• NAME
• PURPOSE
• USAGE
• DESCRIPTION
• Specification file (standard input)
• Line one
• Following lines
• Linear conversion
• NOTE about date/time

NAME

nctofelt

PURPOSE

Convert from netcdf format to FELT file format

USAGE

   nctofelt -d fdef netcdffile feltfile <specification_file

where fdef is the name of a flt2flt grid definition file.

DESCRIPTION

Selected fields from the netcdf file are transferred to a FELT file, which will be created.

Specification file (standard input)

The nctofelt command reads a specification from standard input on how to convert from the netcdf file to the FELT file. The specification contains a description of which variables in the netcdf file are to be transferred to the FELT file, and how corresponding fields in the two files are identified.

The following sections gives details about the specification file.

Line one

The first line in the specification file contains the following 10 whole numbers:

• The number of two-dimensional FELT fields to be produced. This number is also equal to the number of lines comprising the rest of the file.

• The type of the FELT file (999,998 or 997). Normally, type=998 will be the most useful one. 999 = standard felt file (one time step) 998 = archive felt file (several time steps) 997 = cyclic archive felt file (several time steps)

• Producer number. This utility only allows one producer in the FELT file. This number has only a descriptive function. Any number in the range 1 - 99 will work.

• Three numbers giving the base date/time for the data (corresponding to word 5-7, record 1 in a standard FELT file; corresponding to the first date/time for an archive FELT file). (Year, month*100+day, hour*100+minute).

• Number of time steps in the FELT file (FELT record 1 word 26) (for standard, type=999 FELT files, this can only be 1).

• Number of index slots in ``innholdsfortegnelse'' per time step (FELT record 1 word 27). This must correspond to the maximum number of 2D fields to be converted for one time step.

• Unit for time step resolution (1=year, 2=month, 3=day, 4=hour, 5=minute) (FELT record 1 word 29)

• Length of time step (using unit as above) (FELT record 1 word 30)

Following lines

Then follows lines of the following type:

   FELT(date,grid,dtyp,fcl,lev1,lev2,vco,par) = varname(arg1,arg2,...)<LC>

<LC> is an optional linear conversion clause (see Linear conversion below).

The date field is optional. So, an alternative form is:

   FELT(grid,dtyp,fcl,lev1,lev2,vco,par) = varname(arg1,arg2,...)<LC>

Each line describes one two-dimensional field in the FELT file, and the variable in the netcdf file from where the data are to be transferred.

The words date,grid,dtyp,fcl,lev1,lev2,vco,par,varname,arg1,arg2,... should be substituted by the following values:

date

(Optional). Date/time on the form: YYYY-MM-DD:HHMM If not given, then the date/time given in line one (for a standard, type=999 FELT file) is used. Othervise, the date/time for the previous field is used. See also: NOTE about date/time below.

grid

Grid area This is the grid number described in felt.txt. The grid number must be found in the flt2flt grid definition file given by the '-d' option on the command line. This value may also take the form gn:x1-x2:y1-y2, where gn = grid number, x1 = lower x index, x2 = upper x index and y1, y2 = the lower and upper y indices. The lower x,y indices represent the indices in the resulting FELT array corresponding to the first value copied from the netcdf variable. x1,y1 defaults to 1,1. The upper x,y indices correspond to the last value copied from the netcdf variable. When x1-x2, y1-y2 is explisitly given as two integer ranges, only the rectangular part of the FELT array given by taking (x1,y1) as the lower left and (x2,y2) as the upper right corner, is filled with values. The other parts of the FELT array is filled with the missing value code.

dtyp

Data type (1,2,3 or 4 - described in felt.txt)

   1  :  Analysis fields
   2  :  Prognostic fields
   3  :  Computed/interpolated/initialized fields
   4  :  Parameter fields

fcl

Forecast length (hours). For fields other than prognostic fields, this number should be 0. For prognostic fields, added to the date/time given in date above, this number represents the valid time for the physical state described by the 2D field.

lev1

Level 1 vertical co-ordinate value in units corresponding to vco below.

lev2

Level 2 vertical co-ordinate value (=0 if the level can be described by only one value).

vco

Type of vertical co-ordinate used:

     1  :  Pressure (hPa)
     2  :  sigma atmosphere
     3  :  h
     4  :  theta (isentropical surfaces)
     5  :  z (depth, ocean)
     6  :  level (ocean)
     7  :  sigma ocean
     8  :  surface of the earth/oceans
     9  :  pv, potential vorticity
    10  :  eta (hybrid) atmosphere
    11  :  ``sigma height'' = (Z-Zs)/(H-Zs), (H: height in meter)
    (Descriptions taken from felt.txt)

par

Parameter code. (Described in felt.txt)

variable

Variable name identifying an array in the netcdf file

arg1,...

Arguments to define which part of the netcdf array to use.

These arguments may either have values found for the corresponding dimension in the netcdf file, or they have the special values #1 or #2. Exactly one of the arguments must have the value #1. Another argument may have the value #2. If only the #1 argument is found, the two-dimensional field is defined by varying the array index corresponding to the #1 argument from 1 up to the size of the dimension. If both the #1 and #2 arguments are given, then values are copied from the netcdf array by first setting the #2 index to 1 while traversing all values of the #1 index from 1 and up to the dimension size, then setting the #2 index to 2 etc.

If the argument is neither #1 or #2, it either corresponds to an index value in the netcdf array, or to a value found in another netcdf variable having the same name as the dimension corresponding to the argument. If such dimension variable exists, this alternative is the only possibility. Care should be taken to make unambiguous arguments corresponding to values in a dimension variable. If this variable is of type float or double, the argument should always include a decimal point.

The 2D FELT field, which is produced, may be seen as a 2D array a(x,y) where the x index corresponds to the #1 argument and y corresponds to the #2 argument. For lat-lon grids, x (and #1) correspnds to the longitude dimension, while y (and#2) corresponds to the latitude dimension.

Linear conversion

The optional linear conversion clause, <LC>, is used if the values in the netcdf file are to be transformed by a linear function before they are stored in the FELT file. This clause must correspond to one of the following forms:

   * r1
   * (-r1)
   * r1 + r2
   * r1 - r2
   * (-r1) + r2
   * (-r1) - r2
   + r2
   - r2

where r1 and r2 are non-negative numbers (with or without a decimal point). Scientific notation is not allowed. Spaces as shown in the forms above are not neccessary.

NOTE about date/time

The number of lines corresponding to one date/time value must not exceed the available number of index slots in the ``innholdsfortegnelse'' for the given date/time value. This number is given on line one (described above).

Also, lines must be sorted in incresing date/time order, and each date/time must correspond to one of the date/times defined in line one ('base date/time' + n * 'time step', n = 0,1,2,...).