MTD: Output
The MTD output typically consists of 6 files: 5 ASCII statistics files and 1 NetCDF object file. MTD does not create any graphical output. In this example, the output is written to the current mtd directory as we requested on the command line.
- mtd_20050807_030000V_2d.txt
- mtd_20050807_030000V_3d_pair_cluster.txt
- mtd_20050807_030000V_3d_pair_simple.txt
- mtd_20050807_030000V_3d_single_cluster.txt
- mtd_20050807_030000V_3d_single_simple.txt
- mtd_20050807_030000V_obj.nc
The MTD output file naming convention begins with mtd_ followed by the last valid time it encountered. The output file names may be modified using the output_prefix option in the configuration file, which should be used to prevent the output of one run from over-writing the output of a previous run. The 6 MTD output files are described briefly below:
- The NetCDF object file ends in .nc and contains gridded fields of the raw data, simple object indices, and cluster object indices for each forecast and observed timestep.
- The ASCII file ending with _2D.txt contains many columns similar to the output of MODE. This data summarizes the 2-dimensional object attributes for each individual time slice of the 3D forecast and observation objects.
- The ASCII files ending with _single_simple.txt and _single_cluster.txt contain 3D space-time attributes for simple and cluster objects, respectively.
- The ASCII files ending with _pair_simple.txt and _pair_cluster.txt contain 3D space-time attributes for pairs of simple and cluster objects, respectively.
Notice that the objects are defined in the active areas in the raw fields. Also notice some features merging (i.e. combining) as time passes while other features split (i.e. break apart). While they may be disconnected at a particular timestep, they remain part of the same space-time object.
Notice the generalization of the 2D MODE object attributes to 3 dimensions. Area measure becomes volume. MTD measures the object speed. Each object has a beginning and ending time.
