20000706: gempak sfmod command

Donna,

It turns out that sfmod uses the sf_atim call to add the new time to the
output file, and this routine cannot be used with a ship file ifthe time
does not already exist in the output file.

The easiest way around this is to use sflist to output the data to
a text file using SFPARM=slat;slon;dset.

Then, used sfedit to read the data into the new file
(you can use TIMSTN=1/9999 in sfcfil...the times/stns are all
intermixed in the ship file). THis will be slower than sfmod, but
does work for me.

Steve Chiswell
Unidata User Support




>From: address@hidden
>Organization: UCAR/Unidata
>Keywords: 200007062030.e66KU1T26233

>Steve,
>
>Yes, these are all ship files.  I have ftped the following files
>
>99061000_pir.sfc   (sample AWC file)
>pireps.pack
>sfcfil.nts    (sfcfil parameters)
>
>Donna Tucker                      http://chinook.phsx.ukans.edu/tucker.html
>address@hidden      Department of Physics and Astronomy  
>(785) 864-4738 (new area code!)    University of Kansas                 
>(785) 864-5262 (fax)               Lawrence, KS  66045-2151                   
>  
>
>
>
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>From address@hidden Thu Jul  6 15:13:23 2000
>To: address@hidden
>cc: address@hidden
>Subject: 20000706: gempak sfmod command 
>Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 14:14:23 -0600
>From: Unidata Support <address@hidden>
>
>
>Donna,
>
>Its ok to have several reports from the same "station" in a ship file
>(presumably the aircraft is at a different location 10 minutes later
>when that report is made). Your sfoutf extension sounds like a ship
>file...so I'm presuming that both are...but I probably need to look
>at ne of your input files: 99061000_pir.sfc and see the
>commands you used to create the surface file in sfcfil.
>
>If you could ftp the input file to ~gbuddy/incoming, I'll take a look.
>
>Steve Chiswell
>Unidata User Support
>
>
>
>>From: address@hidden
>>Organization: UCAR/Unidata
>>Keywords: 200007061910.e66JAaT23989
>
>>We have a large number of GEMPAK files with pilot reports which we got from
>>the Aviation Weather Center.  I can send you a sample file if you would like
>>to see it.  We would like to combine these into several
>>large files so they are not as cumbersome to work with.  Our strategy is
>>to create a new file with SFCFIL and move data into it with SFMOD.  We
>>created the new file using a packing file I made up based on what information
>>I could gather about the data from AWC.  I can send you the packing file if
>>you would like to see it.  When we run SFMOD we get
>>
>> SFFILE    Surface data file                 99061000_pir.sfc
>> SFOUTF    Output surface file               nturb.shp
>> DATTIM    Date/time                         /00
>> AREA      Data area                         dset
>> Parameters requested: SFFILE,SFOUTF,DATTIM,AREA.
>> GEMPAK-SFMOD>r
>> [SFMOD -4]  Time 990610/0000 cannot be added.
>> Parameters requested: SFFILE,SFOUTF,DATTIM,AREA.
>> GEMPAK-SFMOD> 
>>
>>Normally, when I see this error message I assume the output file is full but
>>since this is the first file we are processing, that cannot be the case.  No
>>data are actually written to the output file.  The
>>files from AWC contain a number of instances where the same station reports
>>several times an hour (e.g. a pilot reports moderate turbulence and 10 
>>minutes later reports severe turbulence - the AWC GEMPAK files have these
>>reports listed at the same time).  I wonder if this is screwing up the
>>process or if it is something else.  Any ideas on what could be wrong or
>>what we can do to work around it?
>>
>>Donna Tucker                     http://chinook.phsx.ukans.edu/tucker.html
>>address@hidden      Department of Physics and Astronomy  
>>(785) 864-4738 (new area code!)    University of Kansas                 
>>(785) 864-5262 (fax)               Lawrence, KS  66045-2151                  
>  
>>  
>>
>
>
>
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