20010606: 20010605: FNEXRAD

Dave,

These radar products are not images, rather, grid files. You
are decoding a grib product into a GEMPAK gridded data file.
So, you can display them with NMAP, Garp, gdcntr, gdplot2 etc.

If you are running GEMPAK 5.6.C.1, I provided some entries for
NMAP2.

Here is what you would do to display the products you are receiving
in NMAP2.

1) Edit the $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl file (In 5.6.C.1 there is
a template for NEXR which I use for the national NEXRAD mosaic).
If you are still running 5.6.A, then the template looks like:

NEXR         $GEMDATA/radar            YYYYMMDD_radr.gem         CAT_GRD
SCAT_ANL    4    720     30

(the lines wrapped above, if you insert in your table, space accoringly!).
Edit the path above as appropriate to your data directory.

If you are running 5.6.C.1, you are ready to go. If you haven't upgraded yet,
then:

2) Add the following line to $GEMTBL/nmap/mod_res.tbl:
Radar_Reflectivity_qc    $NMAP_RESTORE/radar/nexr/n0r_qc  radar    
nexr;nexl;nexf

I've attatched a copy of the nts restore file mentioned above. Make the nts
restore directory with:
mkdir -p $NMAP_RESTORE/radar/nexr

Then place the attatched gdplot2 restore file in that directory as n0r_qc.



Now, try to display the data in NMAP2.
Pull up the "GRID" data selection from data, then select the "nexr" type in the
list of grid types. You will get a list of times in the data file- just pick the
latest.

After picking the time, you will get a "radar" category displayed, click on
that. Finally, you will have the plot option "Radar_Reflectivity_qc", choose
that and "accept".

Once you have the time bar, you can select a range of grids to display,
and run as you would any other product.


Also, I've started to insert the regional grid into the data queue here. You can
decode that with the pqact.conf line:

FNEXRAD ^radar_mosaic_regional_(.*) !.*!
        PIPE    -close  decoders/dcgrib2 -d 
data/pub/decoded/gempak/logs/dcgrib.log
                -e GEMTBL=/home/gempak/NAWIPS/gempak/tables
                data/pub/decoded/gempak/model/radar/YYYYMMDD_float_\1.gem

The pattern will store the regional grid in a unique file name using the
region name.

You can Add the NEXF template to datatype.tbl (I've just squeezed it onto one
line below, space accordingly in the datatype.tbl file):
NEXF $MODEL/radar  YYYYMMDD_float_*  CAT_GRD  SCAT_ANL    4    720     30


In the NMAP2 GRID menu, you will see one "nexf" entry for each site id.
For example, if you have files 20010606_float_mem.gem and
20010606_float_stl.gem, you will see entries "nexf:mem.gem" and "nexf:stl.gem".

That way, when the "regional" floater is changed during the day, you will be
able to keep unique grid files for each location/time period.

I added one more template here in datatype.tbl called NEXL which I would suggest
using if you generate your own "regional" composites with gdradr.

One more thing, I suggest scouring the files to the last 3 files (in
scour.conf, scout older than 2 days). Since there is 1 grid for each 5 minutes,
you end up with a lot of times to search through- scouring to 3 files makes that
reasonable.

Let me know if you have any questions on the configuration.

