20040318: 20040317: Unidata LDM feeds for Vietnam (cont.)

>From: Mai Nguyen <address@hidden>
>Organization: National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting of Vietnam
>Keywords: 200312020023.hB20N4p2027742 IDD LDM Linux

Hi Mai,

>I'm hoping to get the decoder to McIDAS AREA. In the
>worst case, would that be possible to know its format?
>We'll write our own program to make it to that format.

The McIDAS AREA format is a well published standard format for imagery
data.  I can provide information on the format of the data if it comes
to that.  I feel confident, however, that SSEC will have the routine we
are looking for.  It is always best to not "reinvent the wheel".

>The NAWIPS package we've got from Honolulu WFO, where
>I spent 6 weeks on the forecast training. But, it runs
>only with a sample data set in local machine, not the
>automated ingesting system. And also I am strugling to
>figure out how to configure different types of data. 
>
>So, if it's possible, could you please install the
>Unidata release of GEMPAK to ldm in my machine? (I
>guess if you could with ldm, you can also do with
>NAWIPS!).

Yes, we can do this.  I have to say, however, that the binary GEMPAK
distribution from Unidata is _very_ easy to install.  It may be
best to help you through the installation so that you would
feel comfortable when the time comes to upgrading the package
in the future.  After the download, the installation and configuration
should only take a few minutes.

>I don't know the difference b/w GEMPAK and
>NAWIPS. I mostly interested in using NMAP2, NTRANS,
>NSAT, and NSHARP. Are these utilities available in
>GEMPAK also?

Yes, all of these are available in the Unidata GEMPAK release.  Like I
said in my previous email, our distribution of GEMPAK is a superset of
the one you can get from NOAA/NCEP.  In fact, virtually everyone except
the NOAA folks use the Unidata release.  The Unidata developer, Steve
Chiswell, is a major contributor to both releases, so you would be
getting the best of all worlds by using our distribution.

Also, I talked to Steve yesterday about decoding your model data
into GEMPAK format.  He said that this will be very easy if you
are using standard GRIB definition tables.  If you have tables
that have been created to be specific for Hanoi, he will need to
update some GEMPAK tables to incorporate your definitions.

Are you fully conversant with the specifics of the model data you
want to incorporate into GEMPAK?  I ask this to make sure that the
comment in the last paragraph means something to you.  If not,
we will need to have one or two email exchanges with someone
that is familiar with the GRIB file output of the model you are
interested in.

>It's nice that you've "confessed" about transferring
>data to Antartica. So maybe we will have to prepare a 
>backup system for this.

Well, I get kidded here about my enthusiasm for extending LDM/IDD
delivered data to remote places in the world :-)

>Thanks Tom as usual. I'm looking foreward to your
>reply.

I will be out of the office today, so please don't expect any news
about a S-VISSR to AREA converter today.  I hope to be able to get
to this tomorrow.

Cheers,

Tom
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