Model:NEXRAD-extract

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NEXRAD-extract

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Summary Contact Technical specs In/Output Process Testing Other Component info Also known as Model type Tool Model part of larger framework Note on status model Date note status model Incorporated models or components: Spatial dimensions 2D, 3D Spatial extent Continental, Regional-Scale, Landscape-Scale, Watershed-Scale, Reach-Scale Model domain Climate, Hydrology One-line model description Extract data from NEXRAD Doppler Radar NetCDFs Extended model description A Python tool for extracting and/or plotting data from the NEXRAD (WSR-88D) Doppler weather radar network operated by the US National Weather Service. This can be used for inputs to models that require a meteorologic component. Keywords: Weather, hydrological, Name Andy Wickert Type of contact Model developer Institute / Organization University of Colorado Postal address 1 Geological Sciences and INSTAAR Postal address 2 UCB 450 Town / City Boulder Postal code 80309 State Colorado Country United States Email address wickert@colorado.edu Phone Fax Supported platforms Unix, Linux, Mac OS Other platform Programming language Python Other program language Code optimized Single Processor Multiple processors implemented Nr of distributed processors Nr of shared processors Start year development 2011 Does model development still take place? Yes If above answer is no, provide end year model development Code development status When did you indicate the 'code development status'? Model availability As code Source code availability (Or provide future intension) Through web repository, Through CSDMS repository Source web address https://github.com/awickert/nexrad-extract Source csdms web address Program license type GPL v2 Program license type other Memory requirements little Typical run time less than a second to seconds Describe input parameters A NetCDF file, the name of the variable that you want to extract, and (optionally) a lat/lon position in which you would like to extract data from that variable Input format Other input format NetCDF Describe output parameters A plot, and/or the value of the NetCDF file at the designated cell Output format ASCII Other output format Pre-processing software needed? No Describe pre-processing software Post-processing software needed? No Describe post-processing software Visualization software needed? No If above answer is yes Other visualization software Describe processes represented by the model Uses the Python NetCDF toolkit (see python-netcdf on apt) to pull the desired information out of NetCDF files generated from NEXRAD (WSR-88D) outputs Describe key physical parameters and equations Describe length scale and resolution constraints Angular resolution around the radar; gridded data typically have km-nmi-size pixels Describe time scale and resolution constraints Radar sweeps every approx. 15 minutes Describe any numerical limitations and issues Describe available calibration data sets Upload calibration data sets if available: Describe available test data sets Upload test data sets if available: Describe ideal data for testing Do you have current or future plans for collaborating with other researchers? Anyone who wants to use this model is welcome to - and shoot me an email if you'd like my help / like to collaborate on it. Is there a manual available? No Upload manual if available: Model website if any Model forum / discussion board Comments This part will be filled out by CSDMS staff OpenMI compliant No but possible BMI compliant No but possible WMT component No but possible PyMT component Is this a data component DOI model 10.1594/IEDA/100150 For model version 0.1 Year version submitted 2012 Link to file Can be coupled with:

Model info Authors Andy Wickert Source code DOI Download NEXRAD-extract [ version: 0.1] Doi: 10.1594/IEDA/100150 Model citations Nr. of publications: 1 Total citations: 0 h-index: --"--" is not a number. m-quotient: 0 QR-code Link to this page Other models by author AlluvStrat GFlex IceFlow NEXRAD-extract Terrapin

Introduction

This is a code to easily extract precipitation values (or any value, really) out of a lat/lon cell in a NetCDF of a NEXRAD level 3 product grid.

You can run it, for example, by typing at the command line:

>>> python radar_netcdf.py -vwp --ncfile='KBOU_SDUS35_N1PFTG_201106091630.nc' --varname=Precip1hr --lat=40 --lon=-100

The general syntax is:

radar_netcdf [-hvwp] --ncfile=$netcdfFileName --varname=$varname \
 [--lat=$lat] [--lon=$lon] [--outfile=$outfile] [--help]

where $lat/$lon are of the point of interest, and are optional, and $outfile is used only if --lat and --lon are defined

History

Written by Andy Wickert on 17 August, 2011

Future plans

Sometime in the future I will work on a whole script to get data off the internet, get the parts that we would need, convert the data into a standard NetCDF, and pull the info out. But this is a start.

References

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Nr. of publications:	1
Total citations:	0
h-index:	--"--" is not a number.
m-quotient:	0

Featured publication(s)	Year	Model described	Type of Reference	Citations
Wickert, A.D.; 2012. NEXRAD-extract, version 0.1.. , , . 10.1594/IEDA/100150 (View/edit entry)	2012	NEXRAD-extract	Source code ref.	0
See more publications of NEXRAD-extract

Nothing yet, but it might be incorporated in some work with Francis Rengers on gully incision in West Bijou Creek: see http://cires.colorado.edu/science/groups/tucker/Natural-Experiments/index.html

Help

Typing:

>>> python radar_netcdf.py --help

will give you the following help information (as of 28 April 2012, and unchanged since the code was first completed):

 Options:
   -h, --help         show this help message and exit
   -v                 If selected, turns on verbosity
   -w                 Write the value at the given lat/lon to file
   -p                 Plots radar output
   --ncfile=NCFILE    NetCDF filename
   --varname=VARNAME  NetCDF variable to get, e.g., 'Precip1hr'
   --lat=LAT          Latitude of point to get data. Optional, default = none
   --lon=LON          Longitude of point to get data. Optional, default = none
   --outfile=OUTFILE  Output file for lat/lon data on precip. Optional: only
                      used if lat/lon are defined, default = NEXRAD_ll_out.txt.

Input Files

You need a NetCDF of a Nexrad Level III weather radar product. NOAA has a nice Java tool to obtain NetCDF's from their own data format: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radar-decoding-easy.html

Output Files

Right now, the code will only output values (e.g., precip) to a file. I may work on making it be able to do latitude, longitude, and/or time as well.