upadec
Sections
NAME
upadec - Upper air data decoder
SYNOPSIS
upadec [parameters...] filename
PARAMETERS
| Command Line | Resource | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| -h | help | No | Lists basic help information. |
| -df=filename | default | wxp.cfg | Sets the name of the resource file. |
| -na=name | name | the program name | Specifies the name used in resource file parsing. |
| -me=level | message | out2 | Specifies level of messages to be displayed
|
| -fp=path | file_path | the current directory | Specifies location of database files. |
| -dp=path | data_path | the current directory | Specifies the location of the input raw data files. |
| -cp=path | con_path | the current directory | Specifies location of decoded/converted data files |
| -nc=name_conv | name_conv | name.cnv or name_conv file | This sets which name convention file to use. |
| -if=in_file | in_file | program specific | Specifies the input file name tag. |
| -ou=output | output | wxp |
|
| -of=out_file | out_file | upa_cvt | Specifies the output file name tag. |
| -cf=filename | city_file | program specific | Specifies the name of the city database file |
| -cu=[hour] | current | none | This specifies to use current data files. |
| -ho=hour | hour | none | Specifies the exact hour that a data file is valid for. |
| -nh=hours[,skip] | num_hour | Value Generally 0 | Specifies the number of hours worth of data to use in the program |
| -id=ident[,ident...] | identifier | None | Specifies a station identifier to plot or parse for |
| -pa=param[,param...] | parameter | none | Specifies addition parameters to program. |
| filename (positional) | filename | none | Specify input filename |
DESCRIPTION
The intent of the upper air conversion process is to collate the 6 types of upper air reports into one report for ease of use. The six products include:
- TTAA - mandatory level data up to 100 mb (sfc, 1000, 925, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100)
- TTCC - mandatory level data above 100 mb (70, 50, 30, 20, 10, 7, 5...)
- TTBB - significant level data up to 100 mb
- TTDD - significant level data above 100 mb
- PPAA - mandatory wind level data up to 100 mb
- PPBB - significant wind level data up to 50000 feet
- PPDD - significant wind level data above 50000 feet.
The program will first prompt the user for the input raw data file. This file should contain the upper air reports for a given time. The user may specify the input file either via the command line of through the resrc:current resource. The input naming convention is specified by the upa_dat tag but this can be changed with the resrc:in_file resource. If the data stretches over an hour, the resrc:num_hour resource can be specified to search over multiple files.
Once the input file is determined, the program determines the decode time from the filename specified or that of the current resource. If decode time is different from that of the specified file, the decode_hour resource must be specified. This resource can also be used to set decode time range limits which is useful if decoding data from off times such as 90 after the hour.
The program will then read in the upa.cty database file in order to generate a database of upper air stations. When one of the above products is found, it is decoded and the resulting information placed into the database entry for that station. When all the data files have been searched and decoded, the output is saved to a converted file. The station data is saved with its 3 or 4 letter ICAO identifier for consistency with the other data types. The name convention is determined from the upa_cvt file convention tag. If the converted file exists, the user will be prompted whether to overwrite, append or use the existing file. The append option leaves the current data in the converted file and adds the new station data onto the end of the file. If the use option is specified, the converted file is not modified and the surface data conversion program exits.
The conversion process is silent. By default, none of the output is displayed to the screen as an attempt to speed up the conversion process. A list of decoded stations can be displayed is the out3 message level is set:
Station not in database: 76805 Saving stations... STA: BRW WMO: 70026 LAT: 71.30 LON: -156.78 STA: OTZ WMO: 70133 LAT: 66.87 LON: -162.63 STA: OME WMO: 70200 LAT: 64.50 LON: -165.43 STA: BET WMO: 70219 LAT: 60.78 LON: -161.80 STA: FAI WMO: 70261 LAT: 64.82 LON: -147.87 STA: ANC WMO: 70273 LAT: 61.17 LON: -150.02
Any stations that were in the data file but not decoded are also listed. It is recommended that these stations be added to the database.
There are two types of output data file types available. The ASCII wxp Flat file data type saves all available information in a columnar format which may be edited with a standard text editor. The netCDF data format is a binary format which may be produced by specifying cdf for the output file type.
NOTE: upadec must be run before any upper air plotting and gridding programs may be run.
EXAMPLES
upadec -cu=la -pf=over -me=print
This converts the latest upper air data file and overwrites any existing file.uacvt -cu=la -dh=18 -ho=12 -of=upa3_cvt
This will decode 18Z data from WXP ingested data files. Since the data from the WXP ingestor is saved in 12 hourly files, the hour resource is used to specify which hourly file to use. The decode_hour resource tells the program to decode the 18Z data in that file. The output file type is set to upa3_cvt in order to set the output file type to a 3 hourly converted file. Otherwise the hour will be rounded down to 12Z.uacvt -ho=18 -cu=la -of=upa3_cvt
The equivalent from the LDM which is much simpler since data is stored by hour.
FILES
- upa.cty - the upper air station location database file
SEE ALSO
Last updated October 2013