METplus Use Case: Feature Relative (Series-Analysis by init)

Setup

In this exercise, you will perform a series analysis based on the init time of your sample data. This use case focuses on using the latitude and longitude pairs for a "feature", such as a tropical cyclone or extra-tropical cyclone, to identify a user-specified tile around the feature.  The tiles are then used to compute statistics using Series_Analysis.  Therefore, this use-case utilizes the MET Tc-Pairs, Tc-Stat, and Series-Analysis tools, and the METplus wrappers: TcPairs, ExtractTiles, TcStat, and SeriesAnalysis. Please refer to the MET Users Guide for a description of the MET tools and the METplus Users Guide for more details about the wrappers.

Review Use Case Configuration File: feature_relative.conf

View the file and study the configuration variables that are defined.

Note the configuration settings for this complex use-case. The PROCESS_LIST contains 5 items, 2 of which are the same wrapper, TCStat. Since METplus version 4.0.0 was released, users have had the ability to run multiple instances of a given tool using an instance name. The METplus User's Guide describes in detail how to use Instance Names in the Process List to configure two or more instances of the same tool with different settings.

For this example, the [for_series_analysis] instance of TCStat, which runs after the initial TCStat instance and an ExtractTiles instance, will inherit all of the settings from the initial TCStat instance. Then, it will override those settings with any of the settings found in the [for_series_analysis] section. Looking at the configuration file, we see the following:

This indicates that the TC_STAT_JOB_ARGS, TC_STAT_OUTPUT_DIR, and TC_STAT_LOOKIN_DIR will be overridden with the provided values.

The SERIES_ANALYSIS_STAT_LIST is set to four statistics, but can be set to many more.  The size of the tiles are configurable using the EXTRACT_TILES settings.  Also, note that variables in feature_relative.conf reference other variables you defined in other configuration files. For example: 

This references OUTPUT_BASE which you set in the METplus defaults configuration file (${METPLUS_BUILD_BASE}/parm/metplus_config/defaults.conf). METplus config variables can reference other config variables, even if they are defined in a config file that is read afterwards.

Run METplus

Change to the METplus Tutorial Directory:

Run the following command. Use config.OUTPUT_BASE to change the output directory from the command line:

You will see output streaming to your screen. This may take up to 4 minutes to complete. METplus is finished running when control returns to your terminal console and you see the following text:

Review the Output Files

You should have output files in the following directories from the intermediate wrappers TcPairs, ExtractTiles, and TcStat, respectively:

and the output of interest, from the SeriesAnalysis wrapper:

which has a directory corresponding to the date(s) of data in the data window.  This area also includes the logs and a tmp directory:

and under that directory are subdirectories named by the storm. They begin with ML. Below are a few examples:

and under each of those directories lies the files of interest:

The series_analysis_files_obs_ML########## (where ########## is the storm) is a text file that contains a list of the observation data included in the series analysis.

The series_analysis_files_fcst_ML########## (where ########## is the storm) is a text file that contains a list of forecast data included in the series analysis.

The .nc files are the series analysis output generated from the MET series_analysis tool.

The .png and .ps files are graphics files that can be viewed using display or ghostview, respectively:

or

Note: the & is used to run this command in the background

Review the Log File

A log file is generated in your logging directory: ${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/feature_relative_by_init/logs. The filename contains the timestamp corresponding to the current day. To view the log file:

Review the Final Configuration File

The final configuration file is metplus_final.conf. This contains all of the configuration variables used in the run.

METplus Use Case: Feature Relative (Series-Analysis by lead, by forecast hour grouping)

Setup

In this exercise, you will perform a series analysis based on the lead time (forecast hour) of your sample data and organize your results by forecast hour groupings. This use case utilizes the MET Tc-Pairs, Tc-Stat, and Series-Analysis tools, and the METplus wrappers: TcPairs, ExtractTiles, TcStat, and SeriesAnalysis. Please refer to the MET User's Guide for a description of the MET tools and the METplus Users Guide for more details about the wrappers. Please note that the METplus User's Guide is a work-in-progress and may have missing content.

Change to the METplus Tutorial Directory:

Review Use Case Configuration File: series_by_lead_by_fhr_grouping.conf

View the file and study the configuration variables that are defined.

Note that the Lead time groupings are specified by the LEAD_SEQ config options. 

This references OUTPUT_BASE which you set in the METplus default configuration file (metplus_config/defaults.conf). METplus config variables can reference other config variables, even if they are defined in a config file that is read afterwards.

Run METplus

Run the following command:

You will see output streaming to your screen. This may take up to 3 minutes to complete. When it is complete, your prompt returns.

Review the Output Files

You should have output directories including the following that result from running the wrappers TcPairs, ExtractTiles, and TcStat, respectively:

and the output directory of interest, from the SeriesByLead wrapper:

That directory contains the following directories:

Day1 contain the following files:

The series_analysis_files_obs_init_ALL_valid_ALL_lead_ALL.txt is a text file that contains a list of the data that is included in the series analysis.

Day2 contains equivalent files for forecast leads 24 to 42.

The .nc files are the series analysis output generated from the MET Series-Analysis tool.

The .png and .ps files are graphics files that can be viewed using display:

or

Note: the & is used to run this command in the background

The series_animate directory contains the gif images of the animations:

To watch the animations, go to ${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/feature_relative_by_lead_fhr_groupings/series_analysis_lead/series_animate, enter the following (if firefox doesn't work you can use animate instead):

Review the Log File

A log file is generated in your logging directory: ${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/feature_relative_by_lead_fhr_groupings/logs. The filename contains the timestamp corresponding to the current day. To view the log file:

Review the Final Configuration File

The final configuration file is metplus_final.confYYYYMMDDHHMMSS. (where YYYYMMDDHHMMSS refers to year, month, day, hour, minute, second that the file was created.)This contains all of the configuration variables used in the run.

End of Session 7

Congratulations! You have completed Session 7!