[IDV #LCA-261543]: GrADS .ctl files

Hi Stefan-

> I will upload a 4km run .dat/.ctl pair. The .dat file is ~789mb. The
> domain is centered off the west African coast near the Cape Verde
> Islands. I am using the unsupported nightly build which recently just
> added the GrADs data as an option in the drop down menu for data
> types, version 2.9.4u. Before this release, it wasn't an option in the
> drop down menu. Could you open .ctl files before?

Thanks for the file.  I put a new version of ncIdv.jar at:

http://motherlode.ucar.edu/repository/entry/show/RAMADDA/IDV+Community+Resources/Workshop+Sandbox/unsupported+ncIdv.jar+for+Stefan?entryid=dbf15fc6-e6d5-4c2f-b559-a725ca2fd20e

Download this and place it in the IDV installation directory (back up the 
existing copy first).

This will handle:

- different levels for different parameters (as we discussed offline)
- units in parens (as long as it's the last thing in parens on the line)
- the byteswapped option

The units are still problematic.  There are some that have extra parens or 
braces or are just not valid units:

QNRAIN        22  0  Rain Number concentration (  kg(-1))
NOAHRES        1  0  RESIDUAL OF THE NOAH SURFACE ENERGY BUDGET (W m{-2})
lcl            1  0  LCL (meters AGL)
lfc            1  0  LFC (meters AGL)

(the latter 2 should just be meters).  I don't know if you can modify the 
definition files for ARWPost to make the
correct units.

Let me know if you run into any problems with this new ncIdv.jar.  It's not in 
the nightly build, but once I'm sure things are working for you, we'll update 
that.

Don

> On Apr 19, 2011, at 2:10 PM, Unidata IDV Support wrote:
> 
> > Hi Stefan-
> >
> >> Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, all of the above didn't work.
> >> If I
> >> change all the parentheses to brackets in the file, none of the
> >> variables show up in the field selector in IDV.
> >
> > That's odd.
> >
> > I tried reloading the
> >> data without the byteswapped tag and variables still were plotted as
> >> 'noise'. Attached is the ARWpost theta and relative humidity at 2m
> >> attempt. I couldn't capture the image through IDV, whenever I did all
> >> it did was show up as black. So this is a print-screen shot. I also
> >> sometimes get the random error: "negative offset error"? It happens
> >> randomly and isn't related to any particular variable. What is odd is
> >> that the domain and time steps are recognized correctly by IDV,
> >> including the field selector showing the variables. It seems there is
> >> some communication issue between IDV, the ctl file and the dat
> >> file. I
> >> would use WRFpost to create grib files, however I don't have space to
> >> keep both grib and data files(some of my output is over 20GB). Thanks
> >> again for your help!
> >
> > How large is one timestep?  If less than 2Gb, could you upload it to:
> >
> > http://motherlode.ucar.edu/repository/alias/idvupload
> >
> > ?
> >
> > Also, what version of IDV are you using?
> >
> > And finally, could you cc: address@hidden on your reply.  For
> > some reason, the I'm not getting your responses.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Don
> >
> > Ticket Details
> > ===================
> > Ticket ID: LCA-261543
> > Department: Support IDV
> > Priority: Normal
> > Status: Open
> >
> 
> 
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: LCA-261543
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Open