19990216: gempak satellite data

>From: address@hidden (Kathy Fryberger)
>Organization: .
>Keywords: 199902161600.JAA04630

>On January 27, I updated my gempak config files to work with MCIDAS area files
>as per a memo that I was sent.  Ever since I did this, I haven't received
>any satellite images in my gempak data directory (../data/images/sat/GOES-8 an
> d
>GOES-9).  However, I get the GOES-8 and GOES-9 images just fine in MCIDAS.
>What have I done wrong?  What info do you need to look at to help me fix
>this problem?   thanks!!!!
>**********************************************************
>address@hidden  kathy fryberger  605-394-2291
>South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
>Rapid City, South Dakota 
>**********************************************************
>

Kathy,

GOES-9 no longer transmits data. In the Unidata/Wisconsin data stream
you will receive GOES-8 and GOES-10.

If you are decoding the area files from the LDM with the lwtoa3
action with names like AREA0120 etc., then you can use the
gempak areaInfo program, and the nsat_links script to maintain
links to the files in a gempak tree so that Garp and nsat
can view the names with more useful names.

Verify that you have areaInfo in the $GEMEXE directory and
that it can properly identify the area files in your McIDAS
directory:

eg, a GOES 10 VIS image should be found in AREA0120:
% areaInfo /var/data/mcidasd/AREA0120
/var/data/mcidasd/AREA0120
VIS_990216_0000 GOES-10 4km

If areaInfo does not correctly identify this as GOES-10, an instead says "unk",
then you would need to update your areaInfo program with the patch I put out 
last summer when GOES-10 came on line.

Since you say you are not getting GOES-8 links either, then you probably need to
investigate the nsat_links script to see what is being generated.
The $NAWIPS/bin/scripts/nsat_links script has some variables at the
beginning of the script. First, make sure that the script has the 
appropriate path to source the Gemenviron file. Next, make sure the
areadir variable is set to the appropriate directory with your
mcidas AREA files. Lastly, verify that the NSAT directory points
to your $SAT directory (the directory that nsat and garp look in
for their images).

If all of the above are ok, then make sure the account that is running the
nsat_links script has the appropriate permissions to read the area
files from the mcidas directory and can create the symbolic links in the
gempak area. Check the links in the gempak area and make sure they
exist. If they don't exist since January, then make sure the cron which
is running the nsat_links script can still execute the script. 
Try running the script by hand to see if it prints out any messages
which may help diagnose where things are getting fouled up.

Steve Chiswell