20010216: The first of many?

>From: "Paul L. Sirvatka" <address@hidden>
>Organization: College of DuPage
>Keywords: 200102162013.f1GKD9L01250 McIDAS-X

Paul,

>I hope things are well for you.

Pretty hectic, but not bad.

>Here is the first of what I believe will
>be many questions. I am working hard to understnad some of the changes and
>incorporate ADDE.

Ready...

>First...what is the difference between SFCPLT snd SFCPLOT (likewise
>SFCCON?)

SFCPLT is a non-ADDE application which is a "macro" for the old
MDX program.  SFCPLOT/SFCCON are "macros" for the newer PTDISP/PTCON
applications.  SFCPLT is not 100% Y2K compliant, and it is going
away with the next release of McIDAS (along with MDX).

>There are problems with the maps used which I will try to answer
>with the e-mail you have already sent. 

OK, to reiterate: the entire mapping facility was recently changed in
McIDAS.  The ability to create one's own set of map definitios in a
context file makes the new facility much more usable than the old.

>2nd...there is a bug with SFCPLT in that GUS does not work.

OK.  You move away from use of the old, non-ADDE routines as they are
likely to have bugs which don't make any sense to address (given that
they are going away).

>In light of the first question...I assume SFCPLT does not do pressure
>changes but SFCPLOT does?

Right.

>I have included a batch file I created to make some images. I left off
>some lines because they work fine.

OK.

>One other question, the comments in the
>**** section work from batch command but not during a McIDAS sessions. Any
>indications why?

It must be that the interpreter for the command line in the Text and
Command window does not like the "``" syntax Unix shell scripting
evaluation indicator).  BATCH, on the other hand, is not trying to
interpret the back quotes before sending them to the shell.

I will suggest changes after each subsection of the BATCH file and then
include a modified script at the end.

>REM This is the US Map
>TE SURFACEMAP "LAT=21 48 LON=78 133 SLON=98 PRO=CONF

First, create a file called MAP.USER in your McIDAS working directory
(~/mcidas/data for users other than 'mcidas'; ~/workdata for the
user 'mcidas').  If you want the map definitions to be generally accessible
to all accounts, BATCH files, etc, then create the file MAP.SITE with
the map definitions in the ~mcidas/data directory.  Here is what the
contents of MAP.USER or MAP.SITE would look like:

SURFACEMAP OUTLINEFILE=   OUTLUSAM \
        MCOLOR=       8 \
        PROJECTION=   CONF \
        LAMB_CONF_SC= 'LAT=21 48 LON=78 133 SLON=98'


>****
>REM RUN #SYS(2003) #SYS(2002) FILE=SFCTIME
>OS "te.k DATE \"`datelist.k #SYS(2003) FORM='(MM)/(DD)/(YY)'`
>TE SFCTIME "#DATE #SYS(2002)Z
>****

Since this works from the BATCH file, the only change I would suggest
is to migrate away from using the System Key Table for Date/Time
information.  The reason for this is that the ADDE site that you
may be getting your data from may be remote, so you will not have
access to a SYSKEY.TAB file that is being updated with current
data day/time information.

>REM Mixing ratio divergence on 4
>SFCPLT MIXDVG DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=4 PREFIX=@ GRIDF=20 CINT=5
>COLOR=2 UNIT=A DASH=POS OUT=CON

This is a tough one to replace with SFCCON given the comments in the
online help for SFCCON:

 ...

   Param    DefUnits   Description
   -------  ---------  ---------------------------------------------------
   ELEV        FT      station elevation
   T           F       temperature
   CHILL      (F)      wind chill index
   TD          F       dew point temperature
   MIX       (G/KG)    mixing ratio
   THA        (K)      potential temperature
   THAE       (K)      equivalent potential temperature
   DIR      (degrees)  wind direction
   SPD        KTS      wind speed
   GUS        KTS      wind gusts
   STREAML             streamlines
   ALTIM       MB      altimeter setting
   PMSL        MB      sea-level pressure
   PSTN       (MB)     station pressure
   VIS         MI      visibility
   PCP         IN      3- or 6-hour precipitation total (3-hour at
                       3,9,15,21 UTC; 6-hour at 0,6,12,18 UTC)
   PCP3        IN      same as PCP, but automatically requests most recent
                       3-hour total if default time is used
   PCP6        IN      same as PCP, but automatically requests most recent
                       6-hour total if default time is used
   PCP24       IN      24-hour precipitation total; reported at 12 UTC
   SNO         IN      snow depth; reported at 0,6,12,18 UTC
   CAC       (code)    ceiling cloud amount: 0=clear, 1=scattered,
                       2=broken, 3=overcast
   CA1       (code)    1st non-ceiling cloud amount: 0-3, see CAC
   CA2       (code)    2nd non-celiing cloud amount: 0-3, see CAC
   CZC         FT      height of cloud ceiling
   CZ1         FT      height of 1st non-ceiling cloud layer
   CZ2         FT      height of 2nd non-ceiling cloud layer
   ABV       (1/sec)   absolute vorticity
   VOR       (1/sec)   vorticity
   DVG       (1/sec)   divergence

 ...

   Parameter advection or divergence is done by appending ADV or DVG
   to the parameter name, e.g., TADV and SPDDVG. Parameters with their
   default units enclosed in parenthesis in the table above (e.g., CHILL,
   MIX and THA) cannot be advected or diverged and cannot be used with
   the differencing options (par1-par2, time1-time2 and day1-day2).

