[McIDAS #KUC-159541]: Memory errors with GINI Local Server in McIDAS-X

Hi Jess,

I have been working with SSEC on incorporation of my GINI ADDE serving
mods to the McIDAS core, and we just ran into a somewhat small hiccup
that requires some input from someone who knows about the blended TPW
products available from the ESPC ftp server,
ftp://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/BLTPW/test/RRdata/

The problem is that the GINI format images available  in the BLTPW/test/RRdata
directory do not have calibration blocks.  In order to add calibration
to the images (so that the user can interrogate the images to get
PW values that make sense), I need to know the mapping of brightness
levels to PW values.  I am hoping that you will know someone associated
with the creation of the BLTPW images who can lend some guidance on
the BRIT -> PW mapping.

Just so you know, I did a lot of web searching last evening to see if
something had been written about the calibration of the BLTPW imagery.
The closest thing I found was a reference to some work done at CSU/CIRA:

ftp://ftp.cira.colostate.edu/ftp/Kidder/Static_File/README.txt

I downloaded everything from the CIRA FTP site and used it as the basis
for the tentative calibration block in the GINI ADDE server code.  The
problem with doing this directly is that the images that Stan Kidder
was talking about in the README.txt file have 75 discrete levels
that range from 176 - 251:

TPW Files

McIDAS Count       Data Value(s)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
  0                Missing data
  1 - 175          Not used
176 - 251          Valid TPW values between 0 and 75 mm (1 mm/count)
                   (values greater than 75 mm are set to 75 mm)
252 - 255          Not used
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The GINI images from the ftp.satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov site have
display values that seem to range from > 108 (the smallest value
that I could find is 110) to something greater than or equal to 200.
Today's SUNatl images (August 28/12241) do not show display levels
higher than 198 for Tropical Storm Isaac.

So, the question becomes the following:

- is the BRIT -> PW mapping in the BLTPW images this:

  BRIT    PW [mm]
   108     0
   200    75

- or is it something like:

  BRIT    PW [mm]
   108     0
   251    75

- or is it something else entirely

NB: I list 108 as the minimum display level because it is _by far_ the most
common value in all of the images I have downloaded from the 
ftp.satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov
site.

There is a bit of a rush on finding out the answer to the BRIT -> PW mapping
question... SSEC wants to freeze code changes on Sept 1 (in preparation for
a v2012.2 addendum?)

Thanks in advance for any insight you (or others) can provide!

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: KUC-159541
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed