19991026: Fkey menu GRID items and XCD decoding of GRIDded data (cont.)

>From: Myron Kowalski <address@hidden>
>Organization: Moravian College
>Keywords: 199910262043.OAA26544 McIDAS Fkey

Myron,

>ok Tom. /app has over a 1GB available. Any time your're ready.--myron 

I logged onto catwoman this morning and did the following:

o verified McINST_ROOT setting

o verified REDIRECTions for GRID5*

o stopped the LDM

  <login as ldm>
  ldmadmin stop
  exit

o updated your distribution with the latest Addenda:

  cd mcidas7.6/update
  ftp ftp.unidata.ucar.edu
    <user>
    <pass>
    cd unix/760/bugfix
    binary
    get mcupdate.tar.Z
    quit
  ./mcunpack

o updated the McIDAS executables and data files with the latest mods

  cd ../src
  make all
  make install.all

o updated the string table with the latest information in UNIMENU.DEF

  cd ~/workdata
  tenter.k \"UNIMENU.DEF

o turn on XCD GRID decoding:

  decinfo.k SET DMGRID ACTIVE

o restarted your LDM

  <login as ldm>
  ldmadmin start
  exit

It looks like we had already setup catwoman to request gridded data from
the upstream feed site, so I did not need to make any changes to the LDM
ldmd.conf or pqact.conf files.  As soon as the LDM came back up, XCD's
DMGRID routine began decoding model data into McIDAS GRID files.  Here
was a quick look at what had been decoded by the time I wrote this:

cd ~mcidas/workdata
dmap.k GRID5
PERM      SIZE LAST CHANGED FILENAME DIRECTORY
---- --------- ------------ -------- ---------
-rw-  10882072 Oct 27 11:28 GRID5040 /app/data/mcidas
-rw-   2580216 Oct 27 11:31 GRID5080 /app/data/mcidas
-rw-   6117052 Oct 27 11:23 GRID5250 /app/data/mcidas
-rw-    629844 Oct 27 10:32 GRID5310 /app/data/mcidas
20209184 bytes in 4 files

grdlist.k RTGRIDS/ALL.ALL FORM=FILE
DATASET NAME: RTGRIDS/ALL
 Dataset Position  Creation Date Max Grids         Directory Title
 ----------------  ------------- --------- -------------------------------
       40             1999300       2000   ALL  12Z ETA 0  HR<=VT<=24 HR
       80             1999300       2000   ALL  12Z NGM 0  HR<=VT<=24 HR
      250             1999300       2000   ALL  14Z MAPS
      310             1999300         24   MDR data for 27 OCT 1999
GRDLIST - done

The MRF/AVN run will start getting decoded when the model run is received.

Now, onto the use of the Fkey menu to look at the gridded data being
produced by XCD.

There are two ways to go here:

o setup creation of the NGM-UW and MRF-UW dataset files that used to be
  in the Unidata-Wisconsin datastream

o have the users look at the NGM and AVN files that will be produced by
  XCD

Each approach has its plusses and minuses.  The plus side for creation
of the NGM-UW and MRF-UW dataset GRID files will allow all users to use
the Fkey menu without any changes.  This includes being able to look
at derived fields such as 250 mb wind speeds which are created by PostProcess
BATCH files which are run by the conversion routine that creates the output
GRID files of the dataset.  The minus side of this is that you
have to setup cron entries that will kick off the Bourne shell script,
~mcidas/workdata/uwgrid.sh at the appropriate time to create the GRID
files (i.e. after the data has come in).  This will require that you
pay attention to when you are likely to get the NGM and AVN runs so
that you can kick off your cron job at the appropriate time.

The other approach will allow users to look at all of the fields specified
in the Fkey menus EXCEPT those that are derived (e.g. 250 mb wind speeds,
1000-500 mb thickness, 500 mb height change, etc.).  It also requires
that each user setup the McIDAS strings ?MODEL1 and ?MODEL2 to point
at the GRID files being created by XCD.  This is pretty easy to do; here
is the procedure that each user should do:

<login>
cd mcidas/data
rm -f UNIMENU.DEF
tenter.k \"UNIMENU.DEF
te.k \?MODEL1 \"RTGRIDS/NGM
te.k \?MODEL2 \"RTGRIDS/AVN

If you decide to take the second approach, you could eliminate the need for
each user to redefine the McIDAS strings by editing the installed copy of
UNIMENU.DEF.  You would:

<login as mcidas>
cd data
<edit UNIMENU.DEF>
  find the setting for ?MODEL1 and change its value to be RTGRIDS/NGM
  find the setting for ?MODEL2 and change its value to be RTGRIDS/AVN

Even if you decide to do the editing change, each user would need to update
his/her McIDAS string table with the new UNIMENU.DEF values:

<login>
cd mcidas/data
rm -f UNIMENU.DEF
tenter.k \"UNIMENU.DEF

I hope that gives you a good start.

Tom
--
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* Tom Yoksas                                             UCAR Unidata Program *
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