METplus Practical Session Guide (Version 5.0) | MET Tool: Gen-Vx-Mask > Run Data and Solar Types

On this page, we provide examples for land/sea mask and also a solar altitude to show where it is daytime on a global grid.

Run Gen-Vx-Mask on the command line using the following command:

gen_vx_mask \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/GFS_LAND.nc \
-type data -mask_field 'name="LAND"; level="L0";' -thresh eq1 -name LAND

corresponding water mask could be created using two different methods. One way is to simply rerun the land mask command above using the -complement option:

gen_vx_mask \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/GFS_LAND_COMP.nc \
-type data -mask_field 'name="LAND"; level="L0";' -thresh eq1 -name LAND_COMP -complement

Another way is to specify a different threshold (eq1 instead of eq0) rather than taking the complement:

gen_vx_mask \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_DATA}/model_applications/medium_range/grid_to_obs/gfs/pgbf00.gfs.2017060100 \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/GFS_WATER.nc \
-type data -mask_field 'name="LAND"; level="L0";' -thresh eq0 -name WATER

Now we'll run Gen-Vx-Mask to show where it’s daytime on a global grid:

gen_vx_mask \
G004 \
20170601_183000 \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/SOLAR_DAY.nc \
-type solar_alt -thresh ge0 -name DAY

Next, combine the LAND output from the previous run with the solar altitude mask for daytime:

gen_vx_mask \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/GFS_LAND.nc \
20170601_183000 \
${METPLUS_TUTORIAL_DIR}/output/met_output/gen_vx_mask/DAYLIGHT_LAND.nc \
-type solar_alt -thresh ge0 -name DAYLIGHT_LAND -intersection

This creates a mask for grid points on land experiencing daylight at 18:30 UTC on 20170601.

On the next page, we'll demonstrate using the "track" and "circle" masking types.