lats4d

Thu Jan 31 00:05:45 EST 2008

Hi Wesley,

Apologies for not being more clear. The example below would be a way of
using lats4d on reanalysis data behind a GDS.

lats4d -dods -i
http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov:9091/dods/NCEP_GFS_ANALYSIS/analysis
_complete -o test1 -format grads_grib -lat 15 50 -lon -100 -70 -time
00Z01SEP2004 18Z01SEP2004 -vars tmpsfc tmp2m

The result is a grib file for 6 hourly subsetted temperatures.

It's possible that this works for me because of the local grads
installation. The q config from my workstation is appended below.

The NARR grid throws a curve, some things may work, for example I'm not sure
if regrid works on NARR. I put the following data set into the same command
as above:

http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov:9091/dods/NCEP_NARR_DAILY/200409/200409/narr-a_221_200409dd_hh00_000

I don't recall encountering grib2 data yet, so I cannot comment on that. We
like serving up HDF data which is likely the anti-fun compared to grib2.

Mike

Config: OpenGrADS-1.9.8-m3 32-bit little-endian readline sdf/xdf hdf-sds
netcdf lats athena printim

Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) Version OpenGrADS-1.9.8-m3
Copyright (c) 1988-2005 by Brian Doty and IGES
Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA)
Institute for Global Environment and Society (IGES)
This program is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY
See file COPYRIGHT for more information.

Built Fri Jul  6 00:20:28 EDT 2007 for i686-pc-linux-gnu

This version of GrADS has been configured with the following options:

   o This is a 32-bit LITTLE ENDIAN machine version.
   o Command line editing (readline) ENABLED.
   o CIRES/CDC (http://www.cdc.noaa.gov) SDF/XDF interface ENABLED.
     Use sdfopen or xdfopen to read both NetCDF and HDF-SDS files.
   o DTYPE netcdf and DTYPE hdfsds are ENABLED.
   o OPeNDAP (a.k.a. DODS) gridded data interface DISABLED.
   o OPeNDAP (a.k.a. DODS) station data interface DISABLED.
   o PCMDI (http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov) LATS interface ENABLED.
     This version is configured to write GRIB and HDF-SDS files.
   o DAO (http://dao.gsfc.nasa.gov) Athena Widget GUI ENABLED.
   o NRL/DAO/PCMDI XA or ImageMagick Image Output DISABLED.
   o printim command for direct png/gif output ENABLED.
     (via the GD Library -- http://www.boutell.com/gd)

For additional information please consult http://grads.iges.org/grads/

On Jan 30, 2008 11:10 AM, Wesley Ebisuzaki <Wesley.Ebisuzaki at noaa.gov>
wrote:

