GempakToCF: Basic Use Case

met_tool_wrapper/GempakToCF/GempakToCF.conf

Scientific Objective

None. Simply converting data to a format that MET can read.

Datasets

Observations: MRMS QPE

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

External Dependencies

GempakToCF.jar

GempakToCF is an external tool that utilizes the Unidata NetCDF-Java package. The jar file that can be used to run the utility is available here: https://dtcenter.org/sites/default/files/community-code/metplus/utilities/GempakToCF.jar

See the METplus Configuration section below for information on how to configure METplus to find the jar file.

More information on the package used to create the file is here: https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf-java

METplus Components

This use case utilizes the METplus GempakToCF wrapper to generate a command to run GempakToCF (external) if all required files are found.

METplus Workflow

GempakToCF is the only tool called in this example. It processes the following run times:

Init: 2017-06-22 0Z

Init: 2017-06-22 12Z

METplus Configuration

To enable Gempak support, you must set [exe] GEMPAKTOCF_JAR in your user METplus configuration file.:

[exe] GEMPAKTOCF_JAR = /path/to/GempakToCF.jar

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/GempakToCF/GempakToCF.conf

[config]

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


###
# 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=2017062200
VALID_END=2017062212
VALID_INCREMENT=12H

LEAD_SEQ = 0


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

GEMPAKTOCF_INPUT_DIR = {INPUT_BASE}/met_test/new/gempak
GEMPAKTOCF_INPUT_TEMPLATE = {valid?fmt=%Y%m%d}/mrms_qpe_{valid?fmt=%Y%m%d%H}.grd

GEMPAKTOCF_OUTPUT_DIR = {OUTPUT_BASE}/met_tool_wrapper/GempakToCF
GEMPAKTOCF_OUTPUT_TEMPLATE = {valid?fmt=%Y%m%d}/mrms_qpe_{valid?fmt=%Y%m%d%H}.nc

GEMPAKTOCF_SKIP_IF_OUTPUT_EXISTS = False

Running METplus

This use case can be run two ways:

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

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

2. Modifying the configurations in parm/metplus_config, then passing in GempakToCF.conf:

   run_metplus.py -c /path/to/METplus/parm/use_cases/met_tool_wrapper/GempakToCF/GempakToCF.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 met_tool_wrapper/GempakToCF (relative to OUTPUT_BASE) and will contain the following file:

• 20170622/mrms_qpe_2017062200.nc

• 20170622/mrms_qpe_2017062212.nc

Keywords

Note

• GempakToCFToolUseCase

• GEMPAKFileUseCase

• NOAAHMTOrgUseCase

• NOAAWPCOrgUseCase

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

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