[GEMPAK #XJI-454537]: dcreanal bug?

Hi Pete,

re:
> The dcreanal utility is yielding unexpected results.  Here are the
> details:
> 
> I am using dcreanal from the binary distribution of NAWIPS 5.10.4 (running
> on a 64 bit system with the RHEL 5.1 OS)

> The file to be decoded to GEMPAK grid format is air.1993.nc
> Contains temperature data in 6 hour increments at the mandatory levels for
> all of 1993 at 2.5 x 2.5 deg resolution

> This file was retrieved from
> ftp://ftp.cdc.noaa.gov/Datasets/ncep.reanalysis/pressure/air.1993.nc

> The command "dcreanal air.1993.nc YYYYMM_test.grd" produces 12 grid files
> (199301_test.grd through 199312_test.grd)

> However, via gdinfo (gdattim.. glevel.. gvcord.. gfunc set to "all"), each
> grid file's VCORD and PARM listings are empty (gdattim and level info are
> stored properly however) - example output below:

> NUM     TIME1      TIME2 LEVL1 LEVL2 VCORD PARM
> 1   930101/0000         1000
> 2   930101/0000          925
> 3   930101/0000          850
> etc.

> dcreanal from older versions of GEMPAK (back to 5.10.1) provide the same
> result

> But an even "older" compiled version of dcreanal predating 5.10.1
> (probably from 5.9.x or earlier, actual version unknown) DOES work - that
> is it produced gridded files containing the proper date/time glevel,
> gvcord, and parm listings - example output below:

> NUM     TIME1      TIME2 LEVL1 LEVL2 VCORD PARM
> 1   930101/0000         1000        PRES TMPK
> 2   930101/0000          925        PRES TMPK
> 3   930101/0000          850        PRES TMPK
> etc.
> 
> Therefore, the air.1993.nc file is not corrupt and the required
> ncarncep1.tbl file is properly detected and utilized.
> 
> So although dcreanal isn't crashing, it is not properly storing the vcord
> and parm data properly in the output grid.

Thanks for this comprehensive report.  Others have noticed a problem with 
dcreanal and
we are looking into it.  Your report that a pre-5.10.1 version of the program 
does
work should help us track down the problem you are seeing.

Unfortunately, we don't have a full time GEMPAK support person at this
point, so I can't say when we will have a fix for this.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XJI-454537
Department: Support GEMPAK
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed