METplus Practical Session Guide (Version 5.0) | Session 5: MODE and MTD > MET Tool: MTD

MODE-Time-Domain: General

MODE-Time-Domain Functionality

The MODE-Time-Domain (MTD) tool was added in MET version 6.0. It applies an object-based verification technique in comparing a gridded forecast to a gridded analysis. It defines 3-dimensional space/time objects, tracking 2-dimensional objects through time. It writes summary object information to ASCII statistics files and writes object fields to NetCDF format. The MTD tool can be used to quantify the duration of events and timing errors.

MODE-Time-Domain Usage

View the usage statement for MODE-Time-Domain by simply typing the following:
mtd
The forecast and observation fields must be on the same grid. You can use copygb to regrid GRIB1 files, wgrib2 to regrid GRIB2 files, or use the automated regridding functionality within the MET config files.

At a minimum, the -fcst and -obs options must be used to specify the data to be processed. Alternatively, the -single option specifies that MTD should be run on a single dataset. The -config option specifies the name of the configuration file.