> Mike,
>
>      I hate to disappoint you but the NOMADS sites (NCEP, NCDC) don't
> use lats4d for the distribution of NARR, global reanalyses and
> other model products.  With the recent release of GrADS v2.0a, all the
> building blocks are in place for NOMADS to support grib-2.
> For many users, grib-2 will be more fun than grib-1.
>
>    Wesley Ebisuzaki
>
>
> Mike Bosilovich wrote:
> > Thanks for the prompt reply Brian,
> >
> > I realize and greatly appreciate the amount of work you, Jennifer and
> > others have done, with very little support. Grads is a great tool,
> > hands down. And I tell that to anyone who will listen.
> >
> > I assumed that you all, as developers, would like feedback on what
> > users need to do. Lats4d fills a very important role in my work, and I
> > expect others as well. I wanted to pass on a point of view. Certainly,
> > I'm not trying to tell you what you must do, only providing feedback
> > on the capability that I find useful.
> >
> > Now, as for what Jennifer said, there was a post that says lats will
> > not be supported. That was the impetus for my post. If I
> > misunderstood, and there will be lats4d capability in some way, I
> > apologize for over reacting.
> >
> > In any event, I also need to clarify my statement on the new NCEP
> > reanalysis. They will have 1000TB of Grib1 format data at NCDC (this
> > is still changing, as I understand). In Grib2, it comes down to 500Tb
> > or so. For what that's worth, it's still immense. I got the sense that
> > they are planning on grib1, because of the lack of utilities with
> > grib2 capability.
> >
> > Again, this is merely my opinion as a user, and I hoped the opinion
> > and the information would be useful to the developers.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Mike Bosilovich
> >
> > On Jan 29, 2008 10:02 PM, Brian Doty <doty at cola.iges.org
> > <mailto:doty at cola.iges.org>> wrote:
> >
> >     Mike, the new Version 2 of GrADS is being released in alpha version
> >     and incomplete so that people would have access to the new GRIB2
> >     support.   With no funding for many years and key personnel working
> >     limited part time hours we do not have the resources to support old
> >     code and also move forward to provide essential new functionality
> for
> >     present and future research needs.  GrADS development first started
> >     in the late 1980s and it has taken us several years of work to clean
> >     up the 15 years of accumulated mods and patches on top of the
> >     original code base in order to come out with a new code base so we
> >     could move forward.   I have made every effort over the years to
> >     ensure upward compatibility and maintain stability.  There is no way
> >     that a 20 year old code base can be patched and hacked for another
> 20
> >     years or even 5 years and maintain stability and still support the
> >     100TB data sets you talk about and the other projects probably in
> the
> >     pipeline.   As new versions of data formats appear -- grib2, hdf5,
> >     new netcdf on the way, etc ---  we have no choice.  We cannot keep
> >     using old libraries and maintain them ourselves.  We cannot patch
> and
> >     hack old code that we didn't write to begin with and which in some
> >     cases has restrictive copyrights.
> >
> >     As I say, version 2 as it stands now is incomplete.   Key areas of
> >     functionality which need to be re-implemented have not yet been
> >     done.  Other major parts of grads have not yet been upgraded, such
> as
> >     the graphics package.   As Jennifer said in her original email, the
> >     output of various data formats is high on the list of things yet to
> >     be done...   Brian
> >
> >     On Jan 29, 2008, at 4:34 PM, Mike Bosilovich wrote:
> >
> >     >
> >     > I have to admit an ignorance to some of the inner workings of
> Grads
> >     > development. But I am quite surprised to hear that lats4d is not
> >     > presently supported in Grads 2.
> >     >
> >     > I have been using Grads for 10 years now (I can still recall the
> >     > relief after years of ncargf77 programming :-) Of course, I still
> >     > write code when appropriate, but grads and lats4d have been the
> >     > main tools in my work. Lats4d fills a critical void. By pointing
> it
> >     > at any grads formatted file (netcdf, hdf, binary or grib), I can
> >     > reformat the data to what ever a colleague may need. I can also,
> >     > easily, no, effortlessly subset variables space or time. Coupled
> >     > with a call to regrid, this subsetting utility is beyond compare.
> >     > In a c shell, it can rip through huge data files with simplicity.
> I
> >     > hope this does not sound like exaggeration, lats4d is the
> strongest
> >     > data tool I have used.
> >     >
> >     > In our office, we have just begun production of a new reanalysis
> >     > data product. While it will take some time to complete, we are
> >     > beginning to develop examples on how users can access and analyze
> >     > the data. Comparison with other reanalyses is obvious and will be
> >     > in high demand. To accomplish that, they will need to regrid our
> >     > data sets to the existing coarser reanalysis data sets. Or, they
> >     > may need to change the format out of our native HDF. The easiest
> >     > way to explain to others how to do this is with lats4d.
> >     >
> >     > There will be 100Tb of reanalysis data available through a GDS.
> >     > With Lats4d and gradsdods (or gradsdap), this would be much more
> >     > accessible. Users, with some examples, will access the data
> through
> >     > online capabilities, rather than bulk downloading of the native
> HDF
> >     > files (a throttle may be needed for access if that is the
> preferred
> >     > by users). In addition, a plan is being prepared to develop a DVD,
> >     > similar to the NCEP reanalyses CD and NARR DVD. Personally, I
> would
> >     > like to see a flavor of grads and lats4d included therein
> >     > (admittedly, I have not gotten to discuss this with the grads
> >     > developers yet).
> >     >
> >     > It doesn't stop there. At AMS last week, NCEP and NCDC held a town
> >     > hall meeting to discuss their plans for the next reanalyses. They
> >     > expect to have nearly 1000Tb of data from three different
> >     > reanalyses, and their production has also started. I don't see
> >     > storage as a barrier, but bandwidth is. Too many users making too
> >     > many big requests will limit accessibility. Lats4d access to their
> >     > GDS will become an important function.
> >     >
> >     > Again, I have to admit I do not know the extent of the issues
> here.
> >     > By necessity, I will have to use versions of grads that include
> >     > lats4d not only in my work, but as I show other how to use our
> >     > data. I felt the need to speak up and I hope that these issues
> will
> >     > be considered.
> >     >
> >     > A sincere grads and lats4d user,
> >     >
> >     > Mike Bosilovich
> >     >
> >
> >
>
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