Steve Chiswell
Unidata User Support




>
> >From: David Fitzgerald <address@hidden>
> >Organization: UCAR/Unidata
> >Keywords: 200106061509.f56F95p26194
>
> >Chiz,
> >
> >Thanks, that fixed my problem receiving and decoding FNEXRAD data, but now I
> >have some more questions.  I am decoding the data into gempak format as per
> >the pqact.conf entry you suggested but I'm not sure how to go about telling
> >NMAP2 and garp to allow me to view the data.  Is there a template file I
> >have to modify to view this?
> >
> >I also ran into a support message that says that GEMPAK can display the
> >images directly, without the need for decoders.  Ok so now I am confused
> >(more than usual).  How does a simple sys admin who should pay more
> >attention to UNIDATA emails get FNEXRAD to display?
> >
> >Thanks in advance again!!
> >
> >Dave
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Unidata Support [mailto:address@hidden]
> >Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 5:44 PM
> >To: David Fitzgerald
> >Cc: address@hidden
> >Subject: 20010605: FNEXRAD
> >
> >
> >
> >David,
> >
> >This may be picky ... but GEMPAK is probably converting the RADAR
> >directory name in your file template to lower case.
> >You can try: /neops_data/gempak/images/radar/YYYYMMDD_radr.gem
> >and see if that works.
> >
> >The decoder may have creates the RADAR directory, but then the
> >file write may be going to the "radar".
> >
> >Let me know if this doesn't solve your problems.
> >
> >Steve Chiswell
> >Unidata User Support
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>From: David Fitzgerald <address@hidden>
> >>Organization: UCAR/Unidata
> >>Keywords: 200106051845.f55Ijvp16010
> >
> >>Chiz,
> >>
> >>Following up on your E-mail to Rich about getting the FNEXRAD feed going
> >here,
> >>
> >>I'm playing around with our LDM and not having much success.  Following the
> >
> >>examples on the support pages and in your E-mail, I set my ldmd.conf
> >request
> >>line to be:
> >>request FNEXRAD ".*" 192.52.106.21
> >>
> >>and yes I'm pulling it from thelma.  I also have the allows and accept
> >lines
> >>entered.  ldmadmin watch shows it coming across my feed, with a typical
> >"watch
> >>
> >>line" looking like this:
> >>
> >>Jun 05 16:42:16 pqutil:    69518 20010605164012.293 FNEXRAD 000
> >>radar_mosaic_regional !grib/unidata/2/#255/200106051636/F000/N0R/sfc!
> >000000
> >>
> >>
> >>My pqact.conf file entry for FNEXRAD is:
> >># RADAR MOSAIC Grids
> >>FNEXRAD \t ^radar_mosaic_national
> >>\t  PIPE \t -close \t /software/nawips5.6/bin/sol/dcgrib2 -d
> >>/programs/ldm/log/dcgrib2.log
> >>\t  -e GEMTBL=/software/nawips5.6/gempak/tables
> >>\t  /neops_data/gempak/images/RADAR/YYYYMMDD_radr.gem
> >>
> >>where \t denotes a tab in case it doesn't E-mail to you correctly.
> >>
> >>The log file spits out the following:
> >>
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DC 3]
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [FL -3]
> >>/neops_data/data/gempak/images/RADAR/20010605_radr.gem
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DM -1]
> >>/neops_data/data/gempak/images/RADAR/20010605_radr.gem
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [GD -1]
> >>/neops_data/data/gempak/images/RADAR/20010605_radr.gem
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DCGRIB 2] Error creating file [-1]:
> >>/neops_data/data/gempak/images/RADAR/20010605_radr.gem
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DC 5]
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DC 2] Number of bulletins read and processed: 0
> >>[23218] 010605/1436 [DC 6]
> >>
> >>I don't understand why DCGRIB2 is not creating the file.  Permissions are
> >set
> >>for the LDM user to write to the directory.  Do you see anything?
> >>
> >>Thanks in advance for your help!!
> >>
> >>Dave
> >>
> >>
> >>++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >>David Fitzgerald
> >>System Administrator            Phone: (717) 871-2394
> >>Millersville University     Fax: (717) 871-4725
> >>Millersville, PA 17551              E-mail:
> >address@hidden
> >>
> >
> >****************************************************************************
> ><
> >Unidata User Support                                    UCAR Unidata Program
> ><
> >(303)497-8644                                                  P.O. Box 3000
> ><
> >address@hidden                                   Boulder, CO 80307
> ><
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ><
> >Unidata WWW Service                        http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
> ><
> >****************************************************************************
> ><
> >
>
>

!
! Restore File : RCM reflectivity
!
! Log:
!
GDATTIM last
GLEVEL  0
GVCORD  none
PANEL   0                                                                       
SKIP    0
SCALE   0
GDPFUN  n0r
TYPE    f
CONTUR  1                                                                       
CINT    1
LINE    5/1/1/0
FINT    5/5
FLINE   0;26-24;21-23;20;18;17;15-7
HILO    
HLSYM  
CLRBAR  1/V/CL/.975;.5/.5;.007
WIND    
REFVEC                                                                          
TITLE   5/-1/~ Reflectivity
TEXT    1/21//hw                                                                
CLEAR   yes                                                                     
STNPLT                                                                          
SATFIL                                                                          
RADFIL                                                                          
STREAM                                                                          
POSN                                                                           
COLORS  2                                                                       
MARKER                                                                         
GRDLBL  5                                                                       
LUTFIL  none
FILTER  yes