METplus Use Case: TC-Pairs

The TCPairs use case utilizes the MET TC-Pairs tool.

Optional: Refer to the MET Users Guide for a description of the MET tools used in this use case.
Optional: Refer to the METplus Config Glossary section of the METplus Users Guide for a reference to METplus variables used in this use case.

There is an example of using TC-Pairs to match Extratropical Cyclones as well as Tropical Cyclones

Let's take a look at the data to understand why the configuration file is set up the way it is. If you recall, the {INPUT_BASE} is set in tutorial.conf as ${METPLUS_DATA}, so we will look there:

The output from this command will return four separate directories, each with their own collection of track files. Those four directories are:

An example of the track files found in each of these directories is:

Let's look at the output file:

You will notice that there are two models configurations included in the first file for Hurricane Florence, CTRL and MYNN and the line type written out is TCMPR indicate it is the matched pair information. If you open up the third file, you'll notice that there is only the CTRL model listed.

You will see that in the files are in the ATCF file format. Also note: in the files in the CTRL directory, the model listed in the 5th column is HLAT. Similarly, in the H19C directory, the model is CTRL; in the H19M directory it is MYNN, and in the MYNN directory, it is HLMY. While this is confusing in some ways, it does demonstrate that the TC-Pairs tool does not look at the directory structure and naming convention of the input files, but rather the model information included in the ATCF "a-decks", which is traditional naming convention for files with forecast tracks.

The TC_PAIRS_ADECK_TEMPLATE includes MODEL in the path, so we will leave MYNN and CTRL in the list.

Review output

You will notice that now all models are included in the appropriate files. Also note that all of the forecasts leads from 000000 to 1260000 are included in the 10th column.