";   val = "ADPUPA"; },
   { key = "FM-88 SATOB";  val = "SATWND"; },
   { key = "FM-97 ACARS";  val = "AIRCFT"; }
];

//
// Indicate a version number for the contents of this configuration file.
// The value should generally not be modified.
//
//version = "V10.0";

tmp_dir = "${MET_TMP_DIR}";

${METPLUS_MET_CONFIG_OVERRIDES}

Running METplus

This use case can be run two ways:

  1. Passing in ASCII2NC.conf then a user-specific system configuration file:

    run_metplus.py -c /path/to/METplus/parm/use_cases/met_tool_wrapper/ASCII2NC/ASCII2NC.conf -c /path/to/user_system.conf
    
  2. Modifying the configurations in parm/metplus_config, then passing in ASCII2NC.conf:

    run_metplus.py -c /path/to/METplus/parm/use_cases/met_tool_wrapper/ASCII2NC/ASCII2NC.conf
    

The former method is recommended. Whether you add them to a user-specific configuration file or modify the metplus_config files, the following variables must be set correctly:

  • INPUT_BASE - Path to directory where sample data tarballs are unpacked (See Datasets section to obtain tarballs). This is not required to run METplus, but it is required to run the examples in parm/use_cases

  • OUTPUT_BASE - Path where METplus output will be written. This must be in a location where you have write permissions

  • MET_INSTALL_DIR - Path to location where MET is installed locally

Example User Configuration File:

[dir]
INPUT_BASE = /path/to/sample/input/data
OUTPUT_BASE = /path/to/output/dir
MET_INSTALL_DIR = /path/to/met-X.Y

NOTE: All of these items must be found under the [dir] section.

Expected Output

A successful run will output the following both to the screen and to the logfile:

INFO: METplus has successfully finished running.

Refer to the value set for OUTPUT_BASE to find where the output data was generated. Output for this use case will be found in ascii2nc (relative to OUTPUT_BASE) and will contain the following file:

  • precip24_2010010112.nc

Keywords

Note

  • ASCII2NCToolUseCase

Navigate to the METplus Quick Search for Use Cases page to discover other similar use cases.

sphinx_gallery_thumbnail_path = ‘_static/met_tool_wrapper-ASCII2NC.png’

Total running time of the script: (0 minutes 0.000 seconds)

Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery