set time format

[Ben Burford]

Hi,

I hope there's an easy way to select a time range with the "set t" or "set t
ime" (or some other) Grads command.

I'm working with global 1 degree by 1 degree, 8 year GPCP dataset of daily p
recipitation data.  I'm a Grads beginner, but if I  "set lat" and "set lon"
to choose a single grid cell, then I can (for example) "set t 1 100" and the
n "d data" and I will get a plot of the precipitation for the first 100 days
 of data.

The data runs from Jan. 1, 1997 to Dec. 31, 2004.  If I want to plot a time
series of precipitation from say August 5 to September 8, 2001 its pretty na
sty to figure out the t values corresponding to those dates.  Is there a con
venient format (using actual dates) for setting the time range for the data
(for example, "set t August 5, 2001 September 8, 2001")?

If not, is there a technique or tool in which I can enter the date and it wi
ll give me the corresponding t value?  For example, I tell the tool that the
 start time is January 1, 1997, and then I tell it the date August 5, 2001 a
nd it will give me the corresponding t value?  Maybe someone has a script fo
r this???


One further detail.  I want to produce a lot of time series plots of precipi
tation and I want them all to have the same y axis magnitude (mm/day).  Is t
here a way I can set the y-axis magnitude to be 0 to 800 mm/day, regardless
of the actual data values?


Much thanks for any help on this.

Ben