A Users' Guide to RIP Version 3: A Program for Visualizing PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Modeling System Output Mark T. Stoelinga University of Washington 31 October 2000

 

Updated 18 February 2003

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Setting up RIP on your system
3. Preparing data with RIPDP
4. The RIP user input file
5. Running RIP
6. Using RIP with pressure-level data sets
7. Calculating and plotting trajectories
8. Creating a data set for Vis5D

1. Introduction

RIP (which stands for Read/Interpolate/Plot) is a Fortran program that invokes NCAR Graphics routines for the purpose of visualizing output from the Fourth and Fifth Generation versions of the PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM4/MM5) System. It has been under continuous development since 1991, primarily by Mark Stoelinga at both NCAR and the University of Washington. The writing of this document coincides with the development of RIP Version 3 by Mark Stoelinga and the NCAR MM5 Group, and with its release as an officially supported component of NCAR's MM5 modeling system.

The program is designed to be portable to any UNIX system that has a Fortran 77 or Fortran 90 compiler and the NCAR Graphics library. The UNIX operating system is not necessarily a requirement, but this document is written with the assumption that you are working on a UNIX system. The author has not given a considerable amount of thought to problems that may arise on another operating system.

RIP can be described as "quasi-interactive". You specify the desired plots by editing a formatted text file. The program is executed, and an NCAR Graphics CGM file is created, which can be viewed with any one of several different metacode translator applications. The plots can be modified, or new plots created, by changing the user input file and re-executing RIP. Some of the basic features of the program are outlined below:

• uses a preprocessing program which reads either MM4 model output (Version 8 and special PV integration output), MM5 model output (Versions 0, 1, 2, or 3), MM5 model input (Versions 1, 2, or 3), TERRAIN program output (Version 3 only), or pressure-level analyses from front-end programs (Version 3 only), and converts this data into standard RIP format data files that can be ingested by RIP.
• makes Lambert Conformal, Polar Stereographic, or Mercator map backgrounds, with any standard parallels.
• makes horizontal plots of contours, filled contours, vectors, streamlines, or characters.
• makes horizontal plots on sigma, pressure, height, potential temperature, equivalent potential temperature, or potential vorticity surfaces.
• makes vertical cross sections of contours, filled contours, full vectors, or horizontal wind vectors.
• makes vertical cross sections using sigma, pressure, log pressure, Exner function, height, potential temperature, equivalent potential temperature, or potential vorticity as the vertical coordinate.
• makes skew-T/log p soundings at points specified as grid coordinates, lat/lon coordinates, or station locations, with options to plot a hodograph or print sounding-derived quantities.
• calculates backward or forward trajectories, including hydrometeor trajectories, and calculates diagnostic quantities along trajectories.
• plots trajectories in plan view or vertical cross sections.
• makes a data set for use in the Vis5D visualization software package
• allows for complete user control over the appearance (color, line style, labeling, etc.) of all aspects of the plots

 

a. Obtaining and unpacking the code and related files

The most recent version of the code can be downloaded from the PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model ftp site at NCAR. Download the compressed tar file, RIP.TAR.gz, to your local machine, and uncompress the file (i.e., gunzip RIP.TAR.gz). The tar file contains a top-level directory called RIP, in which all the RIP-related files reside. Unpacking the tar file (i.e., running tar xf RIP.TAR) will create a RIP directory, as a subdirectory of your current working directory, and will place all the RIP-related files in that new RIP directory. Thus, before unpacking the RIP tar file, you should first change to a directory that you want to be the parent directory of your RIP directory. This would commonly be your home directory. The tar file contains the following directories and files:

• CHANGES, a text file that logs changes to the RIP tar file
• Diff/, a directory that contains files with actual differences (generated with "diff") between different releases of RIP Version 3
• Doc/, a directory that contains documentation of RIP, most notably the HTML version of the Users' Guide that you are now reading (ripug.html).
• Makefile, the top-level make file used to compile and link RIP
• README, a text file containing basic in
• color.tbl, a file that contains a table defining the colors you want to have available for RIP plots
• psadilookup.dat, a file that contains "look-up" table data for obtaining temperature on a pseudoadiabat
• ripdp_sample.in, rip_sample.in, and tabdiag_sample.in, sample input files for programs RIPDP, RIP, and TABDIAG
• src/, a directory that contains all of the source code files for RIP, RIPDP, and several other utility programs. Most of these are Fortran 77 source code files with extension .f.  In addition, there are:
• .h and .c files, which are C source code files
• comconst, an include file that contains common blocks that hold constants for use by several of the routines in RIP
• pointers, an include file that contains pointer declarations used in some of the routines in RIP
• Makefile, a secondary make file used to compile and link RIP
• stationlist, a file containing observing station location information

b. Setting the RIP_ROOT environment variable

In order for RIP to work, you must define a UNIX environment variable called RIP_ROOT. RIP_ROOT should be assigned the path name of the directory where all your RIP program and utility files (color.tbl, stationlist, .ascii files, psadilookup.dat) reside. If you unpacked the RIP tar file in your home directory, then the natural choice for your RIP_ROOT directory is the RIP subdirectory that was created when you unpacked the RIP tar file.

For simplicity, you should define RIP_ROOT in one of your UNIX start-up files. For example, if you use c-shell, and you have unpacked your RIP files into a directory called /users/johndoe/RIP, and that is where you intend to have the code and utility files reside, you should include in your .login or .cshrc file the line

setenv RIP_ROOT /users/johndoe/RIP

RIP uses the system call getenv to retrieve the value of RIP_ROOT from within the program. If your system's Fortran does not support the system call getenv, you can use instead the variable rip_root in the &userin namelist in the RIP user input file (UIF) to tell RIP where to find the utility files. This is described in more detail in section 4 of the Users' Guide.

In general, the utility files mentioned above require no editing or user input. The exceptions to this are the color table file, color.tbl, which allows you to define colors that will be used by RIP, and the observing station listing file, stationlist, which provides location information for observing stations that may be referenced in various aspects of the plot request.

c. Changing the color table file

As you become more familiar with how RIP uses colors, you may want to customize color.tbl to suit your own preferences. In the color table, colors are defined according to fractions of red, green, and blue, with each fraction being a number from 0.0 to 1.0. Each color is given a name. You can define up to 256 different colors, but RIP will warn you if you define more than 200, because RIP also needs to make use of the 256 available color slots to define color shades for color-filled contour plots. The basic structure of the table is as follows. The first four lines are ignored – they are simply a banner that says that this is the color table. The first two colors should always be given the names def.background and def.foreground, in that order. However, their color fractions can be changed if desired. def.background is the color used by NCAR Graphics for any regions where no plotting instructions have been given (i.e. the default background color). def.foreground is the color used by NCAR Graphics for any plotting instructions in which you did not explicitly ask for a particular color (i.e. the default foreground color). Usually these are either black and white, or white and black, but the fractions can be changed to make them different colors, as already mentioned above. It is recommended that, regardless of the colors you use for def.foreground and def.background, you also have those colors defined with their appropriate names somewhere else in the table. For example, even if color indices 0 and 1 are given the fractions 0.0,0.0,0.0 and 1.0,1.0,1.0, there should also be colors named black and white with the same fractions somewhere else in the table. The explicitly named black or white should be used when you want things to be black or white. That way, if you change def.foreground or def.background to something else, the things that should remain black and white won't change color. The table should end with a line that contains several consecutive minus signs.

There are a few important things that you should be aware of if you will be translating your plots to postscript:

• Postscript has no concept of "background color". Hence, regardless of what your index 0 color is, translation to postscript (either mono or color) will result in a blank or white background. If this is a problem, it can be circumvented by using the -simulatebg option on the ctrans command line.
• If you translate to mono postscript, all plotting instructions, regardless of the color used (black, white, red, blue, etc.), will come out black. This means any filled areas, regardless of color or color index used, will waste large amounts of toner when printed out.

If you translate to color postscript, some monochromatic printers have the nice feature that they convert all colors to halftone gray shades.

d. Changing or adding station listings in the stationlist file

Any number of additional stations can be added to the station listing. The important thing is to keep the station information properly lined up in the appropriate columns. The important pieces of information to enter are the verbal description of the location (under column "Location"), the ICAO four-letter code identifying the station (under column "ICAO"), the latitude and longitude (under columns "Lat" and "Lon"), and the WMO number of the station (under column "WMO#"). The other information is not read by RIP. Elevation should be entered if you have it, because it may be used in the future. The author is unsure of the meaning of the information in the third column. If the WMO number is unknown or the station has no WMO number, enter "00000" in that column.

e. Compiling RIP and associated programs

RIP should be compiled with the UNIX make utility. There is a top-level make file, called Makefile, in the RIP/ directory, as well as a secondary Makefile in the RIP/src/ directory, that are used for "making" RIP.  The make command should be executed from within the RIP/ directory.  First, you should run the command make without any options, which will show a brief help listing on how to run make to compile RIP on your particular platform.  You should choose the option that will most likely work on your platform, and then run the make command with that option.  For example, if you are on a LINUX system, type

make linux >&! make.out &

The redirecting of make print output to the file make.out is optional.  A successful compilation will probably take several minutes. If you have a multiprocessor machine, you may want to find out how to run make so that the machine compiles on all processors at the same time, as this may significantly speed up the compilation wall clock time.

If the compiling of RIP fails, it is likely that the top-level make file needs to be customized for your particular platform.  This involves editing Makefile so that the compile and link commands and options are correctly configured for the particular system you are running on. There are several sections of code in the makefile that pertain do different machines.  One of these sections needs to changed, or a new one created.  The important features that need to be adjusted are the compiler flags (FFLAGS), link flags (LDFLAGS), and libraries (LIBS).  The libraries should include NCAR Graphics libraries--make sure you have the correct location for the NCAR Graphics libraries on your system.  In some cases, you may be able to use ncargf77 as the compiler (i.e., set the CF variable to ncargf77) and not worry about specifying all the specific libraries that are required for NCAR Graphics. Regardless of how you accomplish the linking with NCAR Graphics, it should be pointed out that the author has found some minor problems with RIP that occur if you use a version of NCAR Graphics that is older than 4.0. Therefore, you should try to link with NCAR Graphics 4.0 (or later) if you have it.

A successful compilation will result in the creation of several object and executable files in the RIP/src/ directory.  The make file is also set up to create symbolic links in the RIP/ directory to the actual executables in the RIP/src/ directory.  In UNIX, the best way to make the RIP program and other associated executables accessible to you, regardless of your current working directory, is to add the path name of your RIP directory to your executable path list (e.g., the path shell variable in c-shell). For example, if the above-mentioned symbolic links to the RIP executables reside in the directory ~johndoe/RIP, and you use the c-shell in UNIX, then you should add the following line in your .cshrc file:

set path = ($path ~johndoe/RIP)

With the RIP directory in your executable path, the RIP program (and other associated utilities like ripdp) can be accessed easily without having to put the executables in your working directory or having to specify full path names for the executables.

f. Notes on nonstandard Fortran 77

In general, the author has attempted to adhere to Fortran 77 standards as much as possible in writing the code. However, a few nonstandard features have been included, which are still available in most f77 and f90 compiling systems.

• Namelists: For some I/O, RIP and RIPDP use a nonstandard feature known as a namelist. A namelist is a Fortran input file structure that is not officially standard to Fortran 77, but which is available in most Fortran 77 compilers. Namelists are placed in text files that are opened and read by the Fortran program. The basic structure of a namelist is, on the first line, the name of the namelist (preceded by an ampersand), and then on subsequent lines a series of "variable = value" constructs, each separated by commas, blank spaces, or a new line. (On some machines, commas are required, so it's safest to always use them.) The final line ends the namelist should contain the single word end preceded by an ampersand. Each variable is an actual variable that is declared in a special namelist statement inside the Fortran program. The variables can be of any type. The value of a character variable should be enclosed in single quotes, although it doesn't have to be if all the characters in the string are alpha-numeric. The value of a logical variable should be ".true." or ".false.". Arrays can be assigned multiple values separated by commas (although it has come to the author's attention that with some compilers such as Sun's Fortran 90, each array element must be separately referenced with its index in parentheses). Here is a general example of a namelist:

&samplenlist
beatles='John','Paul','George','Ringo',
(or with Sun f90, beatles(1)='John',beatles(2)='Paul',etc.)
primenumbers=1,2,3,5,7,11,13, flag=.true.,
&end

Not all the variables that are defined as part of the namelist in the Fortran program need to be given values in the namelist file that is read. Typically, all the namelist variables are assigned default values in the program prior to the reading of the namelist file, so that they will retain those default values if they are omitted from the namelist file.

• System calls: RIP uses the following system calls: getenv (for retrieving the value of a UNIX environment variable from within a program), iargc (for retrieving the number of command line arguments), and getarg (for retrieving command line arguments). These system calls are quite common, and should be available in the f77 and f90 compilers from Cray, Sun, SGI, DEC, and IBM.
There are also calls (commented out in the standard release) to the system routine flush (for flushing the standard output buffer, so that the progress of the program can be easily monitored when standard output is being sent to a file). These were commented out because they caused problems on some compilers, but you are free to reinstate them.
• An early version of RIP required the changing of parameter values in the code and recompiling of the program for each different sized domain that was to be analyzed. In versions 2 and 3, this complication has been eliminated. However, in order to do so, the program has been set up in a manner that requires adjustable dimensioning of local (non-argument) arrays in subroutine driver and a few other routines in RIP, and in subroutine process in RIPDP. In other words, in subroutine driver, for example, several arrays that are not in the subroutine argument list are dimensioned with integer variables that are in the argument list. This is technically illegal in Fortran 77, but many compilers support it because it makes dynamic memory allocation possible. It is standard in Fortran 90. Therefore, if you donut have a Fortran 90 compiler, or your Fortran 77 compiler doesn't support adjustable dimensioning of local (non-argument) arrays, you will (unfortunately) have to make some minor changes to subroutines driver, qgomg, and saweli in RIP, and process in RIPDP, and recompile RIPDP and RIP (i.e. re-run make) for each different size domain that you analyze. See the instructions at the top of subroutine process in RIPDP, and at the top of subroutine driver in RIP, if you need to do this.
• Versions 2 and 3 of RIP use Cray pointers. This is nonstandard Fortran 77, but is supported by most Fortran 77 and Fortran 90 compilers.

RIP does not read MM4/MM5 system data files directly. First, a preprocessing step must be executed that converts the modeling system data files to RIP-format data files. The primary difference between these two types of files is that modeling system data files contain all times and all variables in a single file (or a few files), whereas RIP data has every variable at every time in a separate file. The preprocessing step involves use of the program RIPDP (which stands for RIP Data Preparation). RIPDP reads in an MM4/MM5 data file (or files), and separates out each variable at each time. There are several basic variables that RIPDP expects to find, and these are written out with names that are chosen by RIPDP (such as uuu, vvv, prs, etc.). These are the variable names that RIP users are familiar with. However, in Version 3, RIPDP can also process unexpected variables that it encounters in MM5 data files, creating RIP data file names for these variables from the variable name that is stored in the MM5 file header.

When the you run make, it should produce an executable program called ripdp.

a. Running RIPDP

The program has the following usage:

ripdp [-n namelist-file] model-data-set-name data-file-1 data-file-2 data-file-3 ...

The argument model-data-set-name can be any string you choose, that uniquely defines this model output or input data set. It will be used in the file names of all the new RIP data files that are created. data-file-1, data-file-2, ... are the path names (either full or relative to the current working directory) of the model data set files, in chronological order. When the program is finished, a large number of files will have been created that will reside in the current working directory. This is the RIP data that will be accessed by RIP to produce plots.

RIPDP is flexible in that it processes any variables it encounters in the model output file, even those it is not expecting, and produces files for those variables, using the variable name provided in the model output to create the file name. Any such variables can be plotted with RIP--see the description of the feld keyword in Appendix A.

To provide more user control over the processing of the data, a namelist can be specified by means of the "-n" option, with namelist-file specifying the path name of the file containing the namelist. Namelists are a special type of Fortran input structure that is described in section 2.

The namelist file for ripdp should contain the namelist &userin. An example of a namelist input file for ripdp, called ripdp_sample.in, is provided in the RIP tar file. The &userin namelist in that file is shown below, followed by a description of the variables it sets. Each variable has a default value (shown in parentheses), which is the value this variable will take if its specification is omitted from the namelist.

&userin
ptimes=0,-72,1, ptimeunits='h', tacc=90., discard='LANDMASK','H2SO4', iexpandedout=1
&end

• ptimes (real array, def.=9.0E+09), ptimeunits (character variable, def.='h'): ptimes specifies the desired times for ripdp to process. A value of 9.0E+09 indicates to RIPDP that you are using iptimes (see below) instead of ptimes to specify desired times. You can specify particular times to be processed, separated by commas. The units are determined by the value of ptimeunits, which can be either 'h' (for hours), 'm' (for minutes), or 's' (for seconds). You can also specify a series of times in the form A,-B,C, which is interpreted as "times from hour A to hour B, every C hours" (assuming ptimeunits='h'). Thus, in the example above, you want RIPDP to process times from hour 0 through hour 72, every hour (assuming they are encountered in the data). Individual times can be intermixed with series specifications. Thus, ptimes=0,1,3,-18,3,24 would cause RIPDP to process data at hours 0,1,3,6,9,12,15,18, and 24 (assuming those times are encountered).
• iptimes (not shown in the above example, integer array, def.=99999999): This is an integer array that also specifies desired times for RIPDP to process, but in the form of 8-digit "mdate" times (i.e. YYMMDDHH). A value of 99999999 indicates to RIPDP that you are using ptimes (see above) instead of iptimes to specify desired times. Either one or the other of ptimes or iptimes can be used, but not both. ptimeunits has no effect on the meaning of the values given for iptimes. iptimes can also include series specifications. For example, iptimes=99063012,99063018,-99070103,3,99070112 would cause RIPDP to process data at times 99063012, 99063018, 99063021, 99070100, 99070103, and 99070112.
 
Note: If you want RIPDP to simply process all times encountered, you can indicate this in one of several ways. If both ptimes and iptimes are omitted from the namelist (and thus retain their default values) or are both assigned their default values, RIPDP will process all encountered times. Or, if the first (or only) value of either ptimes or iptimes is negative, RIPDP will process all encountered times.
• tacc (real variable, def.=1.0): This specifies a time tolerance, in seconds, for the values assigned to ptimes or iptimes. In other words, any times encountered in the model output that are within tacc seconds of one of the times specified in ptimes or iptimes will be processed.
• discard (character array, def.=' '): This specifies the names of variables that, if encountered in the MM5 data file, will not be processed. The default value (blank) implies that all encountered fields should be processed. Do not discard any of the basic variables, such as temperature, winds, water vapor, pressure perturbation, etc. If you do, you will run into trouble when you attempt to run RIP with your data set.  It is also important to note that the names assigned to the discard variable are compared against the names in the MM5 header. Therefore, you should be careful to assign names to discard as they appear in the MM5 output file header, NOT as they appear at the ends of the the names of the RIP data files. One thing to be particularly careful about is the use of blanks versus underscores. Variable names in the MM5 output file header can contain blanks. When RIP uses these names to build RIP data file names for unexpected variables, it converts blanks to underscores. For example, the MM5 output variable "SOIL T 6" at hour 12 will result in the creation of a RIP data file called something like mycase_012.00000_SOIL_T_6. If you want to discard "SOIL T 6", you should use discard='SOIL T 6', not discard='SOIL_T_6'.
• iexpandedout (integer variable, def.=0): This integer flag is relevant only to TERRAIN or REGRID output in the MM5V3 system. If the output from one of these two programs is on an expanded domain, iexpandedout determines whether the expanded domain will be processed (1) or the standard (unexpanded) domain will be processed (0).

&userin
ptimes(1)=0,ptimes(2)=-72,ptimes(3)=1, ptimeunits='h', tacc=90., discard(1)='LANDMASK',discard(2)='H2SO4', iexpandedout=1
&end

4. The RIP user input file

Once the RIP data has been created with RIPDP, the next step is to prepare the user input file (UIF) for RIP. This file is a text file which tells RIP what plots you want and how they should be plotted. A sample UIF, called rip_sample.in, is provided in the RIP tar file. This sample can serve as a template for the many UIFs that you will eventually create.

A UIF is divided into two main sections. The first section specifies various general parameters about the set up of RIP, in a namelist format. The second section is the plot specification section, which is used to specify what plots will be generated.

a. The namelist section

Namelists are a special type of Fortran input structure that is described in section 2. The first namelist in the UIF is called &userin. An example of a &userin namelist for RIP, which is also found in the sample UIF rip_sample.in, is shown below, followed by a description of the variables contains. Each variable has a default value (shown in parentheses), which is the value this variable will take if its specification is omitted from the namelist.

&userin
idotitle=1,titlecolor='def.foreground',
ptimes=0,6,12,
ptimeunits='h',tacc=120,timezone=-7,iusdaylightrule=1,
iinittime=1,ivalidtime=1,inearesth=0,
flmin=.09, frmax=.92, fbmin=.10, ftmax=.85,
ntextq=0,ntextcd=0,fcoffset=0.0,idotser=0,
idescriptive=1,icgmsplit=0,maxfld=10,itrajcalc=0,imakev5d=0
&end

Some background on the RIP frame title lines: The standard title at the top of the RIP frame has two lines. The first shows the data set name (i.e., the root part of the RIP data file names for the data set being plotted), the UIF file name (excluding the .in extension), and a time whose meaning depends on the type of data being plotted. For TERRAIN data, no time is shown; for pressure-level analysis or sigma-level initial condition data, the valid time is shown; for model output data, the initial time is shown. The second line is only displayed for model output. It shows the forecast hour, and the valid time in both UTC and local time.

• idotitle (integer variable, def.=1) and title (not shown above, character variable, def.= 'auto'): These control the first part of the first title line. If idotitle=1 and title='auto', you'll get the automatically generated information (data set and UIF names) as described above. If idotitle=0, the first part of the first title line will be left blank. If you set title to something else, that string will get used for the first part of the first title line.
• titlecolor (character variable, def.='def.foreground'): This specifies the color to use for the text in the title line(s). It should be chosen from the available colors listed in the utility file color.tbl, described in section 2.
• iinittime (integer variable, def.=1): This flag controls the second part of the first title line. If set to 0, you won't get the model initial time on the right side of the first title line (or the valid time for analysis or initial condition data).
• ivalidtime (integer variable, def.=1): This flag controls the second line of the title (which is only plotted for model output). If set to 0, the entire second line will not be plotted.
• inearsth (integer, def.=0): This flag allows you to have the hour portion of the initial and valid time be specified with two digits, rounded to the nearest hour, rather than the standard 4-digit HHMM specification.
• timezone (real variable, def: -7.0): This specifies the offset from Greenwich time (UTC) for the local time zone, and is required for the correct display of local time specification of the valid time. RIP will recognize familiar time zones of N. America (-8,-7,-6,-5) and show, for example, "MST" or "EDT". For unfamiliar time zones, it will show "LST" or "LDT".
• iusdaylightrule (integer variable, def.=1): This flag determines whether the U.S. daylight saving rule (i.e., daylight saving in effect between 1st Sunday in April and last Sunday in October) should be applied (1) or not (0) in displaying the local time specification of valid time.
• ptimes (real array, def.=9.0E+09), ptimeunits (character variable, def.='h'): ptimes specifies the desired times for RIP to plot. A value of 9.0E+09 indicates to RIP that you are using iptimes (see below) instead of ptimes to specify desired times. You can specify particular times to be plotted, separated by commas. The units are determined by the value of ptimeunits, which can be either 'h' (for hours), 'm' (for minutes), or 's' (for seconds). You can also specify a series of times in the form A,-B,C, which is interpreted as "times from hour A to hour B, every C hours" (assuming ptimeunits='h'). Individual times can be intermixed with series specifications. Thus, ptimes=0,1,3,-18,3,24 would cause RIP to plot data at hours 0,1,3,6,9,12,15,18, and 24 (assuming those times are available).
• iptimes (not shown in the above example, integer array, def.=99999999): This is an integer array that also specifies desired times for RIP to plot, but in the form of 8-digit "mdate" times (i.e. YYMMDDHH). A value of 99999999 indicates to RIP that you are using ptimes (see above) instead of iptimes to specify desired times. Either one or the other of ptimes or iptimes can be used, but not both. ptimeunits has no effect on the meaning of the values given for iptimes. iptimes can also include series specifications. For example, iptimes=99063012,99063018,-99070103,3,99070112 would cause RIP to plot data at times 99063012, 99063018, 99063021, 99070100, 99070103, and 99070112.
Note: If you want RIP to simply plot all times available, you can indicate this in one of several ways. If both ptimes and iptimes are omitted from the namelist (and thus retain their default values) or are both assigned their default values, RIP will plot all available times. Or, if the first (or only) value of either ptimes or iptimes is negative, RIP will plot all available times.
• tacc (real variable, def.=1.0): This specifies a time tolerance, in seconds, for the values assigned to ptimes or iptimes. In other words, any available times in the data that are within tacc seconds of one of the times specified in ptimes or iptimes will be plotted. This value should be increased if, for example, your "hourly" output is not exactly on the hour. It should be decreased if you have saved consecutive time steps and need to pin point one of those time steps.
• flmin, frmax, fbmin, and ftmax (real variables, def.=.05,.95,.10,.90, respectively): These specify the left frame limit, the right frame limit, the bottom frame limit, and the top frame limit, respectively. The size of all plots will be adjusted to be the maximum that can fit in this box. The box is defined in terms of the fractional coordinate system, i.e. all four values should be between 0.0 and 1.0
• ntextq (integer variable, def.=0): This is the text quality specifier ( 0=high; 1=medium; 2=low ).
• ntextcd (integer variable, def.=0): This is the text font specifier [ 0=complex (Times); 1=duplex (Helvetica) ].
 
Notes on ntextq and ntextcd:
1. ntextcd only applies to high quality characters.
2. Low and medium quality characters look identical except that the medium quality zero is unslashed.
3. Medium quality characters are drawn with polylines so their size is independent of the local translator being used. The same is not true of low quality characters, which use the GKS primitive character set, whose size can vary from one system to another.
4. Any messages that involve units will always use high quality, in order to make use of superscripting for exponents.
• fcoffset (real variable, def.=0.0): This is an optional parameter you can use to "tell" RIP that you consider the start of the forecast to be different from what is indicated by the forecast time recorded in the model output. It serves the same purpose as the now defunct mdatebf, but is specified as a relative time (in hours, + or -) rather than an absolute YYMMDDHH format, so it is more useful for automated real-time applications. A non-zero fcoffset causes RIP to adjust the displayed initial and forecast times to match what you consider to be the beginning of the forecast. Examples: fcoffset=12 means you consider hour 12 in the model output to be the beginning of the true forecast (you might use this for a run with a 12-h dynamic initialization period); fcoffset=-12 means you consider model output time 0 to be the true forecast hour 12 (you might use this if a high-resolution domain is initialized from the hour-12 output from a low-resolution domain).
• idotser (integer variable, def.=0): This flag means "do time series". By setting this flag to "1", you can print out time series of any RIP variable at any station location in the model domain. In order to do this, you must also do two other things. First, you must create a simple text file with a list of locations, one per line. Locations are specified in the same manner as cross section endpoints. See the description of keyword crsa in Appendix A for more information on how to specify locations. The file must be called tserstn.dat and should reside in your current working directory. A sample version of this file is provided in the RIP tar file. Then, you must request plots of the desired fields using the plot specification table. Any field for which ptyp=hc is specified will be included in the time series that is created. You can plot all the fields in one frame or in separate frames. You can request any of the RIP vertical coordinates, and multiple levels, just as you would if you were generating plots. In fact, when you run RIP, it will generate the plots asked for, but in addition, it will create an ascii file with time series data at the requested stations for any fields that were plotted with ptyp=hc. The name of the ascii file that is created will be rip-execution-name.tser.
• idescriptive (integer variable, def.=1): This flag can be set to 1 to turn on the printing of more descriptive plot titles instead of the traditional, more cryptic and technical titles.
• icgmsplit (integer variable, def.=0): Setting this to 1 causes each time level of plots to be in a separate metacode file. A value of 0 causes all times to be in a single metacode file.
• maxfld (integer variable, def.=10): This is a parameter that is used to reserve memory for RIP. It is typically set between 10 and 15, depending on how much scratch space is needed to calculate some diagnostic fields, and how many fields are plotted in a single frame. If it is set too low, RIP will simply tell you to increase it and re-run the program.
• itrajcalc (integer variable, def.=0): This is a switch which turns on (1) or off (0) trajectory calculation mode. Whenever you are making plots (even trajectory plots), it should be zero. It should only be set to 1 when you are calculating trajectories. See section 7 for more details.
• imakev5d (integer variable, def.=0): This is a switch which turns on (1) or off (0) the Vis5D data set creation mode. Whenever you are making plots, it should be zero. It should only be set to 1 when you are producing Vis5D data. See section 8 for more details.
• rip_root (not shown in above example, character variable, def.='/dev/null'): If for some reason RIP cannot access the path name that is stored in your UNIX environment variable RIP_ROOT (specifying where your RIP utility files are located), or you want to over-ride the path name specified in RIP_ROOT for a particular execution of RIP, you can specify a path name in the variable rip_root in the &userin namelist in your UIF. The default value of '/dev/null' causes RIP to try to access the path name from the environment variable RIP_ROOT, instead of trying to over-ride it.

ptimes(1)=0,ptimes(2)=6,ptimes(3)=12,

The second namelist in the UIF is called &trajcalc. This section is ignored by RIP if itrajcalc=0. Trajectory calculation mode and use of the &trajcalc namelist are described in section 7.

b. The plot specification table

The plot specification table (PST) provides all of the user control over particular aspects of individual frames and overlays. The basic structure of the PST is as follows. The first line of the PST is a line of consecutive equal signs. This line, as well as the next two lines, are ignored–they are simply a banner that says that this is the PST. After that are several groups of one or more lines separated by a full line of equal signs. Each group of lines is a frame specification group (FSG), because it describes what will appear in a frame. A frame is defined as one frame of metacode. Each FSG must be ended with a full line of equal signs–that is how RIP knows that it has reached the end of the FSG. (Actually, RIP only looks for four consecutive equal signs, but the equal signs are continued to the end of the line for cosmetic purposes.) Each line within the FSG is a plot specification line (PSL), because it describes what will appear in a plot. A plot is defined as one call to a major plotting routine (e.g. a contour plot, a vector plot, a map background, etc.). Hence, a FSG that has three PSLs in it will result in a frame that has three overlaid plots.

Each PSL contains several plot specification settings (PSSs), of the form

keyword = value [,value,value,...]

where keyword is a 4-character code word that refers to a specific aspect of the plot. Some keywords need one value, some need two, and some need an arbitrary number of values. Keywords that require more than one value should have those values separated by commas. All the PSSs within a PSL must be separated by semicolons, but the final PSS in a PSL must have no semicolon after it–this is how RIP identifies the end of the PSL. Any amount of white space (i.e., blanks or tabs) is allowed anywhere in a PSS or PSL, because all white space will be removed after the line is read into RIP. The use of white space can help make your PST more readable. The order of the PSSs in a PSL does not matter, though the common convention is to first specify the feld keyword, then the ptyp keyword, and then other keywords in no particular order. A PSL may be as long as 240 characters, including spaces. However, if you want to keep all your text within the width of your computer screen, then a "greater than" symbol (>) at the end of the line can be used to indicate that the PSL will continue onto the next line. You may continue to the next line as many times as you want for a PSL, but the total length of the PSL, including spaces, cannot exceed 240 characters.

Any line in the PST can be commented out, simply by putting a pound sign (#) anywhere in the line (at the beginning makes the most sense). Note that the pound sign only comments out the line, which is not necessarily the same as the PSL. If the PSL is continued onto another line, both lines must be commented out in order to comment out the entire PSL. A partial PSL will likely cause a painful error in RIP. If all the PSLs in a FSG are commented out, then the line of equal signs at the end of the FSG should also be commented out.

There is a special keyword, incl, which allows the user to tell RIP to insert (at run time) additional information from another file into the plot specification table. This capability makes it easier to repeat large sections of plot specification information in a single input file, or to maintain a library of "canned" plot specifications that can be easily included in different input files. The incl keyword is described in more detail in Appendix A.

Each keyword has associated with it a variable in the program, and this variable may be integer, real, character, or logical. It also may be an array. The keywords that are associated with a real variable expect values that are of Fortran floating point format. All of the following are examples of valid values:

1, 2, 1., 2., 1.23, 34565, -1e-13, -1.01e+16, 6.52349, -5

The keywords that are associated with an integer variable also expect values that are of Fortran floating point format. That is because they are initially read in as a floating point number, and then rounded (not truncated) to the nearest integer. Hence, all of the above examples of numbers would also be valid for keywords that are associated with an integer variable (except the 8th number, which would be out of range for a 32-bit integer). The fifth and ninth values would be rounded to 1 and 7, respectively.

The keywords that are associated with a character variable expect values that are character strings. They should NOT be in single quotes, and should also not have any blank characters, commas, or semicolons in them.

The keywords that are associated with a logical variable should not have any value. They are set as .FALSE. by default, and simply the fact that the keyword appears will cause the associated variable to be set to .TRUE..

The keywords that are associated with an array (of any type) may expect more than one value. In this case, the values should be separated by commas, as mentioned above.

As an example, here is a typical PSL:

feld= uuu,vvv; ptyp=hv;vcor =p; levs=1000.,850,700, 500.; vmax=15; colr=>
sky.blue; nmsg; smth= 4

In this example, feld is a keyword that has two character values, ptyp has one character value, vcor has one character value, levs has four real values, vmax has one real value, colr has one character value, nmsg is a logical flag that will cause the associated logical variable to be set to .true., and smth has one integer value. Note the continuation character (>) at the end of the first line, indicating that the PSL continues onto the next line. There should be no semicolon at the end of the last PSS. Also in this example, a somewhat sloppy placement of blank spaces was purposefully done to demonstrate that blanks or tabs can be harmlessly placed anywhere in the PSL.

All the keywords are set to a default value prior to the reading of the plot specification table. With regard to the default setting of keywords, there are two basic types of keywords: those that "remember" their values, and those that "forget" their values. The type that remembers its value (which will subsequently be referred to as type R) is set to its default value only at the outset, and then it simply retains its value from one PSL to the next (and even from one FSG to the next) unless it is explicitly changed by a PSS. The type that forgets its value (which will subsequently be referred to as type F) is reset to its default value after every PSL. Type R keywords are primarily those that deal with location (e.g. the subdomain for horizontal plots, the vertical coordinate and levels for horizontal plots, cross section end points, etc.).

This section has described the basic rules to follow in creating the PST. Appendix A provides a description of all of the available keywords, in alphabetical order.

5. Running RIP

Each execution of RIP requires three basic things: a RIP executable, a model data set and a user input file (UIF). Assuming you have followed the procedures outlined in the previous sections, you should have all of these. The UIF should have a name of the form rip-execution-name.in, where rip-execution-name is a name that uniquely defines the UIF and the set of plots it will generate. The syntax for the executable, rip, is as follows:

rip [-f] model-data-set-name rip-execution-name

In the above, model-data-set-name is the same model-data-set-name that was used in creating the RIP data set with the program ripdp. model-data-set-name may also include a path name relative to the directory you are working in, if the data files are not in your present working directory. rip-execution-name is the unique name for this RIP execution, and it also defines the name of the UIF that RIP will look for. The intended syntax is to exclude the ".in" extension in rip-execution-name. However, if you include it by mistake, RIP will recognize it and proceed without trouble. The –f option causes the standard output (i.e., the textual print out) from RIP to be written to a file called rip-execution-name.out. Without the –f option, the standard output is sent to the screen. The standard output from RIP is a somewhat cryptic sequence of messages that shows what is happening in the program execution.

As RIP executes, it creates either a single metacode file or a series of metacode files, depending on whether or not icgmsplit was set to 0 or 1 in the &userin namelist. If only one file was requested, the name of that metacode file is rip-execution-name.cgm. If separate files were requested for each plot time, they are named rip-execution-name.cgmA, rip-execution-name.cgmB, etc.

A common arrangement is to work in a directory that you've set up for a particular data set, with your UIFs and plot files (".cgm" files) in that directory, and a subdirectory called data that contains the large number of RIP data files. So, for example, if your data set was called "superstorm" and you had an input file called sfcfields.in, you would invoke RIP in the following manner:

rip data/superstorm sfcfields

RIP prints to information to the screen as it runs, and then after it has completed execution, you will see a new file in your present working directory, sfcfields.cgm. This is a metacode file containing the plots you requested.

You could also have the standard print out sent to the file sfcfields.out and run RIP in the background:

rip -f data/superstorm sfcfields &

In this case, after RIP has completed execution, you will see two new files in your present working directory. The file sfcfields.out contains print out from the RIP execution. The file sfcfields.cgm is a metacode file containing the plots you requested.

Although the metacode file has a .cgm suffix, it is not a standard computer graphics metacode (CGM) file. It is an NCAR CGM file that is created by the NCAR Graphics plotting package. It can be viewed with any of the standard NCAR CGM translators, such as ctrans, ictrans, or idt.

6. Using RIP with pressure-level data sets

RIP is now able to plot data from MM5 front-end programs that output data on pressure levels (but only for data from MM5 Version 3 or later). Because the sigma coordinate system is tightly woven into the structure of the RIP code, it is necessary make the pressure level data "look like" sigma level data so that RIP can ingest, process, and plot it. This is accomplished in RIPDP, by defining a pseudo-terrain surface that is equal to a constant pressure surface near the ground, and defining a hydrostatic sigma coordinate based on that pseudo-terrain surface. Thus defined, the sigma levels coincide with pressure levels. Specifically, the pseudo-terrain surface is taken to be 1 hPa beneath (higher in pressure than) the bottom-most pressure level in the data (typically 1000 hPa). Similarly, the top pressure level used in defining the sigma coordinate is taken to be 1 hPa above (lower in pressure than) the top-most pressure level in the data. The data levels are then treated as "half sigma" levels, and "full sigma" levels are defined at levels half-way between each of the half levels.

Because of the use of the pseudo-surface, and because of the different variables that are generally carried in pressure-level data files, there are some key differences between RIP variables produced by RIPDP from pressure-level data and from sigma-level data. There are also some differences in the way certain fields are plotted in RIP.

A special terrain variable, ter_tsf, is created in order to retain information about the true surface (as opposed to the pseudo-surface). The variable ter is still created, but it is the height of the pseudo-ground surface, which is not very meaningful, since it is a constant pressure surface. Therefore, with a pressure-level data set, if you request feld=ter or feld=ter_tsf in your plot specification table (PST), RIP will automatically assume you really want to see ter_tsf. You can force RIP to show you ter, the height of the pseudo-ground surface, by using feld=ter_pseudo.

A 3D pressure variable, prs, is not created when a pressure-level data set is processed by RIPDP, because it is a trivial variable that is dependent only on sigma level. The RIP data variables pstx and pstd are constant because p* = p_SFC - p_TOP and p_SFC is constant. However, because these variables are 2D, the associated data files are created anyway because they take up little disk space. A special variable unique to pressure-level data sets called prs_tsf is created. It contains the pressure at the true surface. This is the variable that gets plotted if feld=sfp is requested in the PST, instead of the pressure of the pseudo-surface (which is constant). Also, because pressure-level data sets have a separate analysis of sea-level pressure, a slp variable is created. If feld=slp is requested in the PST, it is this variable that is plotted, instead of a reduced SLP that is normally diagnosed from other model variables.

Because relative humidity (RH) is carried in pressure-level MM5 data sets instead of mixing ratio, RH is output as a RIP data variable (rhu). Mixing ratio is derived from RH and is also output as a RIP data variable (qvp).

Finally, pressure-level data sets have several variables that are available as 2D surface analyses, and these are output as RIP data files whose names end with the string "_sfan" (qvp_sfan, rhu_sfan, tmk_sfan, uuu_sfan, and vvv_sfan). They can be accessed by setting feld equal to any of the names just listed.  Also, if feld=tsfc or feld=tsff is requested with a pressure-level data set, RIP will read in the tmk_sfan file and convert it to either °C or °F.

Vertical cross sections: Since the pseudo-ground is different from the true ground, the ground surface that would be shown in a cross section using the standard RIP method would be an arbitrary and meaningless surface. Therefore, for pressure-level data, RIP draws a cross-hatched area over the true ground in vertical cross sections when feld=tic; ptyp=vb is requested in the PST. This can be suppressed (i.e., only the pseudo-ground surface shown) with the nogd flag.

Vertical intperpolation for horizontal plots: This works the same as for sigma-level data sets, with one additional feature. For pressure-level data, if vcor=p is specified, the pressure level "1001" (i.e., setting levs=1001) will cause the field to be interpolated to the surface (by interpolating it to the value of prs_tsf) at each grid point. This allows you to look at 3D pressure-level fields interpolated to the true surface.

7. Calculating and plotting trajectories

Because trajectories are a unique feature of RIP and require special instructions to create, this section is devoted to a general explanation of the trajectory calculating and plotting utility. RIP deals with trajectories in two separate steps, each of which requires a separate execution of the program.

a. Trajectory calculation

The first step is trajectory calculation, which is controlled exclusively through the namelist. No plots are generated in a trajectory calculation run. In order to run RIP in trajectory calculation mode, the variable itrajcalc must be set to 1 in the &userin namelist. All other variables in the &userin part of the namelist are ignored. The &trajcalc part of the namelist contains all the information necessary to set up the trajectory calculation run. The following is a description of the variables that need to be set in the &trajcalc section:

• rtim: the release time (in forecast hours) for the trajectories.
• ctim: the completion time (in forecast hours) for the trajectories.

• dtfile: the time increment (in seconds) between data files.
• dttraj: the time step (in seconds) for trajectory calculation. If this is set to a smaller value than dtfile, then velocity data are linearly interpolated in time to the trajectory time steps. Believe it or not, this actually does improve the accuracy of the trajectories. For hourly data, a ten minute (600 s) trajectory time step is often used.
• vctraj: the vertical coordinate of values specified for zktraj. vctraj is specified as a single character in single quotes:

• ihydrometeor: a flag which, if set to 1, causes the trajectory calculation algorithm to use the hydrometeor fall speed (an average fall speed weighted by the mixing ratios of the different precipitation types) instead of the vertical air velocity. The purpose of this flag is to produce hydrometeor trajectories instead of air parcel trajectories.
• xjtraj,yitraj: real arrays containing x and y values (in grid points) of the initial positions of the trajectories. The grid values can be non-integer values, and should be relative to the grid position at the trajectory release time (this is important for trajectories in moving nests).
• zktraj: real array containing values of the vertical location of the initial points of the trajectories. The type of value used (e.g. pressure, height, etc.) must be consistent with vctraj. If vctraj is ‘s’, then the values can be specified either as s values (numbers between 0 and 1) or as k indices (integers greater than or equal to 1).

============================================================
---------------- Plot Specification Table ------------------
============================================================
feld=qcl
============================================================
feld=prs
============================================================
feld=omg
============================================================
feld=rhu
============================================================

Once the input file is set up, RIP is run as outlined in section 5. Since no plots are generated when RIP is run in trajectory calculation mode, no rip-execution-name.cgm file is created. (rip-execution-name is the unique name you've chosen for a particular execution of RIP. See section 5). However, two new files are created that are not in a regular (non-trajectory-calculation) execution of RIP. The first is a file that contains the positions of all the requested trajectories at all the trajectory time steps, called rip-execution-name.traj. The second is a file that contains requested diagnostic quantities along the trajectories at all data times during the trajectory period, called rip-execution-name.diag. The .diag file is only created if diagnostic fields were requested in the plot specification table.

b. Trajectory plotting

Once the trajectories have been calculated, they can be plotted in subsequent RIP executions. Because the plotting of trajectories is performed with a different execution of RIP than the trajectory calculation, the plotting run should have a different rip-execution-name than any previous trajectory calculation runs.

Trajectories are plotted by including an appropriate PSL in the PST. There are three keywords that are necessary to plot trajectories, and several optional keywords. The necessary keywords are feld, ptyp, and tjfl. feld should be set to one of four possibilities: arrow, ribbon, swarm, or circle (these fields are described in detail below). ptyp should be set to either ht (for "horizontal trajectory plot") or vt (for "vertical (cross section) trajectory plot"). tjfl tells RIP which trajectory position file you want to access for the trajectory plot.

As mentioned above, there are four different representations of trajectories, as specified by the feld keyword:

• feld=arrow: This representation shows trajectories as curved arrows, with arrowheads drawn along each trajectory at a specified time interval. If the plot is a horizontal plot (ptyp=ht), the width of each arrowhead is proportional to the height of the trajectory at that time. The arrowhead that corresponds to the time of the plot is boldened.
• feld=ribbon: This representation shows trajectories as curved ribbons, with arrowheads drawn along each trajectory at a specified time interval. If the plot is a horizontal plot (ptyp=ht), the width of each arrowhead, and the width of the ribbon, is proportional to the height of the trajectory at that time. The arrowhead that corresponds to the time of the plot is boldened.
• feld=swarm: This representation shows a group of trajectories attached to each other by straight lines at specified times. The trajectories are connected to each other in the same order at each time they are plotted, so that the time evolution of a material curve can be depicted. The order of attachment is the same as the order in which the trajectories' initial positions were specified. To make a closed polygon of trajectories, the first and last trajectory must have the same exact starting position.
• feld=circle: This representation shows the trajectories as circles located at the final positions of the trajectories, in which the diameter of the circles is proportional to the net ascent of the trajectories during the specified time interval. It is only available as a horizontal trajectory plot (ptyp=ht).

colr and cong: Color of trajectories.

dang and dash: Dash pattern of trajectories.

lchl: Label color for storm position (for storm-relative trajectories).

lcll: Label color for trajectory labels.

linw and lwng: Line width for trajectories.

nmsg: No trajectory height legend.

nohl: No storm position marker (for storm-relative trajectories).

nolb: No trajectory labels.

strm: Storm velocity (for storm-relative trajectories).

tjar: Arrow widths for trajectories.

tjen: End time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories.

tjfl: File name of trajectory position info.

tjid: ID numbers of trajectories to be plotted.

tjsp: Storm position for storm-relative trajectories.

tjst: Start time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories.

tjti: Time interval for plotted trajectories, in hours.

tshl: Text size for storm position marker (for storm-relative trajectories).

tslb: Text size for trajectory labels

vcor: Vertical coordinate for trajectory height legend (for ptyp=ht).

vwin: Vertical window for trajectory height legend (for ptyp=ht).

A simple example of an FSG that includes a trajectory plot follows:

============================================================
---------------- Plot Specification Table ------------------
============================================================
feld=the; ptyp=hc; vcor=p; levs=850; cint=2
feld=arrow; ptyp=ht; tjfl=tjcalc3.traj; tjid=3,-12,3; vcor=z;>
    colr=green; tjst=12; tjen=18
feld=map; ptyp=hb
feld=tic; ptyp=hb
============================================================

In the above, the first line specifies that potential temperature contours at 850 mb will be plotted. The second line specifies that "arrow-type" trajectories will be plotted. The trajectories will come from the trajectory position file called tjcalc3.traj, created by a previous execution of RIP in trajectory calculation mode. The trajectories will be plotted in green, and only the parts from forecast hours 12 through 18 will be plotted (i.e. you can plot a subset of the time period for which the trajectories were calculated). Only trajectory numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 will be plotted, as specified by the tjid keyword. Finally, a map and tick mark background will be plotted.

c. Printing out trajectory positions

Sometimes, you may want to examine the contents of a trajectory position file. Since it is a binary file, the trajectory position file cannot simply be printed out. However, a short program is provided in the src/ directory in the RIP tar file called showtraj.f, which reads the trajectory position file and prints out its contents in a readable form. The program should have been compiled when you originally ran make, and when you run showtraj, it prompts you for the name of the trajectory position file to be printed out.

d. Printing out diagnostics along trajectories

As mentioned above, if fields are specified in the plot specification table for a trajectory calculation run, then RIP produces a .diag file that contains values of those fields along the trajectories. This file is an unformatted Fortran file, so another program is required to view the diagnostics. Among the Fortran files included in the src/ directory in the RIP tar file is tabdiag.f which serves this purpose. It is also compiled when make is run.

In order to use the program, you must first set up a special input file that contains two lines. The first line should be the column headings you want to see in the table that will be produced by tabdiag, with the entire line enclosed in single quotes. The second line is a Fortran I/O format string, also enclosed in single quotes, which determines how the diagnostic values are printed out. An example of an input file for tabdiag is included in the RIP tar file, called tabdiag.in, and is shown below.

‘ Time (h) qcl (g/kg) Press. (mb) Omega (ubar/s) RH (%) ’
‘(5(3x,f9.3,3x))’

If a trajectory calculation run requested that qcl, prs, omg, and rhu be calculated along the trajectories, this input file for tabdiag might be used to tabulate that data. Note that the tabdiag input file should include a column heading and Fortran formatting for the time, in hours, in the first column. The program tabdiag always prints out the time in the first column, regardless of which diagnostic fields were requested. Once the input file is set up, tabdiag is run as follows:

tabdiag diagnostic-output-file tabdiag-input-file

The result will be a text file with a table for each trajectory, showing the time evolution of the diagnostic quantities. Some adjustment of the column headings and format statement will probably be necessary to make it look just right.

8. Creating a data set for Vis5D

Vis5D is a powerful visualization software package developed at the University of Wisconsin, and is widely used by mesoscale modelers to perform interactive 3D visualization of model output. Although it does not have the flexibility of RIP for producing a wide range of 2D plot types with extensive user control over plot details, its 3D visualization capability and fast interactive response make it an attractive complement to RIP.

A key difference between RIP and Vis5D is that RIP was developed specifically for scientific diagnosis and operational display of MM5 modeling system output. This has two important implications: (1) The RIP system can ingest MM5 system output, and (2) RIP can produce a wide array of diagnostic quantities that MM5 modelers want to see. Thus, it makes sense to make use of these qualities to have RIP act as a bridge between the MM5 system and the Vis5D package. For this reason, a Vis5D-format data-generating capability was added to RIP. With this capability, you can create a Vis5D data set from your MM5 data set, including any diagnostic quantities that RIP currently calculates.

The Vis5D mode in RIP is switched on by setting imakev5d=1 in the &userin namelist in the UIF. All other variables in the &userin part of the namelist are ignored. No plots are generated in Vis5D mode. The desired diagnostic quantities are specified in the plot specification table (PST). Since no plots are produced, only a minimum of information is necessary in the plot specification table. In most cases, only the feld keyword needs to be set, and vertical levels should be specified with levs (in km) for the first field requested. The vertical coordinate will automatically be set to 'z', so there is no need to set vcor=z. The levels specified with levs for the first requested field will apply to all 3D fields requested, so the levs specification need not be repeated for every field. You are free to choose whatever levels you wish, bearing in mind that the data will be interpolated from the data set's sigma or pressure levels to the chosen height levels.

For some fields, other keywords that affect the calculation of the field should be set (such as strm, rfst, crag, crbg, shrd, grad, gdir, qgsm, smcp, and addf). Keywords that only affect how and where the field is plotted can be omitted. Any of the diagnostic quantities listed in Appendix B can be added to the Vis5D data set, with the exception of the Sawyer-Eliassen diagnostics. Each desired diagnostic quantity should be specified in its own frame specification group (FSG) (i.e. only one feld= setting between each line of repeated equal signs). The only exception to this is if you are using the addf keyword. In that case, all of the plot specification lines (PSLs) corresponding to the fields being added (or subtracted) should be in one FSG.

As a simple example, if you want to create a Vis5D data set with velocities, pressure, sea-level pressure, potential temperature, cloud mixing ratio, precipitation mixing ratio, potential vorticity, and water vapor mixing ratio, your plot specification table would look something like this:

============================================================
---------------- Plot Specification Table ------------------
============================================================
feld=uuu; levs=0,-12,.5
============================================================
feld=vvv
============================================================
feld=www
============================================================
feld=prs
============================================================
feld=slp
============================================================
feld=the
============================================================
feld=qcl
============================================================
feld=qpr
============================================================
feld=pvo
============================================================
feld=qvp
============================================================

Once the user input file is set up, RIP is run as outlined in section 5. Since no plots are generated when RIP is run in Vis5D mode, no rip-execution-name.cgm file is created. (rip-execution-name is the unique name you've chosen for a particular execution of RIP. See section 5). However, a file is created with the name rip-execution-name.v5d. This file is the Vis5D data set which can be used by the Vis5D program to interactively display your MM5 data set.

The map projection information will automatically be generated by RIP and included in the Vis5D data set. Therefore, you don't have to explicitly request feld=map in the plot specification table. However, there are some complications with converting the MM5 map background parameters to those required by Vis5D. Currrently, RIP can only make the conversion for Lambert conformal maps, and even that conversion does not produce an exact duplication of the MM5 map background position.

Vis5D also has its own terrain data base for producing a colored terrain-relief map background--you don't need to specifically request feld=ter to get this. However, if you want to look at the actual MM5 terrain as a contour or color-filled field, you should add feld=ter to your plot specificatio table.

Appendix A. Keywords

This appendix is a list of all the available keywords. Each entry contains the keyword, a brief statement of what the keyword is, the type and number of values expected, the default values, whether they are type R ("remembered") or F ("forgotten"), the purpose of the keyword, and, in some cases, a more extended explanation of how to use the keyword.

The most important keywords, which must be specified for every plot (and are typically specified first), are feld and ptyp. These are described first. Following these two is an alphabetic list of all other keywords.

feld: Field to be plotted

Expects 1, 2, or 3 character values, each up to 10 characters in length; defaults are dm1, dm2, and dm3 (these are nonsense values); type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the field or fields for the plot. For contour plots, character plots, skew-T temperature trace plots, trajectory plots, vertical profiles, and background plots, only one value is expected. For vector plots that require two components (if ptyp is set to hv, hs, vw, or sv), two fields are expected. For vector plots that require three components (if ptyp is set to vv), three fields are expected. The available fields are described in Appendix B.

In addition to the available fields for plotting described in Appendix B, feld can also be set to the ending part of any ripdp data file name to plot the contents of that data file. This capability is useful for plotting variables that RIPDP encountered (but did not expect) in the model output. It also allows for the plotting of diagnostic quantities that have been saved to a file with a user-specified variable name, using the save keyword. For example, if there is a RIPDP data file called mycase_012.00000_CATSANDDOGS, it can be plotted by using feld=CATSANDDOGS.

ptyp: Plot type

Expects 1 character value of length 2; default is 'hc'; type is F.

Purpose: This keyword determines what type of plot will be drawn for this PSL. There are currently 11 possibilities:

Expects 1 real value; default is 0.0, which means do not add this field to the next field; type is F.

Purpose: This option allows you to add fields together prior to plotting. Added fields should appear as separate PSLs. In PSLs that have the addf keyword, usually only the feld keyword needs to be set. For some fields, other keywords that affect the calculation of the field should be set (such as strm, rfst, crsa, crsb, shrd, grad, gdir, qgsm, redo, sepa, lapl, hadv, diff, and smcp). PSLs that only affect how and where the field is plotted can be omitted. In the final field to be added, addf should be omitted, and all the other desired keywords should be set.

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag turns on the automatic range feature. The automatic range feature changes the way in which the cosq keyword works for color filling. If automatic range is on, then the values in the color sequence should be made to range from 0 to 100, regardless of the units or the actual range of the data in the plotted field. RIP then determines the minimum and maximum values in the plotted field, and linearly maps the minimum-to-maximum range on the 0-to-100 range. Hence, the full color range that is defined will automatically cover the exact range of data in the plotted field.  Note that if you use arng, specification of contour interval (cint), beginning contour (cbeg), and ending contour (cend) should still be specified in terms of the actual values of the field if you need to use these keywords.

Example:
feld=tmc; ptyp=hc; cmth=fill; arng; cosq=0,blue,50,white,100,red

Expects 1 real value; default is 100.; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in units of km) there should be large labeled tick marks along the distance axis of a cross section if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no large labeled tick marks should be drawn.

axlg: Large labeled tick increment for horizontal plots

Expects 1 integer value; default is 10; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in grid points) there should be large labeled tick marks in a horizontal plot if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no large labeled tick marks should be drawn.

axlv: Large labeled tick increment along vertical axis

Expects 1 real value; default depends on vertical coordinate; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in units of the vertical coordinate) there should be large labeled tick marks along the vertical axis of a cross section if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no large labeled tick marks should be drawn. The default values are 0.1 for vcor=s (sigma), 100 mb for vcor=p, l, or x (pressure, log pressure, or Exner function), 1.0 km for vcor=z (height), and 10 K for vcor=t or e (potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature).

axtd: Small tick increment along distance axis

Expects 1 real value; default is 10.; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in units of km) there should be small tick marks along the distance axis of a cross section if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no small tick marks should be drawn.

axtg: Small tick increment for horizontal plots

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in grid points) there should be small tick marks in a horizontal plot if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no small tick marks should be drawn.

axtv: Small tick increment along vertical axis

Expects 1 real value; default depends on vertical coordinate; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies how often (in units of the vertical coordinate) there should be small tick marks along the vertical axis of a cross section if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no small tick marks should be drawn. The default values are .01 for vcor=s (sigma), 10 mb for vcor=p, l, or x (pressure, log pressure, or Exner function), .1 km for vcor=z (height), and 1 K for vcor=t or e (potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature).

bogs: Flag to output a bogus sounding

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: If this is true, RIP will output a bogus sounding print out in "little-r" format to the file fort.66.

cbeg: Beginning contour value

Expects 1 real value; default is -9.0e9 (nine times ten to the ninth); type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the beginning contour value. A value of -9.0e9 causes RIP to choose a nice value that is near the minimum value in the plotted field. A value of 9.0e9 causes RIP to choose a nice value that is near the maximum value in the plotted field. RIP generates contours by starting at cbeg and stepping toward cend by the amount cint, until the value of cend is reached. This stepping process may go in either direction, i.e. cint may be greater or less than cbeg. cbeg is also used to specify the lower limit of the horizontal axis for vertical profiles (ptyp=pr).

cend: Ending contour value

Expects 1 real value; default is 9.0e9 (nine times ten to the ninth); type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the ending contour value. A value of -9.0e9 causes RIP to choose a nice value that is near the minimum value in the plotted field. A value of 9.0e9 causes RIP to choose a nice value that is near the maximum value in the plotted field. cend is also used to specify the upper limit of the horizontal axis for vertical profiles (ptyp=pr).

chfl: Character fill flag

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: If this is true, then the character plotting routine will not plot characters, but instead will fill each grid box with the appropriate color from the color sequence.

cint: Contour interval (contour plots) or lat/lon line interval (for maps)

Expects 1 real value; default for contour plots is a nice value that generates near the desired number of contours; default for maps is 10°; type is F

Purpose: For contour plots, this specifies the contour interval. If it is not specified, RIP will choose a nice value that generates near the desired number of contours (as specified by the ncon keyword). For maps, cint specifies the contour interval for latitude and longitude lines on a map background.

cmth: Contouring method

Expects 1 character value; default is 'cont'; type is F.

Purpose: Determines whether this plot will generate contour lines (cont), contour filling (fill), or both (both).

coll: Labeled contour color

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of colr; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the labeled contours, if it is to be different from colr. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

colr: Plot color

Expects 1 character value; default is 'def.foreground'; type is F.

Purpose: This is the main color that will be used for the plot. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid. Depending on what type of plot is being drawn, colr determines the color of contours, vectors, wind barbs, streamlines, characters (in character plots), trajectories, lat/lon lines (in map plots), the perimeter square and tick marks, lines (for feld=line or feld=box), bullets, or station IDs. It also sets the color of the corresponding plot title at the top of the plot, as well as the corresponding messages at the bottom of the plot.

cong: Negative contour color

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of colr; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the negative contours, if it is to be different from colr. Also, for horizontal trajectory plots, if feld=circle is set, this color is used for circles representing negative net height changes. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

conl: Negative labeled contour color

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of cong; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the negative labeled contours, if it is to be different from cong. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

cosq: Color sequence

Expects an arbitrary number of pairs of real and character values; Default is such that all real values correspond to the color def.foreground; type is F.

Purpose: For contour plots, the color sequence determines how colors are chosen for color filled contours. For horizontal character plots, the color sequence is used for coloring the characters in character plots. The color sequence is comprised of an arbitrary number of pairs, each of which contains a real value and a color name. The values correspond to values of the plotted field The color names can be any of the names that are available in the color table.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of colr; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the zero contour, if it is to be different from colr. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

crsa: Left cross section end point location

Expects a variety of values; defaults are 3,3; type is R.

Purpose: For vertical cross section plots, this sets the location (in the dot point domain) of the first (left) end point of a cross section. It also applies to some horizontal background plots: it sets the lower left corner of a box (feld=box), the first end point of a line (feld=line), or the location of a bullet (feld=bull). Finally, it is also used to define a vector from crsa to crsb, which may be used to define the direction of a vector component for keywords strm, shrd, and gdir.

Expects a variety of values; defaults are 3,3; type is R.

Purpose: For vertical cross section plots, this sets the location (in the dot point domain) of the second (right) end point of a cross section. It also applies to some horizontal background plots: it sets the upper-right corner of a box (feld=box) or the second end point of a line (feld=line). Finally, it is also used to define a vector from crsa to crsb, which may be used to define the direction of a vector component for keywords strm, shrd, and gdir.

dall: Labeled contour dash pattern

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of dash; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the dash pattern of the labeled contours, if it is to be different from dash.

dang: Negative contour dash pattern

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of dash; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the dash pattern of the negative contours, if it is to be different from dash. Also, for horizontal trajectory plots, if feld=circle is set, this dash pattern is used for circles representing negative net height changes.

danl: Negative labeled contour dash pattern

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of dang; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the dash pattern of the negative labeled contours, if it is to be different from dang.

dash: Dash pattern

Expects one two-digit integer value; default is 10, except if feld=map, default is 32; type is F.

Purpose: Depending on the type of plot being drawn, this sets the dash pattern for contour lines, lat/lon lines (for maps), a temperature trace in a skew-T sounding, or trajectories. The specification is based on the idea that a segment of a contour can be broken up into 16 pieces. The first digit of dash specifies how many solid pieces should be drawn, and the second digit specifies how many blank pieces should be drawn. If the two digits do not add up to 16, then the pattern is repeated until a pattern of 16 pieces is achieved. If the two digits add up to more than 16, then the pattern is cut off at 16. The 16-piece pattern is then used as the repeating pattern for contour lines. Again, this is best seen by example:

You should experiment to determine the length of dash pattern that is obtained for various settings of dash.

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of dash; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the dash pattern of the zero contour, if it is to be different from dash.

diff: Difference fields

Expects one to three values, which are either real or character, separated by a comma(s); the order is not important; Default is no differencing; type is F.

Purpose: You can subtract from the specified field the same field at a different time and/or in a different data set. If you want to subtract the same field at a different time in the same data set, set diff equal to a real value, which is a time in hours from the beginning of the forecast or analysis. The time specified will be interpreted as an absolute time. However, if you want to specify a time relative to the current plotted time (either positive or negative is acceptable), also include the character string "rel" (no quotes) as an additional value for the diff keyword. If you want to subtract the same field at the same time in a different model data set, set diff equal to a character value, which is the prefix for the data set you want to subtract. This should be specified as a path name relative to your current working directory, the same as is model-data-set-name on the RIP command line. If you want to subtract the same field at a different time and in a different data set, set diff equal to a real and a character value separated by a comma, where the real value is the time in hours and the character value is the name of the data set to subtract. These can be specified in either order: time,data-set or data-set,time.

Examples:

diff=10;              This would subtract the same field in the same data set
                         but at hour 10.
diff=-3,rel;          This would subtract the same field in the same data set
                         but 3 h prior to the current time.
diff=data/noflux;     This would subtract the same field at the same time
                         but from the data set "noflux" in the "data" directory.
diff=rel,-6,data/dryrun; This would subtract the same field
                         but from 6 h prior to the current time, and from the
                         data set "dryrun" in the "data" directory.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of fclb; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the fill color for high/low label boxes, if it is to be different from fclb. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

fclb: Fill color for label boxes in contour plots

Expects 1 character value; default is '999999', which means "do not fill"; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the fill color for label boxes. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

fclo: Fill color for low label boxes in contour plots

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of fchl; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the fill color for low label boxes, if it is to be different from fchl. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

fcnl: Fill color for negative contour label boxes in contour plots

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of fclb; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the fill color for negative contour label boxes, if it is to be different from fclb. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

fczr: Fill color for zero contour label boxes in contour plots

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of fclb; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the fill color for zero contour label boxes, if it is to be different from fclb. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

fulb: Full barb value

Expects 1 character value; default is '5mps'; type is F.

Purpose: Sets the value of a full wind barb on either horizontal wind barb plots, vertical cross sections with horizontal wind barbs, or wind barb columns in skew-T sounding plots. If you want to follow the convention used on standard 20th-century (non-SI units) U.S. weather charts, the appropriate value would be '10kts' (which refers to 10 knots). The other choices are '10mps' or '5mps' (for "10 meters per second" of "5 meters per second", respectively). A message will appear on the plot indicating the choice of fulb.

gdir: Direction for horizontal gradient, Laplacian, or advection calculation

Expects 1 integer value; default is 362; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the desired direction to be used in the calculation of the horizontal gradient (with keyword grad), Laplacian (with keyword lapl), or advection (with keyword hadv). Values between, and including, 0 and 360, mean that you want the component in that compass direction. A value of 361 means that you want the magnitude of the gradient, the total Laplacian, or the total advection. A value of 362 means that you want the component in the along-cross-section (left to right) direction, where the cross section position is defined by the keywords crsa and crsb. (See descriptions of keywords crsa and crsb). A value of 363 means that you want the component into the cross section. Since the Laplacian and the advection are scalars, not vectors, use of the word "component" above means that only velocity components and derivatives in the specified direction are used. Thus, if a direction is specified (gdir=1-360 or gdir=362 or gdir=363), this gives the second derivative in that direction if lapl is used, or the velocity component in that direction times the derivative of the field in that direction if hadv is used.

grad: Calculate (and plot) the gradient of a field

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes RIP to calculate (and plot) the horizontal gradient (on a height surface) of the field specified by the feld keyword, instead of the field itself. Depending on the setting of the keyword gdir, either the magnitude of the gradient will be calculated, or the component of the vector gradient in the direction specified will be calculated.

hadv: Calculate (and plot) the horizontal advection of a field

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes RIP to calculate (and plot) the horizontal advection (using constant-height derivatives) of the field specified by the feld keyword, instead of the field itself. Depending on the setting of the keyword gdir, either the total advection will be will be calculated, or the advection due only to the wind component in the specified direction times the derivative of the field in that direction will be calculated.

hide: Hide contours, vectors, or streamlines that are below ground.

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes contours, vectors, and streamlines to be omitted in a grid box if the chosen vertical level is below ground at any of the four corners of the grid box. If hide is not used, then for points where the chosen vertical level is below ground, pressure and geopotential height are reduced hydrostatically, some temperature-related variables are reduced with a standard lapse rate, and all other variables are assigned the surface value. Also, if imakev5d=1, hide will cause the height-interpolated data to be assigned the "missing" flag below ground, so that Vis5D will show no contours, vectors, etc. below ground. If hide is not used, values will be assigned to variables at below-ground points as described above.

hodo: Plot a hodograph.

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag is used in conjunction with "ptyp=sv", and has the effect of producing a hodograph in the upper left corner of the sounding plot. If a skew-T background is also drawn with "feld=tic; ptyp=sb" (which it almost always is when you create a skew-T sounding), then the hodo keyword should also be included on the plot specification line for the background, so that parts of the background will be omitted in the area where the hodograph is drawn.

hvbr: Specify the orientation (horizontal or vertical) of the filled contour label bar.

Expects 1 integer value; default is -1 (let RIP decide); type is F.

Purpose: For color-filled contour plots, RIP creates a label bar which shows what values correspond to what colors. This bar may appear either as a horizontal bar on the bottom of the plot, or as a vertical bar on the right side of the plot. If hvbr is NOT used, RIP chooses which orientation is best, based on the aspect ratio of the plot. If you want to override RIP's choice of orientation, use hvbr=0 for a horizontal bar on the bottom, or hvbr=1 for a vertical bar on the right.

incl: Insert (at run time) an "include" file of plot specification statements into the current plot specification table.

Expects 1 character value; there is no default value; type is F.

Purpose: This keyword allows the user to tell RIP to insert (at run time) additional plot specification information from another file into the plot specification table. This capability makes it easier to repeat large sections of plot specification information in a single input file, or to maintain a library of "canned" plot specifications that can be easily included in different input files. The include file is specified as incl=filename, where filename is the pathname (relative to the current working directory) of the file to be inserted. Use of this function has the effect of simply inserting the contents of the included file in place of the line on which the incl keyword appears. In the original line, only the incl=filename specification is processed. Any text prior to the incl keyword is ignored, and any text after it is considered to be part of the file name to be included.

intv: Vector or character interval

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the plotting stride, in grid intervals. For example, if intv=2, vectors or characters will be plotted at every other grid point. It also specifies a spacing of streamlines for horizontal streamline plots, though the quantitative meaning of, say, intv=3 for streamlines is unclear. For streamlines, it's best to experiment with values from 1-10 and see what looks nice.

lapl: Calculate (and plot) the horizontal Laplacian of a field

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes RIP to calculate (and plot) the horizontal Laplacian (on a constant-height surface) of the field specified by the feld keyword, instead of the field itself. Depending on the setting of the keyword gdir, either the total horizontal Laplacian will be will be calculated, or the second derivative of the field in the specified direction will be calculated.

lcbr: Label color for filled contour label bar

Expects 1 character value; default is def.foreground; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the label bar text and box perimeter. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

lchl: Label color for high/low labels

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of colr; type is F.

Purpose: For contours, this sets the color of the high/low label text and box perimeter, if it is to be different from colr. For trajectories, this sets the color of the "L" marking the storm position for storm-relative trajectories. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

lcll: Label color for labeled contours or trajectories.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of coll for contours, or the value of colr for trajectories; type is F.

Purpose: For contours, this sets the color of the contour label text and box perimeter, if it is to be different from coll. For trajectories, this sets the color of the trajectory labels. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

lclo: Label color for low labels in contour plots.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of lchl; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the low label text and box perimeter, if it is to be different from lchl. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

lcnl: Label color for negative labeled contours.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of conl; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the negative contour label text and box perimeter, if it is to be different from conl. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

lczr: Label color for zero contour.

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of cozr; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the color of the zero contour label text and box perimeter, if it is to be different from cozr. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

levs: Level specifier for horizontal plots.

Expects an arbitrary number of real values; default is a single value equal to the index of the lowest half-sigma layer; type is R.

Purpose: This defines the vertical levels to be plotted. The levs keyword has many complexities to it, which are described below.

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the line width, as a multiple of the default line width for NCAR Graphics. Depending on plot type, the line width applies to contours, vectors, wind barbs, streamlines, trajectories, lat/lon lines, plot perimeter and tick marks, boxes or lines on horizontal plots, skew-T temperature trace, or skew-T background grid.

lwll: Labeled contour line width

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of linw; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the line width of the labeled contours, if it is to be different from linw.

lwng: Negative contour line width

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of linw; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the line width of the negative contours, if it is to be different from linw. Also, for horizontal trajectory plots, if feld=circle is set, this line width is used for circles representing negative net height changes.

lwnl: Negative labeled contour line width

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of lwng; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the line width of the negative labeled contours, if it is to be different from lwng.

lwzr: Zero contour line width

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of linw; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the line width of the zero contour, if it is to be different from linw.

mand: Show mandatory levels on skew-T background plot

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F

Purpose: The normal sounding background has horizontal black lines every 100 hPa, and light gray lines at the intermediate 50 hPa levels. mand changes this to black lines at mandatory levels, and light gray lines at all non-mandatory levels divisible by 50 hPa.

mfco: Map fill colors

Expects 1 to 6 character values; default is no color filling of map; type is F.

Purpose: For maps, this sets the fill colors. If only one color is specified, the entire map will be filled with that color. If two colors are specified, water areas will be filled with the first color, and land areas will be filled with the second color. If six colors are specified, for NCAR Graphics map backgrounds ('PS', CO', 'Earth..', etc.), water areas will be filled with the first color, and the different land areas (states, countries) will be filled with the other five colors, so that no adjacent land areas are the same color; for RANGS/GSHHS backgrounds, water areas will be filled with the first color, and lakes, islands, and ponds on islands will be filled with the next three colors, respectively. Filling is not available for custom map backgrounds.

mjsk: Major (labeled) contour skip increment

Expects 1 integer value; default is 3; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the number of minor (unlabeled) contours between major (labeled) contours. A value of 3 means every fourth contour will be labeled.

mllm: Lat/lon line mask

Expects 1 character value; default is none; type is F.

Purpose: For maps, this keyword determines whether lat/lon lines will be masked (i.e. will NOT appear) over land or water. The default value of none results in no masking, in which lat/lon lines appear everywhere. Masking is only available with NCAR graphics map backgrounds, not with RANGS/GSHHS or custom map backgrounds.

mult: Multiplicative contour interval

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F

Purpose: This causes cint to be used as a contour interval multiplier rather than a contour interval increment. Examples will clarify this:

Expects 1 integer value; default is 20; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies a nice number of contours that is used by RIP as an approximate target number of contours for picking a value of cint, if you do not specify cint.

nmin: No model info message

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: By default, RIP writes a model information line at the bottom of the frame if a .minfo file is available with the data set. If nmin is included in any of the plots specification lines for a particular frame, the model information line is omitted in that frame.

nmsg: No message

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the message that may appear at the bottom of plots, which shows units, contour intervals, maximum vectors, trajectory widths, etc.

nobr: No label bar for filled contour plots

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the drawing of the label bar

nogd: No true ground surface

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: For vertical cross sections produced from pressure-level data sets, RIP normally shows a cross-hatched area indicating the true ground surface. If you want to suppress this, and instead show only a line at the pseudo-sigma=1 level, use nogd.

See section 6 for a complete explanation of how pressure-level data is handled by RIP.

Expects either one value or no values (hybrid character/logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the marking of highs and/or lows in contour plots. When used as a simple logical flag (nohl;), it suppresses both high and low labels. If set to "H" (nohl=H;), it suppreses only highs. If set to "L" (nohl=L;), it suppresses only lows.

There are three additional values that nohl can take: Z, T, or A. These do not suppress the labeling of extrema, but change it. nohl=Z causes highs and lows to be labeled with "H" and "L" only, with no values shown; nohl=T causes highs and lows to be labeled with "W" (warm) and "C" (cold) only, with no values shown; and nohl=A causes highs and lows to be labeled with "A" (anticyclonic) and "C" (cyclonic) only, with no values shown.

In trajectory plots, nohl should only be specified without any values, and it acts to suppress the plotting of the storm center position with an "L" when the tjsp keyword has been set.

nolb: No contour or trajectory labels

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the labeling of contours or trajectories.

nozr: No zero contour

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the zero contour.

nsmm: No smoothing message

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the message (at the end of the plot title) indicating the number of smoothing passes used for this plot.

nttl: No plot title

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the title that appears for each plot at the top of the frame.

nvlb: No vertical level message

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag suppresses the message (in the middle of the plot title) indicating the vertical level for this plot.

orlb: Orientation of contour labels.

Expects on integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: There are three possible values of this keyword. A value of 1 causes all contour labels to be drawn at a horizontal orientation. A value of 2 causes all labels to be oriented along the contour. A value of three uses the old CONREC method of contour labeling (instead of the CONPACK method) in which the labels are drawn with cruder character strings that are actually part of the contour dash pattern.

ouco: Map outline color

Expects 1 character value; default is the value of colr; type is F.

Purpose: For maps, this sets the color of the map outlines. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

ouds: Map outline dot/solid flag

Expects 1 character value; default is dot; type is F.

Purpose: For maps, this keyword determines whether outlines will be dotted (dot) or solid (solid). Only works with NCAR graphics map backgrounds, not with RANGS/GSHHS or custom map backgrounds. Outlines are always solid with those bakcgrounds.

oulw: Map outline line width or dot spacing

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1 (if ouds=solid) or 12 (if ouds=dot); type is F.

Purpose: If ouds=solid, this keyword determines the map outline line width, as a multiple of the default line width for NCAR Graphics. If ouds=dot, this keyword determines the map outline dot spacing, as a multiple of the default dot spacing for routine EZMAP, which is 1/4096 times the width of the plotting screen.

outy: Map outline type

Expects 1 character value; default is PS; type is F.

Purpose: For maps, this keyword determines what type of outlines will be used. The traditional NCAR Graphics choices are NO (no outlines), CO (continental only), US (U.S. states only), PS (continental, international, and U.S. states), or PO (continental and international).  The new NCAR Graphics "Earth.." outlines can also be accessed by setting outy=Earth..nLm, where n should be 1, 2, or 3, specifying the dataset, and m should be 1 through 5, specifying the "level" of outline desired. See the NCAR Graphics EZMAP documentation for more information. You can also access the very high-resolution RANGS/GSHHS outline data set, as implemented in NCAR Graphics, by setting outy=RGn, where n should be 0 through 4. n specifies the resolution desired, 0 being finest and 4 being coarsest. Again, see the NCAR Graphics EZMAP documentation for more information. If n is ommitted, the code will make the choice for you based on the size of the map being drawn. Finally, you can also draw custom-made map outlines by obtaining one of the .ascii or .bin files that is avaialable from the MM5 ftp web site (or by creating your own), and placing it in your $RIP_ROOT directory, and accessing it with the outy keyword. For example, if you make a file with U.S. rivers and call it rivers.ascii, you could draw this map bakcground by requesting feld=map; and outy=rivers.ascii;.  Functionally, there is no difference between the .ascii file and the .bin file of the same name. The .bin files have the same information except in binary, which makes them smaller and provides faster I/O. Several examples of map definition files are provided on the ftp site. If you want to make your own map definition file, consult the read and format statements in subroutine hiresmap.f, to determine the format that the map definition file should have. IMPORTANT NOTE:  dotted outlines, color filling, and masking of lat/lon lines do not work if a custom map background is used.

plrs: Make sounding background more suitable for cold atmosphere

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes the sounding background to be shifted leftward to colder temperatures. This allows very cold soundings, e.g. in polar atmosphere, to be better plotted. This flag must be used with all overlays in a sounding plot [background (ptyp=sb), contour (ptyp=sc), and vector (ptyp=sv)].

pwbr: Perimeter line width for label bar in filled contour plots

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the perimeter line width for the label bar. A value of 0 indicates that no perimeter should be drawn around the boxes in the label bar.

pwhl: Perimeter line width for high/low labels in contour plots

Expects 1 integer value; default is the value of pwlb; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the perimeter line width for high/low labels, if it is to be different from pwlb.

pwlb: Perimeter line width for contour labels

Expects 1 integer value; default is 1; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the perimeter line width for labels, as a multiple of the default line width for NCAR Graphics.

qgsm: Smoothing, as an intermediate step in quasigeostrophic and Sawyer-Eliassen diagnostics.

Expects 1 integer value; default is 0; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the number of smoothing passes to be applied to various fields that go into the quasigeostrophic and Sawyer-Eliassen diagnostic routines. See the description of the fields qgomg and qmomg. There are several types of smoothers available. The specification of the type and severity of smoothing is the same as for the plotting smoother keyword smth. See the description of keyword smth for more information.

redo: Recalculate the field even if it is available in a file.

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: Sometimes, a diagnostic field may have already been calculated and saved to a file. RIP first checks to see if this is the case, and, if so, reads in the file instead of recalculating the field. However, occasionally you may want RIP to recalculate the field anyway. This flag forces RIP to do that.

rfst: Reference state

Expects 4 real values; default is 1000, 290, 50, 0.1 (for hydrostatic data), or the reference state on which the data set is based (for nonhydrostatic data); type is F.

Purpose: This specifies a reference state (as a function of height), and is used only for computing the plotted fields of perturbation temperature (tpt) and perturbation pressure (ppt). The reference state should be specified by three values: sea-level pressure (mb), sea-level temperature (K), lapse rate (dT/d[ln(p)], K), and stratospheric temperature (K).

rota: Rotate the domain by increments of 90 degrees

Expects 1 real values; default is 0.; type is R.

Purpose: This causes the domain to rotate counterclockwise by the angle specified in degrees. Possible values are -90, 0, 90, and 180. Only works for data sets with polar stereographic projection.

save: Save the specified diagnostic field(s) to a file.

Expects no values (logical), though one can be provided (character); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: Sometimes, a diagnostic field may take some time to calculate. It is therefore some times desirable to save that field to a file, so that upon subsequent requests for that field, it is simply read in rather than recalculated. The save keyword causes RIP to save the specified field(s) to a file. The file name will follow the same format as the standard RIP data files. The last part of the file name will be the same as the requested field (e.g., myrun_024.00000_cap3 if feld=cap3 was used). However, it is also possible to explicitly assign the last part of the file name by setting the save keyword equal to a character string. This may be useful if the field was altered by one of the keywords that affects a field after it is calculated (e.g., addf, smcp, grad, lapl, hadv, diff, etc.)

sepa: Sawyer-Eliassen diagnosis parameters.

Expects 8 real values; defaults are as mentioned below; type is R.

Purpose: This defines several parameters that are used for solving the Sawyer-Eliassen equation. Eight different parameters must be set, though they each have a default value that is used if that particular parameter is not set. The parameters are as follows:

Expects an arbitrary number of character values; Default is no station IDs; type is F.

Purpose: For horizontal background plot feld=sids, which shows requested station locations by plotting the requested station IDs at the correct locations on the map background, the keyword sids is used to pick the station IDs as 4-character upper-case strings. Any number of station IDs can be requested, separated by commas. Any station ID that is available in the stationlist file can be used.

sloc: Sounding location

Expects a variety of values; defaults are 3,3; type is R.

Purpose: This sets the location (in the dot point domain) of either a skew-T sounding or of a vertical profile plot. For an explanation of location settings, see the description of crsa.

smcp: Number of constant-pressure smoothing passes.

Expects 1 integer value; default is 0; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the number of constant-pressure smoothing passes. It works the same as smth (see below), except that the data are first interpolated to pressure levels, then the smoothing is carried out, and then the data are interpolated back to sigma levels. Note: you cannot use smth and smcp at the same time, you must choose one or the other (or neither) for any given PSL.

smth: Number of smoothing passes.

Expects 1 integer value; default is 0; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the number of smoothing passes. There are several types of smoothers available:

Expects no values (logical); default is .false.; type is F.

Purpose: This flag causes a variety of sounding parameters to be calculated and printed out in the lower left corner of a skew-T sounding. It must be used with ptyp=sv! It will not work with ptyp=sc! Also, if a skew-T background is drawn on a sounding for which sndg was used with a sounding vector (ptyp=sv) plot, sndg should also be used on the plot specification line for the sounding background, so that RIP will omit drawing skew-T background lines in the same area as that where the sounding parameters are printed.

strm: Storm velocity

Expects 1 or 2 real values; default is 0.0; type is F.

Purpose: The storm velocity is used to plot storm-relative wind vectors, speeds, or trajectories. The storm velocity can be specified in 2 ways. The first way is as a speed which is assumed to be in the along-cross-section (left to right) direction, where the cross section position is defined by the keywords crsa and crsb. (See descriptions of keywords crsa and crsb.) The second way is by giving two values for strm, separated by a comma, which are the x and y components of the storm velocity. In either case, the x and/or y components of the storm motion will be subtracted from the x and/or y components of the wind prior to plotting. This keyword only effects the following fields: uuu, vvv, ugeo, vgeo, xptgeo, xntgeo, bvfsq, spsq, wsp, wspk, wdir, xnt, amt, and xpt; and the five trajectory fields ribbon, arrow, circle, swarm, and gridswarm.

time: Time discriminator

Expects an arbitrary number of real values; default is all times in the ptimes (or iptimes) array; type is F.

Purpose: This is a special keyword that should only appear by itself in a PSL. It does not apply to a single plot, but rather to the entire FSG that it is in. If you want a particular frame to be plotted only at some of the times specified in the ptimes (or iptimes) array in the namelist, then you can include the following line in the FSG for that frame:

time=time1,time2,time3,...

where each of time1, time2, time3, etc., are times, specified as real numbers. Like the values given for the ptimes (or iptimes) array in the namelist, the values of time should be in hours, but do not need to be whole numbers. If a time= PSL is included in the FSG, then RIP will only draw that frame for those model output times that are within tacc seconds of one of the times in the ptimes (or iptimes) array AND are within tacc seconds of one of the times in the time= setting.

titl: Plot title

Expects 1 character string; default is that RIP automatically generates the tile for each plot overlay; type is F.

Purpose: Normally, RIP automatically generates a title for each plot overlay at the top of the frame underneath the frame title. You can specify your own title for a plot overlay using titl. Because blank characters are not recognized in the plot specification table, you must use the underscore character to indicate that you want a blank character at a particular position in your specified plot title. titl also has another special use: it can be used to print any message at any location on the plot by using it in conjunction with feld=bull.

tjar: Arrow widths for trajectory plots

Expects 1 or 2 real values; defaults are .003 and .035; type is F.

Purpose: ribbon and arrow trajectories in horizontal plots use variable-width arrow heads, where the width of the arrow head indicates the height of the trajectory. The two values of tjar specify the widths (as a fraction of the total screen width) that correspond to the lowest and highest (height-wise) values, respectively, of the vertical window, as specified by vwin. For the feld=circle trajectories, only one value is expected for tjar, and it represents the radius of a circle corresponding to the net ascent specified by vwin. For trajectories in a cross section (vertical trajectory plots), there is no variable width feature, so only one value is expected for tjar; if no value is specified, .035 is the default.

tjen: End time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories.

Expects 1 real value; default is the final time of the calculated trajectory; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the last time (i.e. the time corresponding to the head) of the plotted trajectory. For feld=circle trajectories, this specifies the time at which the circle is plotted, which is also the end time for the period during which net ascent is calculated. Note that tjen may be less than or equal to the actual end time of the calculated trajectory.

tjfl: File name of trajectory position info.

Expects 1 character value; default is junk (i.e. a useless value); type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the name of the file containing trajectory position information for the trajectories you want to plot. This file should already exit, since it should have already been created by a previous RIP run in trajectory calculation mode.

tjid: ID numbers of trajectories to be plotted.

Expects an arbitrary number of real values; default is a single value of 1.0; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the ID numbers of the desired trajectories. For the trajectory fields ribbon, arrow, circle, or swarm, this keyword should be set in a manner similar to the way the levs keyword is set for requesting vertical levels. See the description of the keyword levs for more details. For example, a setting of

tjid=1,3,8,9,-27,6,32;

would result in the plotting of trajectory numbers 1,3,8,9,15,21,27, and 32. For a trajectory gridswarm, it is assumed that a part or all of the trajectories in the position file have been defined such that they are arranged in a column-oriented 2-D array. In this case, the tjid keyword must contain three and only three values: the first value is the ID of the trajectory that is the starting point for the array; the second value is the number of rows; the third value is the number of columns.

tjsp: Storm position for storm-relative trajectories.

Expects an arbitrary number of real values, in sets of three; default is such that this keyword is not set to anything, disabling its effect; type is F.

Purpose: Trajectories can be plotted in a storm-relative sense. In order to do this, RIP needs to know where the storm is. This information is provided through either the tjsp keyword or the strm keyword. If the storm motion can be approximated by a constant speed and direction, then using the strm keyword is easiest. See the explanation of keyword strm. If the storm motion is more complicated, then tjsp must be used. Each set of three values is a time (in model forecast hours), an x value, and a y value. Use as many sets as you need to cover the period of interest and to sufficiently resolve the storm motion. RIP linearly interpolates in time and space to get the storm position between the provided times. An IMPORTANT rule is that the x and y values must be relative to the coarsest domain grid (the domain which is centered on the central lat. and lon.). This is to accommodate the possibility that the data set you are working with is from a moving nest. When storm-relative trajectories are plotted (by either method) against other fields or a map background, the only point along the trajectory that is actually where it appears to be (relative to those other fields) is the point that corresponds to the time being plotted. If tjsp is used, RIP marks the storm position at the time being plotted with an "L", although this feature can be disabled with the keyword nohl.

tjst: Start time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories.

Expects 1 real value; default is the beginning time of the calculated trajectory; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the first time (i.e. the time corresponding to the tail) of the plotted trajectory. For feld=circle trajectories, this specifies the beginning time for the period during which net ascent is calculated. Note that tjst may be greater than or equal to the actual start time of the calculated trajectory.

tjti: Time interval for plotted trajectories, in hours.

Expects 1 real value; default is 1 hour; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the time interval between arrow heads for arrow or ribbon trajectories, or between swarms for swarm or gridswarm trajectories. Note that this is typically greater than the time step used to calculate the trajectories.

tshl: Text size for high/low labels.

Expects 1 real value; default is the value of tslb; type is F.

Purpose: In contour plots, this sets the text size for high/low labels, if it is to be different from tslb. For trajectories, this sets the text size of the "L" marking the storm position for storm-relative trajectories. Any color name that is defined in the color table is valid.

tslb: Text size for labels

Expects 1 real value; default is .01; type is F.

Purpose: This sets the text size (i.e. character width) for labels, as a fraction of the width of the full plotting screen. It applies to contour labels, lat/lon labels (in maps), perimeter tick mark labels, and trajectory labels.

v5nm: Variable name for Vis5D

Expects 1 character string; default is whatever was specified for feld; type is F.

Purpose: In Vis5D data set preparation mode (i.e., if imakev5d=1 in the &userin namelist), RIP assigns to each requested variable a name that will identify that variable when Vis5D is run. For the velocity fields, the Vis5D names are always U, V, and W. For all other variables, the name is the same as what was requested with the feld keyword. However, in some cases, you may want to assign a different name. Use v5nm to do this. This keyword should only be used when RIP is run in Vis5D data set preparation mode.

vcmx: Maximum vector value

Expects 1 real value; default is 0.; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the magnitude of a vector that exactly reaches the tail of the next adjacent vector. It should be specified in the same units as those of the vector component fields, typically m s^-1. If vcmx is set to zero, then RIP will choose the maximum vector magnitude in the data as the magnitude of a vector that reaches the tail of the next adjacent vector.

Expects 1 character value of length 1; default is s; type is R.

Purpose: This defines the vertical coordinate to be used for (1) determining plotting levels in horizontal plots; or (2) defining the vertical axis in cross section plots; or (3) defining the variable width feature of arrow, ribbon or circle trajectories drawn in horizontal plots. The possible choices for the different types of plots are:

Horizontal plots or trajectory initial points:

s: sigma
p: pressure
z: height
t: potential temperature
e: equivalent potential temperature

Vertical cross sections (excluding ptyp=vv) or horizontal trajectory plots:

s: sigma
p: pressure
x: Exner function (as in pseudoadiabatic charts)
l: log pressure
z: height
t: potential temperature
e: equivalent potential temperature

Vectors in the plane of a cross section (ptyp=vv):

s: sigma
p: pressure
z: height

(These are the only choices for ptyp=vv because they are the only vertical coordinates for which RIP can calculate an appropriate vertical velocity).

Expects 1 real value; default is 0.0; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies the minimum sigma increment between two vectors in a column. Due to the fact that the data are not interpolated to a regular grid in the vertical, the vectors can become crowded in the high-resolution PBL. If this keyword is set to some non-zero value, for example .3, then RIP will not plot a vector if it is less than .3 "sigma units" away from the vector below it.

vvnx: Number of vectors in the x-direction

Expects 1 integer value; default is 20; type is F.

Purpose: This specifies an approximate number of vectors that are desired in the horizontal direction. It is approximate because of the way RIP sets up the cross section grid.

vwin: Vertical window.

Expects 1 or 2 real values; default is as shown below; type is R.

Purpose: This determines the vertical window to use for cross sections, or for the variable width feature of trajectories in a horizontal plot. The first value is the bottom of the window, and the second is the top. The units of the given values are assumed to be as follows:

For horizontal trajectory plots, the default values are the minimum and maximum values of the trajectories being plotted during the time interval set by tjst and tjen. For feld=circle trajectory plots, only one value of vwin is expected, and it specifies the net ascent that corresponds to the circle radius specified by tjar; if no value is specified, the maximum absolute net ascent for all the trajectories requested is the default value.

wdbr: XXXXX Distance between label bar and plot for filled contour plots

Expects 1 real value; default is -1; type is F.

Purpose: For color-filled contour plots, RIP creates a label bar which shows what values correspond to what colors. wdbr sets the width of the area used for the label bar (including labels), as a fraction of the total width of the screen. The default value of -1 tells RIP to try to optimize the width. This is usually sufficient for typical plots, i.e. it is large enough to allow room for tick labels and lat/lon labels. However, in some cases, you may want to change this width, if various messages or labels from other plots are being covered up by the label bar.

xavg: cross-section averaging distance

Expects 1 integer value; default is 0; type is F.

Purpose: Rather than plotting the value of a variable at a point on the cross section, you may want to plot an average along a line that extends into and out of the cross section. This may be useful for getting the average sense of quasi-2D features such as fronts or squall lines. The averaging distance into and out of the cross section is given by xavg in units of grid points. Hence, if the grid space is 40 km, and xavg is specified as 2, each point plotted on the cross section would represent an average from 80 km out of the cross section to 80 km into the cross section, or a total of 160 km.

xwin: Plotting window in the x direction

Expects 2 integer values; defaults are 1, mjx (mjx is the number of dot points in the x (or j) direction); type is R.

Purpose: This sets the left and right limits of the desired subdomain for a horizontal plot, specified as grid point values on the dot-point domain. If the first values given is outside the range 1 to mjx, it is changed to 1. If the second values given is outside the range 1 to mjx, it is changed to mjx. This can also be used to save a reduced-size domain when creating a Vis5D data set (imakev5d=1), in which case it should be specified only once, with the first requested variable.

ywin: Plotting window in the y direction

Expects 2 integer values; defaults are 1, miy (miy is the number of dot points in the y (or i) direction); type is R.

Purpose: This sets the bottom and top limits of the desired subdomain for a horizontal plot, specified as grid point values on the dot-point domain. If the first values given is outside the range 1 to miy, it is changed to 1. If the second values given is outside the range 1 to miy, it is changed to miy. This can also be used to save a reduced-size domain when creating a Vis5D data set (imakev5d=1), in which case it should be specified only once, with the first requested variable.

Appendix B. Available fields for plotting

This appendix is a list of all fields that are currently available to be plotted in RIP, i.e. the names that can be used for the feld keyword. For each field, the name is given, the field is described, the units are given, and the dimensionality of the field (2D or 3D) is given. Capital letters in the field name indicate a variable character for which there is more than one choice.

a. Background fields (units and dimensionality are irrelevant):

map: Map background. This field results in a map background being drawn in the frame. Works only if ptyp=hb.

box: Box. This field results in a box being drawn in the frame, the size and location of which is determined by the keywords crsa and crsb. Works only if ptyp=hb.

line: Line. This field results in a line being drawn in the frame, the size and location of which is determined by the keywords crsa and crsb. Works only if ptyp=hb.

bullet: Bullet. This field results in the drawing of a bullet (i.e., a solid circle), the location of which is determined by the keyword crsa. It can also be used to write any text string on the plot at the location specified by crsa. This is accomplished by setting the titl keyword equal to the desired text string. Use the underscore character to represent blank characters in the text string. Works only if ptyp=hb.

sids: Station IDs. This field results in the labeling of a station or stations on the plot. Use the sids keyword in conjunction with feld=sids to list the station(s) you want to be shown on the plot. See the description of sids in Appendix A for more information. Works only if ptyp=hb.

tic: Tick mark background. This field results in the drawing of helpful markings on the plot. It works in conjunction with the following ptyp settings:

amt: Absolute momentum, m s^-1. (3D)

Absolute momentum is defined here as the horizontal wind component normal to, and out of, the cross section (as defined by the crsa and crsb keywords) minus f (at the middle of the cross section), all times the left-to-right distance along the cross-section.

avo: Absolute vorticity (vertical component), 10^-5 s^-1. (3D)

bocX: Surface precipitation type probability, percent. (2D)

The precipitation type probability is calculated according to the REEP method of Bocchieri (1980). It uses the sounding of temperature and wet bulb temperature to determine the probabilities. Replace X with l for probability of liquid precipitation, f for probability of freezing precipitation, or i for probability of ice (or frozen) precipitation.

bvfsqP: Dry Brunt-Vaisala frequency, s^-1. (3D)

P determines the inclusion of moist physics in the calculation of the B-V frequency: d for dry, l for liquid-only latent heating/cooling considerations, and i for liquid and ice latent heating/cooling considerations.

In this diagnostic field, CAPE is calculated for every grid point in the entire 3D domain, based on the lifting of a parcel starting from that grid point. It is defined as the accumulated buoyant energy from the LFC to the equilibrium level. To get CAPE as a 2D field, showing CAPE only from the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL, use mcap.

This index is based on Ellrod and Knapp (1992, W&F, March issue).

In this diagnostic field, CI is calculated for every grid point in the entire 3D domain, based on the lifting of a parcel starting from that grid point. It is defined as the accumulated negative buoyant energy from the parcel starting point to the LFC. To get CI as a 2D field, showing CI only from the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL, use mcin.

clgX: Cloud ceiling, m. (2D)

Regardless of whether or not mixed phase microphysics were used, there are three possibilities to choose from for the determination of the phase of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors: Replace X with d for the 0 °Celsius assumption, b for the Bocchieri assumption, or r for the mixed phase assumption. See code for details of these assumptions.

condheat calculates the heating due to condensation in regions of explicitly resolved saturated ascent. condheati does the same, except it adds in the latent heat of fusion in regions that are below freezing.

ctt: Cloud-top temperature, °C. (2D)

Note: cloud-top temperature is calculated by interpolating the temperature to the level of unit optical depth into the cloud (starting at the model top). Expressions for absorption cross-section for cloud ice and cloud water are obtained from Dudhia (1989).

This field calculates a simple simulated radar reflectivity, based on the mixing ratios of rain, snow, and graupel (if available). The formulas that relate mixing ratios of rain, snow, and graupel to reflectivity factor were derived assuming Marshall-Palmer size distributions consistent with what is used in MM5.

dmap: Map factor on dot points, dimensionless. (2D)

dpbhAAABBB: Pressure difference between height levels, hPa. (2D)

This field is similar to, but the precise opposite of, thickness, which is the height difference between pressure levels. The two levels are specified as three-digit integers in units of hectometers (hm). For example, feld=dpbh015120 would give the pressure at 1.5 km AMSL minus the pressure at 12.0 km AMSL.

eth: Equivalent potential temperature, K. (3D)

ethmx: Maximum value of equivalent potential temperature below 3000 m AGL, K. (2D)

extXY: Surface extinction coefficient due to hydrometeors, km^-1. (2D)

Regardless of whether or not mixed phase microphysics were used, there are three possibilities to choose from for the determination of the phase of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors: Replace X with d for the 0 °Celsius assumption, b for the Bocchieri assumption, or r for the mixed phase assumption. See code for details of these assumptions. The extinction coefficient is calculated for only one of the four hydrometeor types at a time: Replace Y with c for extinction due to cloud water, r for extinction due to rain, i for extinction due to cloud ice, or s for extinction due to snow.

This field will assign a number from 1 to 4 to each grid point. It should therefore be plotted with the setting of ptyp=hh. The numbers correspond to the following flight regulation categories:

1: Visual Flight Regulation (VFR)
2: Marginal Visual Flight Regulation (MVFR)
3: Instrument Flight Regulation (IFR)
4: Low Instrument Flight Regulation (LIFR)

It can be calculated based on model-diagnosed ceiling, visibility, or both. Replace W with c for ceiling only, v for visibility only, or b for both.

Regardless of whether or not mixed phase microphysics were used, there are three possibilities to choose from for the determination of the phase of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors: Replace X with d for the 0 °Celsius assumption, b for the Bocchieri assumption, or r for the mixed phase assumption. See code for details of these assumptions.

The Miller form of frontogenesis is the Lagrangian time rate of change of the absolute value of the horizontal gradient of potential temperature. XXX specifies which term on the RHS of the Miller frontogenesis equation is desired:

div: divergence term
def: deformation term
dia: diabatic term
til: titling term

The diabatic term uses a diagnosis of condensational heating assuming maintenance of 100% RH with respect to liquid water in regions of explicitly resolved saturated ascent. It does not include evaporative, sublimational, or melt cooling; fusional or depositional heating; or any diabatic results of either the cumulus or PBL parameterization schemes.

You can also request the horizontal or vertical advective terms (i.e., the advection of the absolute value of the horizontal gradient of potential temperature) by specifying XXX as either had or vad.

The 2D form of frontogenesis examines the Lagrangian time rate of change of the along-cross-section component of the horizontal gradient of potential temperature. Regardless of whether you want to display the result in a cross section or in a horizontal plot, use crsa and crsb to define the endpoints of a cross section (and, thus, the along-cross-section direction). XXX specifies which term on the RHS of the uni-directional frontogenesis equation is desired:

cnf: confluence term
shr: shear term
dia: diabatic term
til: titling term

The diabatic term uses a diagnosis of condensational heating assuming maintenance of 100% RH with respect to liquid water in regions of explicitly resolved saturated ascent. It does not include evaporative, sublimational, or melt cooling; fusional or depositional heating; or any diabatic results of either the cumulus or PBL parameterization schemes.

You can also request the advective terms (i.e., the advection of the along-cross-section component of the horizontal gradient of potential temperature) by specifying XXX as either aad, iad, or or vad. These refer to the advection along the cross section, the advection into the cross section, and the vertical advection, respectively. For the two horizontal advective terms, you can specify a wind speed and direction with the strm keyword so that relative winds will be used in the advective calculation.

Finally, all of the fields that are used to calculate the above terms can be smoothed on constant-pressure surfaces prior to the computing of products in the nonlinear terms, by using the qgsm keyword.

intcld: Column-integrated cloud water, mm. (2D)

This is the column-integrated value of the field qcl.

This is the column-integrated value of the field qpr.

This is the LCL for the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL.

This is the LFC for the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL.

This is the CAPE for the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL.

This is the CI for the parcel in each column with maximum q_e below 3000 m AGL.

pcpw: Precipitable water, mm. (2D)

phydp: Hydrostatic pressure perturbation, mb. (3D)

This is the same as ppt (below), except it is the perturbation of the hydrostatic pressure (not the total pressure) with respect to the reference state, as defined by the keyword rfst.

ppt: Pressure perturbation, mb. (3D)

The perturbation is with respect to the reference state, as defined by the keyword rfst.

prs: Pressure, mb. (3D)

pstd: P-star (i.e., p* = p_SFC - p_TOP) on dot points, mb. (2D)

pstx: P-star (i.e., p* = p_SFC - p_TOP) on cross points, mb. (2D)

pvm: Moist potential vorticity (hydrostatic form), PVU. (3D)

pvo: Potential vorticity (hydrostatic form), PVU. (3D)

qci: Cloud ice mixing ratio, g kg^-1. (3D)

Note: If non-mixed-phase microphysics was used, this field contains the model output cloud water only where T < 0 °C, and is zero where T > 0 °C.

Note: This is just qcw + qci.

Note: If non-mixed-phase microphysics was used, this field contains the model output cloud water where T > 0 °C, and is zero where T < 0 °C.

This field is, in principle, the same as feld=omg, except it subjects the full omega (i.e., dp/dt) field to the same processing as the input fields to QG omega, thus allowing for a meaningful comparison between full omega and QG omega. The actions that qgomf are subjected to are an interpolation to a pressure-level grid, a smoothing on that grid (as determined by the value of the keyword qgsm---see the explanation for qgomg below and the explanation for qgsm in Appendix A), and an interpolation back to the sigma-level grid.

This field is calculated by means of a 3-D inversion (using over-relaxation) of the Q-vector form of the quasigeostrophic omega equation, using the domain average Coriolis parameter and vertical stability profile. It is performed on a pressure-level grid, with an irregular lower boundary that matches (as closely as possible) the model topography. The lower boundary condition includes both a topographic BC and an Ekman BC. The three N’s correspond to the Q-vector forcing, the topographic boundary condition, and the Ekman boundary condition, respectively. Each of the N’s should be replaced with either a 1 or 0, to indicate that the corresponding forcing is included or excluded in the omega equation inversion. For example, feld=qgomg101 would request QG omega calculated from the Q-vector forcing, including the Ekman boundary condition but not the topographic boundary condition. The difference between ‘qg’ and ‘qm’ is that in the former case, the dry static stability is used everywhere, whereas in the latter case, the moist static stability is used where the relative humidity exceeds a threshold value. The threshold value is specified by replacing ‘RR’ with a two digit percent value ranging from 00 to 99.

Note: The first step that RIP takes in calculating this field is the interpolation of geopotential height and specific volume to pressure levels. Following that step, but prior to calculating the Q-vector, it is likely that you'll want to have those fields smoothed, so that they represent synoptic or meso-alpha scales. This cannot be accomplished by using smth or smcp, because the smoothing must occur prior to the Q-vector calculation. A special capability has been set up to do this intermediate smoothing. It is accomplished by setting the value of the keyword qgsm to a value that indicates the desired number of smoothing passes, as described for the keyword smth. So, for example, if you want the intermediate pressure-level fields to be smoothed with 4 passes of the smoother-desmoother, then use qgsm=104.

qpr: Total precipitation hydrometeor mixing ratio, g kg^-1. (3D)

Note: This is just qra + qsn (+ qgr if available).

Note: If non-mixed-phase microphysics was used, this field contains the model output rain water only where T > 0 °C., and is zero where T < 0 °C.

Note: If non-mixed-phase microphysics was used, this field contains the model output rain water only where T < 0 °C, and is zero where T > 0 °C.

Note: See the note on intermediate smoothing under the description of the field qgomg, above.

qvx: x-component of the Q-vector, 10^-6 m s^-3 mb^-1. (3D)

Note: See the note on intermediate smoothing under the description of the field qgomg, above.

Note: See the note on intermediate smoothing under the description of the field qgomg, above.

SSS determines the source of the precipitation you're interested in: cum for cumulus parameterization precipitation, exp for explicitly resolved precipitation, and tot for the sum of cumulus and explicit. T (which will actually be two or more characters in length) determines the desired accumulation time period. If it is of the form Nh, where N is a time period in hours specified either as an integer or as a real number, then RIP will interpret this as "in the past N hours". If it is of the form shN, then RIP will interpret this as "since hour N". An important consideration is that the time that is implied by the specification of T must be available in your RIP data set, or else RIP will not be able to access the precipitation file(s) at that time to perform the subtraction. If the time implied by T is negative (for example, if you're trying to plot 6-h precipitation accumulation at forecast hour 3), RIP will use the hour-0 data for the subtraction. Here are some examples:

feld=rcum3h -> gives cumulus precip in past 3 h
feld=rtotsh0 -> gives total (cumulus + explicit) precip since hour 0
feld=rexpsh12.5 -> gives explicit precip since hour 12.5
feld=rtot24h -> gives total (cumulus + explicit) in past 24 h; but if plotted before hour 24, gives total precip since hour 0

rho: Density, kg m^-3. (3D)

rhu: Relative humidity with respect to liquid water, percent. (3D)

rib: Near-surface Richardson number, as used in high-resolution PBL scheme, s^-2. (2D)

ribbon: Trajectory ribbons (see section 7 for more details).

richnPSSS: Richardson number, dimensionless number. (3D)

P determines the inclusion of moist physics in the calculation of the B-V frequency: d for dry, l for liquid-only latent heating/cooling considerations, and i for liquid and ice latent heating/cooling considerations. SSS determines the number of horizontal sigma-level smoothing passes for the velocity prior to calculation of Rich. num. The SSS value can be omitted if no smoothing is desired, i.e. feld=richnd000 is the same as feld=richnd. For an explanation of the smoothing routine, see the description of the keyword smth in Appendix A. The component of the wind used for the shear calculation is the along-cross-section (left-to-right) component, where the cross section endpoints are determined by the crsa and crsb keywords.

sateth: Saturation equivalent potential temperature, K. (3D)

This is the value of equivalent potential temperature a parcel would have if it were brought to saturation without change in temperature or pressure.

This field is specifically for calculating surface dewpoint from the prs_tsf and qvp_sfan variables that are available only in pressure-level data sets. Units can be either in Celsius, Kelvin, or Fahrenheit, depending on whether U is set to c, k, or f.

FFF is either psi (Sawyer-Eliassen streamfunction, mb m s^-1), vab (balanced ageostrophic wind in the plane of the cross section, m s^-1), vtb (geostrophic plus balanced ageostrophic wind in the plane of the cross section, m s^-1), or omb (balanced vertical velocity, m bar s^-1). The five N’s correspond to five different forcings that can be included in the inversion of the Sawyer-Eliassen equation. They are the confluent frontogenesis term on the RHS, the shear frontogenesis term on the RHS, a topographic boundary condition, an Ekman boundary condition, and a side boundary condition that approximately relates the vertical derivative of y to the actual ageostrophic wind along the sides of the cross section. Each of the N’s should be set to 1 or 0 to indicate that the corresponding forcing is included or excluded in the Sawyer-Eliassen inversion. The difference between ‘se’ and ‘sm’ is that in the former case, the dry static stability is used everywhere, whereas in the latter case, the moist static stability is used where vertical velocity is upward and the relative humidity exceeds a threshold value. The moist version is solved "double-iteratively", that is to say, the relaxation is carried out to convergence several times, with each of the "big" iterations using the vertical velocity obtained from the previous "big" iteration in order to choose between moist and dry stability at each grid point in the cross section.

A variety of parameters can be adjusted in running the Sawyer-Eliassen diagnosis. These are specified through the keyword sepa, which is described in detail in Appendix A.

Note: The Sawyer-Eliassen fields can only be plotted in a vertical cross section with pressure as the vertical coordinate.

sgd: Sigma dot [ds /dt], dimensionless number. (3D)

sig: Sigma, dimensionless number between 0.0 and 1.0. (3D)

slp: Sea-level pressure inspired by Benjamin and Miller (1990), mb. (2D)

slpgr: Sea-level pressure as calculated in the GRAPH plotting program, mb. (2D)

slpold: Sea-level pressure, mb. (2D)

This is the original (and somewhat crude) version of sea-level pressure used in RIP, in which the below-ground temperature is assumed to be the surface temperature minus Ldz, where L is the U.S. Standard Lapse Rate (6.5 °C km^-1) and dz is the distance below ground.

Note: This is just [qsn (+ qgr if available) ] / qpr. If qpr is less than .0001 g kg^-1, then snf is set to 0.5. This can be used to give a nice depiction of the "rain/snow line" if mixed phase microphysics are used.

spsqTPSSS: Scorer parameter squared, m^-2. (3D)

T determines which terms to include: a for N²/(u-c)², b for u_zz/(u-c), or t for total (a + b). P determines the inclusion of moist physics in the calculation of the B-V frequency: d for dry, l for liquid-only latent heating/cooling considerations, and i for liquid and ice latent heating/cooling considerations. SSS determines the number of horizontal sigma-level smoothing passes for the velocity prior to calculation of Scorer parameter. The SSS value can be omitted if no smoothing is desired, i.e. feld=spsqtd000 is the same as feld=spsqtd. For an explanation of the smoothing routine, see the description of the smth keyword in Appendix A. The component of the wind used for the shear calculation is the along-cross-section (left-to-right) component, where the cross section endpoints are determined by the crsa and crsb keywords. The phase speed in terms a and b can be provided with the strm keyword. See the description of the strm keyword in Appendix A.

sr9: Storm-relative flow at 9 km AGL, m s^-1. (2D)

sreh: Storm-relative environmental helicity, m² s^-2. (2D)

Assumes a supercell storm moves at 75% of the magnitude of, and 30° to the right of, the mean wind vector between 3 and 10 km AGL.

Assumes a supercell storm moves at 75% of the magnitude of, and 30° to the right of, the mean wind vector between 3 and 10 km AGL.

Assumes a supercell storm moves at 75% of the magnitude of, and 30° to the right of, the mean wind vector between 3 and 10 km AGL.

stbz: Static stability [dq/dz], K km^-1. (3D)

swarm: Trajectory swarms (see section 7 for more details).

tdd: Dew point depression, °C. (3D)

tdf: Dew point temperature, °F. (3D)

tdp: Dew point temperature, °C. (3D)

ter: Terrain height, m. (2D)

ter_pseudo: Height of "pseudo-terrain" surface for pressure-level data, m. (2D)

See section 6 for a complete explanation of how pressure-level data is handled by RIP.

tgc: Ground temperature, °C. (2D)

tgk: Ground temperature, K. (2D)

thckMMMNNN: Thickness, decameters (or dam). (2D)

MMM and NNN are the lower and upper pressure levels, respectively, expressed in kPa with leading zeros included, so that the total number of digits is always 6. For example:

thck100050 -> This gives the 1000 to 500 hPa thickness.
thck050005 -> This gives the 500 to 50 hPa thickness.

the_sfan: Potential temperature based on surface analysis fields in pressure-level data, K. (2D)

If the data being analyzed is pressure-level data, there should exist surface analysis fields of temperature (tmk_sfan) and water vapor (qvp_sfan), as well as the true surface pressure (prs_tsf). From these, the surface analysis of theta can be calculated. In general, this will not be exactly the same as using feld=the and requesting an interpolation to the true surface (with vcor=p; levs=1001). It is unclear which method is better. See section 6 for a complete explanation of how pressure-level data is handled by RIP.

thvhm: Virtual potential temperature, with hydrometeor effect included, K. (3D)

This is the same as thv, except it is virtual potential temperature including the negative effects of hydrometeors.

tmc: Temperature, °C. (3D)

tmclKK: Temperature of a lifted parcel, °C. (3D)

The level from which parcels are to be lifted is the half-sigma level that is the KKth level from the bottom (always use two digits). Therefore, this field is only defined for sigma levels at or above that level. This field is most useful for plotting in a sounding, to give a sense of the CAPE.

tvclKK: Virtual temperature of a lifted parcel, °C. (3D)

This is the same as tmcl, except it gives the virtual temperature of a lifted parcel. When plotted alongside tvc on a skew-T sounding, this gives a more accurate graphical representation of CAPE than does tmcl plotted alongside tmc.

tmk: Temperature, K. (3D)

tpt: Temperature perturbation, °C (or K). (3D)

The perturbation is with respect to the reference state, as defined by the keyword rfst.

tsfU: Surface air temperature, units are variable depending on the value of U. (2D)

This temperature is intended to represent the surface air temperature as measured by a surface meteorological station (at ~10 m height AGL). From model output, it is calculated with a crude application of similarity theory: if the lowest half-sigma layer (LHSL) air temperature is warmer than the ground temperature, tsfc is equal to the LHSL air temperature; if the LHSL air temperature is colder than the ground temperature, tsfc is equal to the average of the ground temperature and the LHSL air temperature.  From pressure-level output, it just uses the surface air temperature analysis that is stored in the file ending in tmk_sfan. Units of tsfU can be either in Celsius, Kelvin, or Fahrenheit, depending on whether U is set to c, k, or f.

tvc: Virtual temperature, °C. (3D)

tvk: Virtual temperature, K. (3D)

tvp: Virtual temperature perturbation, °C (or K). (3D)

This is the same as tpt, except it is the perturbation of virtual temperature with respect to the reference state, as defined by the keyword rfst.

tvphm: Virtual temperature perturbation, with hydrometeor effect included, °C (or K). (3D)

This is the same as tvp, except it is the perturbation of virtual temperature including the negative effects of hydrometeors on virtual temperature.

twb: Wet bulb temperature, °C. (3D)

uageo: Horizontal ageostrophic wind speed in the x (or j-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

ugeo: Horizontal geostrophic wind speed in the x (or j-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

unor: Westerly horizontal wind component, m s^-1. (3D)

uubs: 0-6 km shear (x-component), m s^-1. (2D)

uusr: Supercell motion vector following Bukers et al (1999) (x-component), m s^-1. (2D)

uuu: Horizontal wind speed in the x (or j-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

vacc: Vertical acceleration, m s^-2. (3D)

This field calculates the right hand side of the vertical momentum equation, including water loading effects.

This calculates the local change in potential temperature due to vertical advection. The vertical velocity and potential temperature fields can be smoothed on constant-pressure surfaces prior to the computing of the product in this nonlinear quantity, by using the qgsm keyword.

vgeo: Horizontal geostrophic wind speed in the y (or i-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

vgp: Vorticity generation potential, m s^-2. (2D)

This is the 0 to 3 km AGL total shear (i.e., the length of the 0-3 km AGL hodograph divided by 3000 m) times the square root of CAPE of the parcel with maximum q_e below 3 km AGL.

Regardless of whether mixed phase microphysics were used, there are three possibilities to choose from for the determination of the phase of cloud and precipitation hydrometeors: Replace X with d for the 0 °Celsius assumption, b for the Bocchieri assumption, or r for the mixed phase assumption. See code for details of these assumptions.

vor: Relative vorticity (vertical component), 10^-5 s^-1. (3D)

vgeo: Horizontal geostrophic wind speed in the y (or i-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

vnor: Southerly horizontal wind component, m s^-1. (3D)

vvbs: 0-6 km shear (y-component), m s^-1. (2D)

vvsr: Supercell motion vector following Bukers et al (1999) (y-component), m s^-1. (2D)

vvv: Horizontal wind speed in the y (or i-index) direction, m s^-1. (3D)

wdr: Horizontal wind direction (compass direction that wind is blowing from), degrees. (3D)

wsp: Horizontal wind speed, m s^-1. (3D)

www: Vertical velocity (dz/dt), cm s^-1. (3D)

xlus: Land use category. (2D)

xmap: Map factor, dimensionless number. (2D)

xnt: Horizontal wind component normal to the cross section, m s^-1. (3D)

Note: The normal wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be into the cross section.

Note: The normal wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be into the cross section.

Note: The normal wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be into the cross section.

Note: The parallel wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be from left to right.

Note: The parallel wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be from left to right.

Note: The parallel wind component is calculated using the cross section end points defined by the crsa and crsb keywords. Positive is assumed to be from left to right.