20040406: plotting WPAC forecast tropical tracks in NMAP2

On Mon, 2004-04-05 at 12:42, Robert Mullenax wrote:
> I know I can use gpmap to plot WPAC storm tracks (for example there is
> currently storm 03W which is decoded into 2004_03w.gem.  Is it possible 
> to configure NMAP2 to be able to display these?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> Robert Mullenax

Robert,

Note that the dchrcn decoder does not currently decode the bulletins
from guam, so the available options are the dctrop decoder.

The wpac bulletins that dctrop is decoding into ship format surface
files can be configured for plotting in nmap2, but the separate
file naming for each storm currently of YYYY_storm.gem doesn't work as
well with the time selection widget. It would be better to use a daily
file for each of the basins (atlantic, wpac, epac and cpac).

I will outline the process of adding a surface data set to nmap2 below
which can be generalized for other surface data which you might want to 
add to the GUI.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The process of adding a surface file data set to nmap2 for plotting
consists of the following 2 (or optionally 3) steps.

1) adding an entry for the data set into datatype.tbl, eg:
WPAC         $GEMDATA/storm/tropic     YYYYMMDD_wpac.gem         CAT_SFC  
SCAT_SFC   10   2880     -1

The pqact action that corresponds to this file naming would be:

DDPLUS  ^WTPN3
        PIPE    -close  decoders/dctrop
        -e GEMTBL=/home/gempak/NAWIPS/gempak/tables
        -d data/gempak/logs/dctrop.log
        data/gempak/storm/tropic/YYYYMMDD_wpac.gem

2) Add a parameter entries for your plots to $GEMTBL/config/prmlst.tbl,
such as:

^LOC | WPAC
SFPARM = FCHR=0;MARK:15:8:1
COLORS=0;(1-7-1/0;4;3;2;5;7;6;8/SCAT/U)
FILTER=0
TEXT=1/21/HW
!
!
^TRAK | WPAC
SFPARM = mark:1:2:2;scat;;sknt;;;fchr
COLORS=(1-7-1/0;4;3;2;5;7;6;8/SCAT/U);31;31;31
FILTER=0
TEXT=1/21/HW

In the above, the LOC entry will plot the 0 hour forecast positions, the
TRAK entry will plot the forecast track. Both color coded to category
SCAT).

3) Optional, create a wpac_parms.tbl in $GEMTBL/nmap to define what
parameters will be available for selection in the station model
configuration, like:

! 
!       WPAC_PARMS.TBL
!
! This table contains the available parameters used in the
! station model editing panel in NMAP for the WPAC data type. 
!
!       pos_zero_flag:  1 = plot at position 0 only
!                       0 = plot at any position
!
! Log:
! S. Chiswell/Unidata    10/03  Created
!
! parameter       pos_zero_flag     
!
fchr              0
scat              0
Sknt              0

After restarting NMAP2, the WPAC dataset will appear under the SURF_OBS data 
category.

Also, I noted that the Guam bulletins now have a few extra lines preceeding the
warning position, so I have updated the dctrop decoder for 5.7.1.

Steve Chiswell
Unidata User Support