This is probably because MIX is already a calculated parameter.  In
order to produce MIXDVG, we would have to create grids of U,V and
MIX, and then use GRDDISP with the MATH= option to do the divergence.

>REM Streamlines on 1
>SFCPLT STR DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=1 CINT=3 COLOR=2 GRIDF=20 PREFIX=]
>OUT=CON

Change this to:

SFCCON STREAML SURFACEMAP LATEST GRA=1 CINT=3 COLOR=2

>REM Theta-e on 1
>SFCPLT THAE DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=1 GRIDF=20  PREFIX=! CMAP=0 COLOR=3
>CINT=5 UNI
>T=A DASH=ALL OUT=CON

Change this to:

SFCCON THAE OLAY LATEST GRA=1 COLOR=3 CINT=5 UNIT=K DASH=ALL

>REM Pressure on 3
>SFCPLT PSL DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=3 CINT=2 PREFIX=@ COLOR=2 GRIDF=20
>OUT=CON

Change this to:

SFCCON PSL SURFACEMAP LATEST GRA=3 CINT=2 COLOR=2

>REM Temperature on 3
>SFCPLT T DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=3 PREFIX=] CINT=5 CMAP=0 COLOR=3
>UNIT=A GRIDF=20 DASH=ALL OUT=CON

SFCCON T OLAY LATEST GRA=3 CINT=5 COLOR=3 UNIT=F DASH=ALL

>REM Gusts on 4
>SFCPLT GUS DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP COLOR=3 GRA=4 UNIT=A CMAP=0 PREFIX=&
>GRIDF=20

Change this to:

SFCPLOT GUS SURFACEMAP LATEST COLOR=3 GRA=4 UNIT=KT

>REM Weather symbols on 2
>SFCPLT WX DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=2 COLOR=3 CMAP=0 PREFIX=] GRIDF=20

Change this to:

SFCPLOT WX SURFACEMAP GRA=2 COLOR=3

>REM Create 3-hour pressure falls
>RUN "PTABLE STR$(#SYS(2002)-3) , "PRESFALL"
>
>WAIT 2
>MDX CLE
>
>SFCPLT PSL-PSL DEF #SYS(2002)-#PRESFALL #SURFACEMAP GRA=5 COLOR=2 DASH=POS
>GRIDF=20 P
>REFIX=]

Create a file called SFCCON.USER in ~/mcidas/data for non-'mcidas'
user or ~/workdata for the user 'mcidas'.  Or if the definition for
three hour pressure difference is to be used by all users, BATCH files,
etc, create the file SFCCON.SITE in the ~mcidas/data directory with the
following contents:

P3DIF  FORMAT=I3 \
       MATH='P1-P2' \
       ISFC='P1=PSL {TIME (NOW);DAY (NOW)}' 'P2=PSL {TIME (NOW-3);DAY (NOW-3)}'\
       SVCA='na'\
       SYN= 'P1=PSL {TIME (NOW);DAY (NOW)}' 'P2=PSL {TIME (NOW-3);DAY (NOW-3)}'\
       ISHP='P1=PSL {TIME (NOW);DAY (NOW)}' 'P2=PSL {TIME (NOW-3);DAY (NOW-3)}'

and then change your invocation to:

SFCCON P3DIF SURFACEMAP GRA=5 COLOR=2 DASH=POS

>This last line does not do anything. 

Right, since SFCPLT does not do differencing.

>Oh well...I hope this makes some sense. As always, thanks again. 



Here is a script to be used as replacement for your BATCH file:

REM Define SFCTIME label
OS "te.k DATE \"`datelist.k #Y FORM='(MM)/(DD)/(YY)'`
TE SFCTIME "#DATE #HZ

REM Mixing ratio divergence on 4  ***** Need to figure this one out *****
REM SFCPLT MIXDVG DEF LATEST #SURFACEMAP GRA=4 PREFIX=@ GRIDF=20 CINT=5
REM COLOR=2 UNIT=A DASH=POS OUT=CON

REM Streamlines on 1
SFCCON STREAML SURFACEMAP LATEST GRA=1 CINT=3 COLOR=2

REM Theta-e on 1
SFCCON THAE OLAY LATEST GRA=1 COLOR=3 CINT=5 UNIT=K DASH=ALL

REM Pressure on 3
SFCCON PSL SURFACEMAP LATEST GRA=3 CINT=2 COLOR=2

REM Temperature on 3
SFCCON T OLAY LATEST GRA=3 CINT=5 COLOR=3 UNIT=F DASH=ALL

REM Gusts on 4
SFCPLOT GUS SURFACEMAP LATEST COLOR=3 GRA=4 UNIT=KT

REM Weather symbols on 2
SFCPLOT WXS SURFACEMAP GRA=2 COLOR=3

REM 3-hour pressure falls on 5
SFCCON P3DIF SURFACEMAP GRA=5 COLOR=2 DASH=POS

Accompaning this script, you will have two new files:

MAP.USER
SFCCON.USER

or

MAP.SITE
SFCCON.SITE

Are the example modifications clear enough?

>There should be a number of images created if you want to use them as
>examples using McIDAS.
>
>>From address@hidden Fri Feb 16 13:14:04 2001
>
>see http://weather.cod.edu/mcsfc.frames.html to get it working right!

OK.

Tom