[McIDAS #UFO-107919]: IMGCOPY and netcdf

Hi Gautam,

Sorry I was not able to get to this yesterday (we were just finishing
the Unidata User's Workshop, and I was helping an attendee to understand
the GEMPAK download, installation, and configuration processes.

> I am trying to convert an AREA file to a netcdf file using IMGCOPY
> and am getting the following output
> 
> IMGCOPY BLIZZARD/G7-VIS-4K.1 NETCDF/ALBEDO.1
> Beginning Image Data transfer, bytes= 308128
> Transferring AREA data outbound, bytes= 308208
> imgcopy.k: MCAOUT rc= -1
> imgcopy.k: done
> 
> I am also including the output of dsserve cmd.
> 
> >DSSERVE
> Group/Descriptor         Type  Format & Range     RT Comment
> ------------------------ ----- ------------------ --
> --------------------
> GOES10/IR2               IMAGE AREA 3201-3400        GOES-West Band 2
> - SWIR
> GOES10/IR3               IMAGE AREA 3401-3600        GOES-West Band 3
> - IR
> GOES10/IR4               IMAGE AREA 3601-3800        GOES-West Band 4
> - IR
> GOES10/IR5               IMAGE AREA 3801-4000        GOES-West Band 5
> - IR
> GOES10/VIS               IMAGE AREA 3001-3200        GOES-West Band 1
> - Visible
> GOES12/IR2               IMAGE AREA 2201-2400        GOES-East Band 2
> - SWIR
> GOES12/IR3               IMAGE AREA 2401-2600        GOES-East Band 3
> - IR
> GOES12/IR4               IMAGE AREA 2601-2800        GOES-East Band 4
> - IR
> GOES12/IR6               IMAGE AREA 2801-3000        GOES-East Band 6
> - IR
> GOES12/VIS               IMAGE AREA 2001-2200        GOES-East Band 1
> - Visible
> NETCDF/ALBEDO            IMAGE NCDF 6061-6080
> NETCDF/TEMPERATURE       IMAGE NCDF 6081-7000
> TEMP/ALBEDO              IMAGE AREA 6001-6020
> TEMP/TEMPERATURE         IMAGE AREA 6021-6060

OK.  The output dataset, NETCDF/ALBEDO looks to have been created using
the following DSSERVE command:

DSSERVE ADD NETCDF/ALBEDO NCDF 6061 6080 TYPE=IMAGE

One quick recommendation that has nothing to do with the problem you are
reporting:  it is always a good idea to include a textual explanation
for datasets you create.  For instance, your DSSERVE command could have
looked like:

DSSERVE ADD NETCDF/ALBEDO NCDF 6061 6080 TYPE=IMAGE "netCDF FOMAT IMAGE FILES

and the DSSERVE LIST output for this dataset would be more descriptive:

NETCDF/ALBEDO            IMAGE NCDF 6061-6080        netCDF FOMAT IMAGE FILES

> Any help in this regard is greatly appreciated.

I just created a netCDF-formatted ADDE dataset using the DSSERVE command
above, and I encountered no problem creating the output image:

DATALOC ADD BLIZZARD ADDE.UCAR.EDU

Group Name                    Server IP Address
--------------------         ----------------------------------------
BLIZZARD                     ADDE.UCAR.EDU

<LOCAL-DATA> indicates that data will be accessed from the local data directory.
DATALOC -- done

DSSERVE ADD NETCDF/ALBEDO NCDF 6061 6080 TYPE=IMAGE "netCDF FOMAT IMAGE FILES
Adding the group NETCDF as a local dataset
Group/Descriptor         Type  Format & Range     RT Comment
------------------------ ----- ------------------ -- --------------------
NETCDF/ALBEDO            IMAGE NCDF 6061-6080        netCDF FOMAT IMAGE FILES
DSSERVE: done

IMGCOPY BLIZZARD/G7-VIS-4K.1 NETCDF/ALBEDO.1
Beginning Image Data transfer, bytes= 308048
Transferring AREA data outbound, bytes= 308128
IMGCOPY: BLIZZARD/G7-VIS-4K.1 copied to NETCDF/ALBEDO.1
IMGCOPY: done

The name of the netCDF image file that should get created
is ALBEDO0001.nc, and this will be written to your $MCDATA
directory  by default (~/workdata for the user 'mcidas' and
~/mcidas/data for all other users if you configured accounts
as per recommendations in the Unidata McIDAS web pages).

Questions:

- what is the value for $MCDATA ?
- I _assume_ that you have write permission in the directory;
  true ?  

McIDAS has a file facility, REDIRECT, that has top priority
in determining where a data (and ancillary data) files will
be found/read/written.  If you have a file REDIRECTion in
place for files named *.nc, it could be that you do not
have write permission for the that directory.

Please check to see if you have a file REDIRECTion in place:

<as the user that is having the problem being reported>

REDIRECT LIST

-- and/or --

DMAP *.nc

and then let me know what you find.  It is possible that the
problem you have reported is related to you running under MacOS-X,
but we will not know this until things like file write permissions
are investigated.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: UFO-107919
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed