A Users' Guide to RIP Version 4:
A Program for Visualizing
Mesoscale Model Output

Mark T. Stoelinga
University of Washington

1 December 2006



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. Calculating and plotting trajectories
  7. Creating a data set for Vis5D
  8. Other special situations

Appendix A. Keywords
Appendix B. Available fields for plotting
Appendix C. Format of RIP data files
 

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 gridded meteorological data sets, primarily from mesoscale numerical models.  It was originally designed for sigma-coordinate-level output from the PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM4/MM5), but was generalized in April 2003 to handle data sets with any vertical coordinate. It can also be used to visualize model input or analyses on model grids. It has been under continuous development since 1991, primarily by Mark Stoelinga at both NCAR and the University of Washington. The writing of this version of the RIP Users' Guide coincides with the development of the generalized version (version 4) of RIP by Mark Stoelinga and the NCAR MM5 Group. RIP is an officially supported component of NCAR's MM5 modeling system, and the generalization of vertical coordinate has also been undertaken to make RIP compatible with output from the Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF), and potentially, any mesoscale model.

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:


 

2. Setting up RIP on your system

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, RIP4.TAR.gz, to your local machine, and uncompress the file (i.e., gunzip RIP4.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 RIP4.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:

Also on the MM5 anonymous ftp site, there are a few examples of special map background definition files, of the form xxxx.ascii and xxxx.bin. These are large files, and therefore were not included in the RIP tar file. If you are going to use such files, you should download them (or create your own) and place them in your RIP directory.  The use of these files is discussed further in Appendix A, "Keywords", under the description of the outy keyword.

b. The RIP_ROOT environment variable

An important environment variable for the RIP system is 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 chapter 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.  These are described below.

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:

Finally, for experienced users of RIP Version 2, you've probably noticed that the implementation of the color table has changed with RIP Version 3, in that the color table is no longer embedded within the UIF. The single color table file in your RIP_ROOT directory should makes life easier, because you'll be assured that any color that you've defined in the past (by adding it to you color.tbl file) will be accessible to you, regardless of how old your UIF is (or the file from which you copied it). Nevertheless, if you prefer to have color tables in your UIFs (between the namelist section and the plot specification table) as was done with RIP 2.0, you can continue to put them there. If you run RIP with a UIF that contains a color table, RIP will recognize that color table and read it instead of (NOT in addition to) the color table in your RIP_ROOT directory.

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. It should also be noted that the RANGS/GSHHS high-resolution map background capability is only functional if you have NCAR Graphics 4.3 (or later). RANGS/GSHHS is not the most commonly used map background outline set, so this does not represent a significant loss of functionality if you cannot use it.

The version of RIPDP for WRF model system output, ripdp_wrf, needs to link to the NetCDF library.  This library of routines is used for I/O with files in the “Network Common Data Fromat” or NetCDF, which WRF uses.   The only thing the user needs to be concerned about is that the variables NETCDFLIB and NETCDFINC in the secondary Makefile in the RIP/src/ directory are set properly for the path  names of the directories where the NetCDF library file and include files reside, respectively.

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.

&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.

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.

 

3. Preparing data with RIPDP

RIP does not ingest model output files directly. First, a preprocessing step must be executed that converts the model output data files to RIP-format data files. The primary difference between these two types of files is that model output data files typically contain all times and all variables in a single file (or a few files), whereas RIP data has each variable at each time in a separate file. The preprocessing step involves use of the program RIPDP (which stands for RIP Data Preparation). RIPDP reads in a model output 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 to files 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, RIPDP can also process unexpected variables that it encounters in model output data files, creating RIP data file names for these variables from the variable name that is stored in the model output file metadata.

When you run make, it should produce executable programs called ripdp_mm5 and ripdp_wrf. Although these are two separate prgrams (one for use with MM5 model system output and one for use with WRF mass-coordinate model output), they serve the same purpose, and will be referred to collectively as ripdp.

a. Running RIPDP

The program has the following usage:

ripdp_mm5 [-n namelist-file] model-data-set-name data-file-1 data-file-2 data-file-3 ...

ripdp_wrf [-n namelist_file] model-data-set-name [basic|all] 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 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.  See Appendix C for a description of how these files are named and the the format of their contents.

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 chapter 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

 
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.

Note: With some compilers such as Sun's Fortran 90, when assigning values to an array in a namelist, each array element must be separately referenced with its index in parentheses.  This would apply to the ptimes, iptimes, and discard arrays described above.  Thus, in this situation, the above namelist would appear as

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

Additional capabilities of ripdp_wrf:

ripdp_wrf permits additional control over the fields that get processed.  On the command line, after model-data-set-name, the user should specify either basic or all.  basic causes ripdp_wrf to process only the basic variables that RIP requires, whereas all causes ripdp_wrf to process all variables encountered (as in ripdp_mm5).  If all is specified, the discard variable can be used in the ripdp namelist to prevent processing of unwanted variables, as with ripdp_mm5.  However, if basic is specified, the user can request particular other fields (besides the basic fields) to be processed by setting a retain variable in the ripdp namelist instead of the discard variable.  retain is set in the same manner as discard, i.e., you assign it one or more variable names in single quotes separated by commas.

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 chapter 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,ifcsttime=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 up to two lines, depending on what information is requested, as described below.  . The first shows and an initial time. The second line shows the forecast hour, and the valid time in both UTC and local time.

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.

Notes on ntextq and ntextcd:

Note: With some compilers such as Sun's Fortran 90, when assigning values to an array in a namelist, each array element must be separately referenced with its index in parentheses.  This would apply to the ptimes and iptimes arrays described above.  Thus, in this situation, the specification of ptimes in the above sample &userin namelist would appear as

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 chapter 6.

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 chapter 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 chapters, 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. Calculating and plotting trajectories

Because trajectories are a unique feature of RIP and require special instructions to create, this chapter 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:

Note: the direction of the trajectory calculation (forward or backward) is determined by rtim and ctim. If rtim<ctim, trajectories are forward. If rtim>ctim, trajectories are backward.

‘s’: zktraj values are model vertical level indices
‘p’: zktraj values are pressure values, in mb
‘z’: zktraj values are height values, in km
‘m’: zktraj values are temperature values, in ºC
‘t’: zktraj values are potential temperature values, in K
‘e’: zktraj values are equivalent potential temperature values, in K

It is also possible to define a 3D array of trajectory initial points, without having to specify the [x,y,z] locations of every point. The grid can be of arbitrary horizontal orientation. To define the grid, you must specify the first seven values of xjtraj as follows: The first two values should be the x and y values of the lower left corner of the trajectory horizontal grid. The next two values should be the x and y values of another point defining the positive x-axis of the traj. grid (i.e., the positive x-axis will point from the corner point to this point). The fifth value should be the trajectory grid spacing, in model grid lengths. The final two values should be the number of points in the x and y directions of the trajectory horizontal grid. The first value of xjtraj should be negative, indicating that a grid is to be defined (rather than just individual points), but the absolute value of that value will be used. Any yitraj values given are ignored. The zktraj values specify the vertical levels of the 3D grid to be defined. Note that any vertical coordinate may still be used if defining a 3D grid of trajectories.

 

If no diagnostic quantities along the trajectories are desired, the plot specification table is left blank (except that the first three lines comprising the "Plot Specification Table" banner are retained). If diagnostic quantities are desired, they can be requested in the plot specification table (although no plots will be produced by these specifications, since you are running RIP in trajectory calculation mode). 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. 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 calculated along trajectories, 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 calculate cloud water mixing ratio, pressure, omega, and relative humidity along your trajectories, your plot specification table would look like this:

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

Once the input file is set up, RIP is run as outlined in chapter 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 chapter 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 five possibilities: arrow, ribbon, swarm, gridswarm, 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:

The optional keywords that affect trajectory plots are listed below. The functionality of some of these keywords may depend on what type of trajectory representation (as specified by the feld keyword) you are using. See Appendix A, "Keywords", for more details.

colr: Color of trajectories, swarms, or circles representing positive ascent.

cong: Color of circles representing negative ascent.

dash: Dash pattern of trajectories, swarms, or circles representing positive ascent.

dang: Dash pattern of circles representing negative ascent.

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

lcll: Label color for trajectory labels.

linw: Line width of trajectories, swarms, or circles representing positive ascent.

lwng: Line width of circles representing negative ascent.

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 or circles.

tjen: End time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories or swarms, or end time for net ascent calculation (for circles).

tjfl: File name of trajectory position info.

tjid: ID numbers of trajectories to be plotted or swarm points to be connected, or gridswarm definition.

tjsp: Storm position for storm-relative trajectories.

tjst: Start time (in forecast hour) of plotted trajectories or swarms, or start time for net ascent calculation (for circles).

tjti: Time interval for trajectory arrow heads, or for swarms, 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 or for net ascent calculation (for circles). (for ptyp=ht).

vwin: Vertical window for trajectory height legend, or reference vertical displacement for circles.

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.

7. 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 originally developed specifically for scientific diagnosis and operational display of mesoscale modeling system output. This has two important implications: (1) The RIP system can ingest model output files, and (2) RIP can produce a wide array of diagnostic quantities that mesoscale modelers want to see. Thus, it makes sense to make use of these qualities to have RIP act as a bridge between a mesoscale model 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 model 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 vertical 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 chapter 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 chapter 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 model 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 map background, as specified in RIP, to the map background parameters required by Vis5D.  Currently, RIP can only make the conversion for Lambert conformal maps, and even that conversion does not produce an exact duplication of the correct map background.

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 model terrain as a contour or color-filled field, you should add feld=ter to your plot specification table.

8. Other special situations

a. 2-D model output

Some models (such as WRF) can be run in a 2-D mode.  In such a case, the domain dimension in the y-direction will be 3 “dot” (u/v) grid points and 2 “cross” (T/p) grid points.  The only type of plots that make sense in this situation are vertical cross sections (ptyp=vc, vv, vw, vt, or vb).  The y-value of the cross section endpoints (as specified by the second value given for crsa and crsb) should always be “2”.

 

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:

hc: horizontal contour plot
hv: horizontal vector plot
hs: horizontal streamline plot
hh: horizontal character plot (for things like land use, snow cover)
ht: horizontal trajectory plot
hb: horizontal background plot (maps, perimeter tick marks)
vc: vertical (cross section) contour plot
vv: vertical vector plot (circulation vectors in the plain of the cross sec.)
vw: vertical wind vector plot (hor. wind vectors in a vert. cross sec.)
vt: vertical trajectory plot (trajectories projected onto the plane of the cross section)
vb: vertical background plot (perimeter tick marks and ground curve for cross section)
sc: sounding contour plot (a temperature trace on a skew-T)
sv: sounding vector plot (a wind barb column on a skew-T)
sb: sounding background plot (the background skew-T grid)
pc: vertical profile contour plot (a trace of the specified variable as a function of height)

A few notes on vertical (cross section) plots: The endpoints of the cross section are specified with keywords crsa and crsb (see description of these keywords below).  The data are interpolated in the horizontal direction from the grid to an arbitrary number of equally spaced points along the cross section. That number is automatically chosen by RIP for contour plots, but you can specify it for vector plots. In the vertical direction, the data are not interpolated. Rather, the plotting grid itself is transformed so that the model vertical levels are correctly placed with respect to whatever vertical coordinate has been chosen for the cross section. The tick mark background plot will also draw a curve indicating the position of the ground.

addf: Add (or subtract) this field to (or from) the next field

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.

As an example, suppose you want to plot the sum of cloud water, cloud ice, rain, and snow. This would be accomplished as follows:

feld=qcw; ptyp=hc; addf=1
feld=qci; ptyp=hc; addf=1
feld=qra; ptyp=hc; addf=1
feld=qsn; ptyp=hc; vcor=p; levs=850; cint=1

Each field is multiplied by its value of addf prior to adding. Hence, one can add or subtract a field or a multiple of a field. For example, you could plot ageostrophic wind vectors as follows (although this field exists, called uageo and vageo):

feld=ugeo,vgeo; ptyp=hv; addf=-1
feld=uuu,vvv; ptyp=hv; vcor=p; levs=500; intv=3

arng: Automatic range

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

axld: Large labeled tick increment along distance axis

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 10 for vcor=s (model vertical level index), 100 mb for vcor=p, l, or x (pressure, log pressure, or Exner function), 1.0 km for vcor=z (height) , 10 K for vcor=t or e (potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature), 10 ºC for vcor=m (temperature), and 1.0 PVU for vcor=q (potential vorticity).

 

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 labeled tick marks along the vertical axis of a cross section if feld=tic is specified. A value of 0 indicates no small labeled tick marks should be drawn. The default values are 1 for vcor=s (model vertical level index), 10 mb for vcor=p, l, or x (pressure, log pressure, or Exner function), 0.1 km for vcor=z (height) , 1 K for vcor=t or e (potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature), 1 ºC for vcor=m (temperature), and 0.1 PVU for vcor=q (potential vorticity).

 

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, using cell filling.

 

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 with “area fill” (fill), both contours and contour filling with “area fill” (both), contour filling with “cell fill” (cell), or both contours and contour filling with “cell fill” (ceco).

Note: There are two ways of making color-filled contour plots.  One is with “area fill”, in which the regions between contours are defined as polygonal areas which are filled with appropriate colors.  The other is with “cell fill”, in which each grid point is assigned a square “cell” defined as as the surrounding grid box, and the cell is assigned a color based on the field value at the grid point.  Cell-filling is a new addition to RIP.  Its advantage is that plots are generated considerably faster than with area filling, especially for large domains.  It’s disadvantages are that it can look a bit “pixely” for coarser domains; it is not compatible with the “transparent color” feature (see keyword cosq); and it produces strange behavior in the viewing program idt, namely, very slow refreshing of the plot when the zoom feature is used.

 

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, swarms, trajectory net ascent circles, 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.

 

Examples:

For color-filled contour plots:

cosq=-5,white,3.5,red,7,orange,12,yellow,15,green,20,blue,24.5,violet

The way in which colors for particular areas or cells are assigned is as follows. Each of the areas that are bounded by two different contours, or each cell whose grid value is bounded by two contour values, is assigned a discrete value that is equal to the average of the values of the bounding contours. For the areas or cells that are above the highest contour level (or below the lowest contour level), the discrete value is chosen to be half a contour interval above (or below) the bounding contour.

The discrete value is then compared to the color sequence in order to find the two color sequence pairs whose values bracket the discrete value. Interpolated values of red, green, and blue fractions are calculated based on the discrete value, the bracketing color sequence values, and the bracketing color sequence colors. This interpolated color is then used to fill the area or cells.

If you want some contour-bounded areas of the plot to appear transparent, so that other fields can be seen underneath, the color transparent can be specified in the color sequence. For a given contour-bounded area, if either of the bracketing values in the color sequence is assigned the color transparent, that contour-bounded area will be transparent.  Note that transparent only works for area filling, not for cell filling.

For character plots:

The color name refers to the color that you want a particular value to be plotted in, and it can be any of the names that are available in the color table. An example of a cosq setting for a character plot might be

feld=xlus; ptyp=hh; cosq=1,red,2,blue,4,pink,5,yellow,>

7,sky.blue,8,violet,6,white,10,dark.blue

This would result in a plot in which, at every cross point, the land use category number would be plotted in the color as specified above. Any numbers that do not have a color specified would be plotted in the default foreground color (such as 3, 9, 11, etc., in the above example).  Also, if keyword chfl is set, grid boxes are filled with the chosen color (using cell filling), rather than values printed in each box.

cozr: Zero contour color

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.

There are four different ways to specify location. The first is in terms of the x,y location on the model grid. To specify location in this way, use two real values, separated by a comma (i.e. x,y). The second way is in terms of latitude and longitude. To specify location in this way, use two real values, each with the words "lat" or "lon" immediately after the number, and separated by a comma. The third way is in terms of the 5-digit WMO number for a station in North America. To specify the location in this way, supply the WMO number as a single integer value. The fourth way is in terms of a four-character ICAO station identifier for a station that has such an identifier listed in the stationlist. To specify the location in this way, supply the identifier as one string, and use only upper case for the string. Examples follow.

x,y format: crsa=20.4,30;

lat,lon format: crsa=40.24lat,-78.1lon;

WMO format: crsa=72240;

character ID format: crsa=ORD;

An important limitation to be aware of is that, regardless of the format that is used, the resulting locations must be greater than 1.5, and less than mjx-.5 for x points and miy-.5 for y points.
 

crsb: Right 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 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), boxes and lines (ptyp=box or line), vertical bars in cross sections (feld=vbar), a temperature trace in a skew-T sounding, trajectories, swarms, or trajectory net ascent circles. 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:

Dash value

This is what 2 repetitions of the 16-piece pattern look like:

10

________________________________ (solid)

20

________________________________ (same as previous pattern)

80

________________________________ (same as previous pattern)

11

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (shortest possible dash)

21

__ __ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ __ _

32

___  ___  ___  ____  ___  ___  _

88

________        ________ 

17

_       _       _       _ 

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

 

dazr: Zero contour dash pattern

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.

fchl: Fill color for high/low 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 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 model level; type is R.

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

The way in which the values of levs are specified depends on the setting of vcor:

For vcor=s, levs should be specified by vertical level index (i.e. k index). When k indices are used, you may specify them either in RIP's conventional way (assuming top-most level is k=1 and bottom-most level is k=KMAX), or in reverse orientation with a following "fb" to indicate "from the bottom" (bottom-most level is k=1fb, second level above ground is k=2fb, etc.). For vcor=s, RIP will not interpolate between model levels--only discrete values of k-index can be specified.

For other values of vcor, RIP will interpolate to the requested level.

For vcor=p, l, or x (pressure, log pressure, or Exner function), levs should be specified in hPa; for vcor=z (height), km; for vcor=t or e (potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature), K; for vcor=m (temperature), ºC; and for vcor=q (potential vorticity), PVU.

Any number of levels can be requested, separated by commas. For example, consider the following:

vcor=p; levs=1000,850,700,500;
vcor=s; levs=3,5,2fb,15,1fb,22;
vcor=z; levs=2.5,9.4,5;
vcor=t; levs=290,330,360;

The first example says you want plots at pressure = 1000, 850, 700, and 500 mb. The second example says you want plots at model levels, and those levels will be k=3, k=5, k=2nd level from the bottom, k=15, the bottom level, and k=22. The third example says you want plots at z = 2.5, 9.4, and 5.0 km. The fourth example says you want plots at q = 290, 330, and 360 K.

There is a simple way to specify a range of levels without having to ask for each one individually. This is done by use of the minus sign. If the nth levs value has a minus sign, that means you want plots from the (n-1)th value to the (-n)th value, with an increment of the (n+1)th value. This range specification style can be intermixed with individual level values. This is all best understood by example. Consider the following examples:

vcor=s; levs=15,1fb,-26,2,17,21,-2fb,3,20fb
vcor=p; levs=1000,-700,150,500,400,300,-50,50

The first example will give plots at model levels, and (if there are 34 model levels total) those levels will be at k=15, k=34, k=32, k=30, k=28, k=26, k=17, k=21, k=24, k=27, k=30, k=33, and k=15,

The second example will give plots at pressure = 1000, 850, 700, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, and 50 mb.

How does the plotting algorithm respond to PSLs that ask for more than one level? The way it works is that for a given frame, if any of the plots within the frame are requested at more than one level, then the entire frame is repeated for each of the levels requested for that plot. If more than one plot in a given frame is requested at multiple levels, then the frame will be repeated n times, where n is the maximum number of levels requested for any of the plots in the frame. The frames with less than n levels requested will have the last level repeated until n frames have been plotted. So then, consider the following unlikely, but illustrative, example of a FSG:

===================================================
feld=tmc; ptyp=hc; vcor=s; levs=27,-23,1
feld=wsp; ptyp=hc; vcor=p; levs=850,400,300
feld=map; ptyp=hb
feld=tic; ptyp=hb
===================================================

This example will cause the frame to repeat 5 times, with the following plots overlaid:

1. Temp. (°C) at model level 27, Wind speed at pressure=850mb, map background, and tick marks on the plot perimeter.

2. Temp. (°C) at model level 26, Wind speed at pressure=400mb, map background, and tick marks on the plot perimeter.

3. Temp. (°C) at model level 25, Wind speed at pressure=300mb, map background, and tick marks on the plot perimeter.

4. Temp. (°C) at model level 24, Wind speed at pressure=300mb, map background, and tick marks on the plot perimeter.

5. Temp. (°C) at model level 23, Wind speed at pressure=300mb, map background, and tick marks on the plot perimeter.

Note that the value(s) of levs are irrelevant and ignored for background plots (maps, tick marks), vertical cross sections, soundings, or horizontal plots of 2-d fields (sea-level pressure, ground temperature, etc.).

Also note: For character plots of 3D fields, only model levels can be used (k indices). Interpolation to other vertical coordinates is not available for character plots (i.e. the keyword vcor has no effect for horizontal character plots).

Vertical averaging: the levs keyword can also be used to average a 3D field in the vertical. This only works with vcor=s, i.e. you can only average between model levels, not between pressure levels or isentropic levels, etc. The specification is similar to the multiple-level format for the levs keyword, except that the third number should be a zero. The following PSL is an example:

feld=tmc; ptyp=hc; vcor=s; levs=28,27,20,-12,0,8

This would plot temperature at model levels 28 and 27, then a vertical average of temperature from model levels 20 through 12, and then temperature at model level 8.

Vertical differencing: the levs keyword can also be used to do model-level differencing for a 3D field. As with averaging, this only works with model vertical levels as the vertical coordinate (vcor=s), i.e. you can only take a difference between model levels, not between pressure levels or isentropic levels, etc. The specification is similar to vertical averaging, except that the third number should be a -1. The following PSL is an example:

feld=tmc; ptyp=hc; vcor=s; levs=28,27,20,-12,-1,8

This would plot temperature at model levels 28 and 27, then a vertical difference (temperature at model level 20 minus temperature at model level 12), and then temperature at model level 8.

linw: Line width

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, swarms, trajectory net ascent circles, 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:

Example 1:

cbeg=3.5; cend=6.5; cint=.5

In example 1, mult is not used. Therefore, you will get contours at 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, and 6.5.

Example 2:

mult; cbeg=2; cend=162; cint=3

In example 2, since mult is used, you will get contours at 2, 6, 18, 54, and 162.

ncon: Nice number of contours

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: Maximum number of “model info” lines to print at the bottom of the frame

Expects 1 integer value; default is 5; type is F.

Purpose: Currently, the various ripdp programs create a “.minfo” file that contains one or more lines of informatioin about the model run, with the first line of information being most important, and subsequent lines being of lesser importance.  This parameter tells RIP how many of these lines should be printed at the bottom of the frame.  The default value of 5 is probably larger than the number of lines that will ever exist, so this effectively means “print all available lines”.  If set to 0, no model info will be printed.  nmin only needs to be set for one plot in the frame, and it will then apply to the entire frame.

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 cross-hatching underground

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

Purpose: For vertical cross sections, RIP always shows a line that represents the ground.  For pressure- or height-level data sets, RIP also normally fills in the below-ground region with cross hatching, to cover up the plotted contours or vectors of fictitious data below ground.  This cross-hatching can be disabled with the nogd keyword.

nohl: No high and/or low markers

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. Note that use of the RANGS/GSHHS outline data set is only available in NCAR Graphics version 4.3 or later.  If n is omitted, 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 available from the MM5 ftp web site (or by creating your own), and placing it in your ${RIP_ROOT}/custom_maps 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; 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 four values: sea-level pressure (mb), sea-level temperature (K), lapse rate (dT/d[ln(p)], K), and stratospheric temperature (K).  The default values correspond roughly to the U.S. Standard Atmosphere, with no stratospheric isothermal layer because stratospheric temperature is set to 0.1 degree above absolute zero.

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 horizontal plot types, and 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 9 real values; defaults are as mentioned below; type is R.

Purpose: This defines several parameters that are used for solving the Sawyer-Eliassen equation. Nine 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:

The first five parameters are relevant for either the moist or dry S-E solver:

1. Maximum number of iterations in the over-relaxation (default is 200)
2. Minimum residual required for convergence (default is 1.0 m mb s-1)
3. Over-relaxation factor (default value is 1.6)
4. Averaging distance in the along-front (cross-section-normal) direction, in grid spaces. This is similar to the xavg keyword that can be used for other cross section plots; however, this parameter causes averaging to be performed on fields from which the Sawyer-Eliassen equation terms are calculated, rather than on the final field being plotted. The default value is 0 (no averaging).
5. Horizontal smoothing factor. This allows for horizontal smoothing of the fields (interpolated to pressure levels) from which the Sawyer-Eliassen equation terms are calculated. The smoothing factor is specified as a distance in grid spaces, and represents the width of a simple triangle-shaped weighting function for the smoother. The default is 0.0, or no smoothing.

The last three parameters are relevant only for the moist S-E solver:

6. The maximum number of "big" iterations allowed for "big" iteration convergence. "Big" iteration convergence occurs when all points have the same sign of vertical velocity for two consecutive "big" iterations. Default is 15.
7. The threshold relative humidity (as a percent value) used to determine the type of stability (moist or dry) used at a grid point. Default is 80.
8. Smoothing factor for effective stability. This is similar to the horizontal smoothing factor described above, except it applies only to the effective stability that is obtained after the moist or dry stability is chosen at each grid point. Its purpose is to remove large stability gradients across the zero vertical velocity line or the threshold relative humidity line. Default is 2.
9. Switch for SG (1) or QG (2) version of left hand side of S-E equation. Default is SG (1).

If all the defaults are satisfactory, sepa need not be specified at all. However, you will probably want to experiment with one or more of the parameters. If this is the case, not all nine parameters need be specified, but 8 commas must always be included, in order to define which parameters are being changed. For example, if you want to change the minimum error for convergence to 5.0, the horizontal smoothing factor to 2.5, and the stability smoothing factor to 3.0, you would specify

sepa=,5,,,2.5,,,3,

sids: Station IDs

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 model 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:

If n is between 1 and 99, then a 9-point weighted smoother is applied n times. The smoother follows equation 11-107 in Haltiner and Williams. One pass completely removes 2dx waves on the interior. On the outer row and column, and near missing data points, smoothing is carried out in a manner that preserves the domain average value of the field.

If n is between 101 and 199, then a smoother-desmoother is applied (n – 100) times. One pass removes a large fraction of the 2dx component, but is not as harsh on longer wavelengths as the 9-point smoother

If n is between 201 and 299, then the smoother-desmoother is applied (n – 200) times, and, after each pass, the data field is forced to be non-negative.

If n is between 301 and 399, then a weighted smoother is applied, in which the smoothed value is given by a weighted average of values at surrounding grid points. The weighting function is the Cressman weighting function:

In the above, d is the distance (in grid increments) of the neighboring point to the smoothing point, and D is the radius of influence [in grid increments, given by (n – 300)].

If n is between 401 and 499, then the smoothing is similar for n = 301-399, except the weighting function is the circular aperture diffraction function (following a suggestion of Barnes et al. 1996):

If n is between 501 and 599, then the smoothing is similar for n = 301-399, except the weighting function is the product of the rectangular aperture diffraction function in the x and y directions (the function used in Barnes et al. 1996):

sndg: Print sounding parameters.

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 arrow, ribbon, swarm, gridswarm. and circle,

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, and it can be used to place a label above a vertical bar (feld=vbar).

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.

tjar: Arrow widths for trajectory plots

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

Purpose: arrow and ribbon 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 reference 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 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 arrow, ribbon, swarm, or circle, all desired trajectory IDs can be listed, or IDs can be requested 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 swarm, the desired sequence of trajectory IDs for the swarm curve should be specified in the order desired, and if a closed polygon is desired, the first and last ID requested should be the same. For a trajectory gridswarm, it is assumed that part or all of the trajectories in the position file were initially arranged in a row-oriented 2-D array. In this case, instead of individually specifying each trajectory in the swarm sequence (as is done for feld=swarm), three values must be provided for the tjid keyword: (1) the ID number of the first trajectory of the gridswarm; (2) the number of columns in the gridswarm array (i.e., the direction that varies first); and (3) the number of rows in the gridswarm array (i.e., the direction that varies second).

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.

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. It also sets the size of the bullet (or text) drawn when feld=bullet, and it sets the size of the label for feld=vbar.

tynt: Typhoon track symbol interval (hours)

Used with feld=track. Default is every forecast output time. A typhoon symbol (and label) is plotted every tynt hours. Increasing tynt may improve legibility. tynt does not affect the track printout.

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.

Special instructions for different plot types:

ptyp=hv or vw: If vcmx is specified as any negative number, then the vectors will be plotted with the barb/flag convention.

ptyp=sv: these vectors can only be plotted with the barb/flag convention, so vcmx is irrelevant.

ptyp=vv: the "next adjacent vector" means the next adjacent vector in the horizontal direction, and vcmx should be specified in units of the horizontal components, which will probably be different from the units of the vertical component. Some experimentation may be required to get a feel for this keyword in vertical vector mode. These vectors can only be plotted as arrows, not as wind barbs, because the units in the horizontal and vertical directions are different.

vcor: Vertical coordinate

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: model vertical level (k) index
p: pressure
z: height
t: potential temperature
e: equivalent potential temperature
m: temperature
q: potential vorticity

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

s: model vertical level index
p: pressure
x: Exner function (as in pseudoadiabatic charts)
l: log pressure
z: height
t: potential temperature
e: equivalent potential temperature
m: temperature
q: potential vorticity

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

s: model vertical level index
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).

vvms: Minimum pressure difference between plotted vectors for cross sections and soundings

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

Purpose: This specifies the minimum pressure 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 30, then RIP will not plot a vector if it is less than 30 hPa 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 trajectory arrows, ribbons, or circles in a horizontal plot. The first value is the bottom of the window, and the second is the top. For trajectory circles, only one value is specified, and this determines the reference vertical displacement amount that corresponds to a circle of diameter set by tjar. The units of the given values are assumed to be as follows:

vcor

Units

Default values for vertical cross sections

's'

Dimensionless

1.0, 0.0

'p','l', or 'x'

Mb

1050, 100

'z'

Km

0.0, 15.0

't' or 'e'

K

260, 400

'm'

ºC

-60, 40

'q'

PVU

-0.5, +5.5

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:

ptyp=hb: The perimeter is marked on all four sides with tick marks and labels denoting grid points.
ptyp=vb: The left and right perimeters are marked with tick marks and labels denoting vertical coordinate increments. The bottom and top perimeters are marked with tick marks and labels denoting distance along the cross section.
ptyp=sb: A standard skew-T grid is drawn and labeled, including pressure levels, temperature contours, adiabats, pseudoadiabats, and mixing ratio contours.

vbar: Vertical bar.

This field results in the drawing of a vertical bar in a vertical cross section.  The location of the vertical bar is specified with the sloc keyword, and it is drawn where that location projects perpendicularly onto the plane of the vertical cross section defined by the current setting of crsa and crsb.   A label can be placed above the vertical bar by using the keyword titl.  Works only if ptyp=vb.

 

b. Model output and diagnostic fields (listed in alphabetical order):

 

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.

amtg: Geostrophic absolute momentum, m s-1. (3D)

Same as amt, but using geostrophic wind instead of the actual wind.

arrow: Trajectory arrows (see chapter 6 for more details).

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.

bshXU: Horizontal bulk wind shear with variable units depending on the value of U. (2D)

The bulk wind shear is defined between the surface and up to 9 km (X = 1 through 9). If X is not specified, it defaults to shear between the surface and 6 km. Units of bsh can be m s-1 (e.g. bsh5), or knots (e.g. bsh5k).

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

brnshr: Bulk Richardson number shear as in Stensrud et al. (1997), m2s-2. (2D)

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.

cap3: Convective available potential energy (CAPE) of parcels at all 3D grid points, J kg-1. (3D)

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 qe below 3000 m AGL, use mcap.

cat: Clear-air turbulence index, s-2. (3D)

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

cin3: Convective inhibition (CI) of parcels at all 3D grid points, J kg-1. (3D)

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 qe below 3000 m AGL, use mcin.

circle: Net ascent circles (a type of trajectory representation, see chapter 6 for more details).

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, condheati: Diagnosed condensational heating, K h-1. (3D)

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.

cor: Coriolis factor, s-1. (2D)

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).

dbzX: Simulated equivalent radar reflectivity factor, dBZ. (3D)

This field calculates a simulated equivalent radar reflectivity factor, 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 spherical particles of constant density, with exponential size distributions (consistent with what is used in MM5's Reisner-2 bulk microphysical scheme). If X is set to "c", then the simulated reflectivity is calculated using constant values of the intercept parameters for the size distributions of rain, snow, and graupel, as in early versions of Reisner-2. If X is set to "v" (or ommitted), then variable intercepts are used, as in more recent versions of Reisner-2. See comments in routine "dbzcalc.f" for more details.

div: Divergence (of horizontal wind), s-1. (3D)

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

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

This field is similar to thickness, except it is the pressure difference between height surfaces, rather than the height difference between pressure surfaces. The two height 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.

dthtedz: Convective (or potential) instability, expressed as the partial derivative of qe with respect to height, K km-1. (3D)

ehi: Energy-helicity index, dimensionless. (3D)

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.

fregWX: Flight regulation. (2D)

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.

frgmXXX: Frontogenesis, Miller form, K (100 km h)-1. (3D)

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.

frg2dXXX: Frontogenesis, 2D frontal zone form, K (100 km h)-1. (3D)

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.

ght: Geopotential height above mean sea level, m. (3D)

ghtagl: Geopotential height above ground level, m. (3D)

gridswarm: Trajectory gridswarm (see chapter 6 for more details).

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

This is the column-integrated value of the field qcl (i.e., the sum of the fields qcl and qci).

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

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

intpcp: Column-integrated precipitation mass, mm. (2D)

This is the column-integrated value of the field qpr (i.e., the sum of the fields qra, qsn, and qgr).

k-index: k-index of the grid points, dimensionless. (3D)

This field can be used to show where the model levels are in a vertical cross section, or in a horizontal plot interpolated to an alternate vertical coordinate.

lcl: Lifted condensation level (LCL), m (AGL). (2D)

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

lfc: Level of free convection (LFC), m (AGL). (2D)

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

maxdbzX: Maximum simulated equivalent radar reflectivity factor in a column, dBZ. (2D)

The definition of simulated equivalent radar reflectivity factor and X are the same as for dbzX.

mcap: Maximum convective available potential energy (MCAPE), J kg-1. (2D)

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

mcin: Convective inhibition (CI) for MCAPE parcel, J kg-1. (2D)

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

omg: Omega (dp/dt), m bar s-1. (3D)

pcptw: Precipitable total water, mm. (2D)

This is the column-integrated total water (vapor plus all hydrometeors).

pcpwv: Precipitable water vapor, mm. (2D)

This is the column-integrated water vapor only.

phydpNN: 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. A model vertical level must be chosen at which hydrostatic pressure is defined to be equal to full pressure. This level is specified as a k-index with NN

ppt: Pressure perturbation, mb. (3D)

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

prs: Pressure, mb. (3D)

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.

qcl: Total cloud mixing ratio, g kg-1. (3D)

Note: This is just qcw + qci.

qcw: Cloud water mixing ratio, g kg-1. (3D)

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.

qgomfNNN: Full omega (subjected to same processing as QG omega), m bar s-1. (3D)

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 model vertical levels.

qgomgNNN or qmomgNNNRR: Quasi-geostrophic omega, m bar s-1. (3D)

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.

qgr: Graupel mixing ratio (if available as a separate RIP data file), g kg-1. (3D)

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

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

qra: Rain water mixing ratio, g kg-1. (3D)

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.

qsn: Snow mixing ratio, g kg-1. (3D)

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.

qvdiv: Divergence of the Q-vector, 10-12 s-3 mb-1. (3D)

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

qvp: Water vapor mixing ratio, g kg-1. (3D)

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.

qvy: y-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.

rSSST: Accumulated rainfall (or more generally, precipitation), mm. (2D)

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

rhi: Relative humidity with respect to ice, percent. (3D)

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 chapter 6 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 smoothing passes (on model vertical levels) 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.

sdpU: Surface dewpoint temperature, units determined by U. (3D)

This field is intended to represent the surface dewpoint temperature as measured by a surface meteorological station (at ~10 m height AGL). From terrain-following data sets, it is calculated with surface pressure, and water vapor mixing ratio at the lowest model level.  From pressure- or height-level output, it is calculated from surface pressure, and from a surface water vapor analysis that RIP looks for in a file ending in tmk_sfan.  Units can be either in Celsius, Kelvin, or Fahrenheit, depending on whether U is set to c, k, or f.

seFFFNNNNN or smFFFNNNNN: Various fields derived from inversion of the Sawyer-Eliassen equation, units are variable. (3D)

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.

sfp: Surface pressure, mb. (2D)

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

snf: Frozen fraction of precipitation hydrometeor mixing ratios, dimensionless number between 0.0 and 1.0. (3D)

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.

sno: Snow cover (if available as a separate RIP data file). (2D)

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

T determines which terms to include: a for N2/(u-c)2, b for uzz/(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 smoothing passes (on model vertical levels) 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.

srfh: Storm-relative flow at high levels (~9 km), 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.

srfl: Storm-relative flow at low levels (~2 km), 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.

stb: Static stability [-dq/dp], K hPa-1. (3D)

stbe: Potential or convective stability [-dqe/dp], K hPa-1. (3D)

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

swarm: Trajectory swarm (see chapter 6 for more details).

tdd: Dew point depression, °C. (3D)

tdf: Dew point temperature, °F. (3D)

tdk: Dew point temperature, K. (3D)

tdp: Dew point temperature, °C. (3D)

tdsfU: Surface dew point temperature, units are variable depending on the value of U. (2D)

It is computed using 2 m water vapor mixing ratio if available. Otherwise it uses the moisture field from the lowest model level. Units of tdsfU can be either in Celsius, Kelvin, or Fahrenheit, depending on whether U is set to c, k, or f.

ter: Terrain height, m. (2D)

tfp: Frost point temperature, °C. (3D)

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: Potential temperature, K. (3D)

thsf: Surface air potential temperature, K. (2D)

This is intended to represent the surface air potential temperature as measured by a surface meteorological station (at ~10 m height AGL). The surface air temperature is first calculated, as described for field tsfU.  It is then converted to potential temperature.

thv: Virtual potential temperature, K. (3D)

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 model level that is the KKth level from the bottom (always use two digits). Therefore, this field is only defined for model levels at or above that level. This field is most useful for plotting in a sounding, to give a sense of the CAPE.

tmf: Temperature, °F. (3D)

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.

tptslr: Temperature perturbation with respect to the U.S. Standard Atmosphere, °C. (or K) (3D)

track: Typhoon track

Objectively-determined typhoon track including central pressures. The default code is able to track five storms simultaneously. The track is plotted using all times in the .xtimes file, regardless of the value of ptimes. The typhoon symbol and central pressure locations are plotted based on the keyword tynt. The typhoon location, central pressure, and maximum surface wind speed is printed out at each forecast output time. While the track algorithm is designed for use with any model grid spacing, performance for any particular delta-x may be improved by tuning the algorithm. Additional documentation is included in the source code (including a sample plspec entry).

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

If 2 m temperature is available from the dataset, this is that temperature. Otherwise, this temperature is intended to represent the surface air temperature as measured by a surface meteorological station (at ~10 m height AGL). From terrain-following data sets, it is calculated with a crude application of similarity theory: if the air temperature at the lowest model layer (TLML) is warmer than the ground temperature, tsfc is equal to TLML; if TLML is colder than the ground temperature, tsfc is equal to the average of the ground temperature and TLML.  From pressure- or height-level output, it looks for 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)

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.

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)

vadvtheta: Vertical advection of potential temperature, K h-1. (3D)

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.

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

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 qe below 3 km AGL.

visX: Surface visibility due to hydrometeors, km. (2D)

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.

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

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

vox: x-component of vorticity, 10-5 s-1. (3D)

voy: y-component of vorticity, 10-5 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)

xlat: Latitude (if available as a separate RIP data file). (2D)

xlon: Longitude (if available as a separate RIP data file). (2D)

xlus: Land use category (if available as a separate RIP data file). (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.

xntageo: Horizontal ageostrophic 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.

xntgeo: Horizontal geostrophic 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.

xpt: Horizontal wind component parallel to the cross section, m s-1. (3D)

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.

xptageo: Horizontal ageostrophic wind component parallel to the cross section, m s-1. (3D)

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.

xptgeo: Horizontal geostrophic wind component parallel to the cross section, m s-1. (3D)

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.

 

Appendix C. Format of RIP data files

 

When RIPDP is executed, it produces a large number of data files.  This appendix describes the naming convention and format of RIP data files.

 

a.  The .xtimes file

A text file is created, with the name model-data-set-name.xtimes, where model-data-set-name is as defined in Section 3.  On the first line of the file is the total number of times available in the RIP data set.  Beneath the first line is a list of those times (one time per line).  Each time is expressed as a forecast hour with four digits left of the decimal and five to the right.

 

b.  The .minfo file

A text file is created, with the name model-data-set-name.minfo.  This file contains one or more lines of textual information about the model run, which can be read in by RIP and plotted at the bottom of each plot produced by RIP, to give the viewer some basic information about the model run.

 

c.  The data files

The data files are named with the following convention:

model-data-set-name _ HHHH.HHHHH _ variable

model-data-set-name is as defined in Section 3.  HHHH.HHHHH is the forecast time in hours (four digits left of the decimal and five to the right).  variable is the name of the variable that is contained in the file.  These three pieces of the file name are separated by underscore characters.

The format of the file is perhaps best described by showing the Fortran 77 code with which it can be written:

 

c

c   Declare RIP header variables

c

      integer ihrip(32)

      real rhrip(32)

      character chrip(64)*64,vardesc*64,plchun*24

c

c   Declare 3D and 2D (horizontal slab) data arrays

c

      real data3(maxiy,maxjx,maxkz), data2(maxiy,maxjx)

c

c   Open the file, write header and data, close the file

c

      open (unit=10,file=<filename>,form=’unformatted’,status=’new’)

      write (10) vardesc,plchun,ihrip,rhrip,chrip

      write (10) data3

c  or write (10) data2   for a 2D field

      close (10)

 

maxiy and maxjx are the dimensions of the dot-point gird, regardless of whether the variable is defined on dot points or cross points.  maxkz is the number of vertical levels.  All 3D variables in a RIP data set must be defined on the same vertical levels.  For example, in the MM5 vertical coordinate system, most of the variables are defined on the staggered “half-sigma” levels, but vertical velocity is defined on the “full-sigma” levels.  To adhere to the “same vertical levels” requirement, ripdp_mm5 interpolates the vertical velocities to the “half-sigma” levels.  maxkz would then be equal to the number of half-sigma levels.

 

vardesc is a character string, 64 characters maximum length, that contains a brief verbal description of the variable.  It may also include units, although the representation of units is limited to the ASCII character set.

 

plchun is a character string, 24 characters maximum length, that contains the units of the variable, in NCAR Graphics PLOTCHAR code.  This code can be used by the NCAR Graphics code in RIP to display the units of the variable on a plot, including special characters (e.g., Greek symbols) and exponents.

 

ihrip and rhrip are integer and real header arrays (respectively) contain information about model dimensions, start time and date, and map background, as well as information about the variable such as a brief description and units.  The chrip array contains a text description, 64 characters maximum length, of each of the elements of the ihrip and rhrip arrays.  Elements 1-32 of chrip correspond to the 32 elements of ihrip, and elements 33-64 of chrip correspond to the 32 elements or rhrip.  Note that not all of the elements of ihrip and rhrip are used.  A list of all the currently defined elements of ihrip and rhrip, as well as the text description in the corresponding element of chrip, are shown in the table below:

 

Header

Array

Element

Description

ihrip( 1)

chrip( 1)='map projection (1: Lam. Conf., 2: Pol. Ster., 3: Mercator)      '

ihrip( 2)

chrip( 2)='number of dot points in the y-direction (coarse domain)         '

ihrip( 3)

chrip( 3)='number of dot points in the x-direction (coarse domain)         '

ihrip( 4)

chrip( 4)='number of dot points in the y-direction (this domain)           '

ihrip( 5)

chrip( 5)='number of dot points in the x-direction (this domain)           '

ihrip( 6)

chrip( 6)='number of dimensions of this variable (2 or 3)                  '

ihrip( 7)

chrip( 7)='grid of this variable (1: cross point dom., 0: dot point dom.)  '

ihrip( 9)

chrip( 9)='number of vertical levels in the data                           '

ihrip(10)

chrip(10)='mdateb: YYMMDDHH (truncated hour) of hour-0 for this dataset    '

ihrip(11)

chrip(11)='mdate: YYMMDDHH (truncated hour) of this time                   '

ihrip(12)

chrip(12)='ice physics (1: sep. arrays for ice fields, 0: no sep. arrays)  '

ihrip(13)

chrip(13)='ver. coord. type: <or=3: hgt. or prs.; >or=4: terrain-following '

ihrip(14)

chrip(14)='landuse dataset (1: old, 13-cat; 2: USGS, 24-cat; 3: SiB, 16 )  '

rhrip( 1)

chrip(33)='first true latitude (deg.)                                      '

rhrip( 2)

chrip(34)='second true latitude (deg.)                                     '

rhrip( 3)

chrip(35)='central latitude of coarse domain (deg.)                        '

rhrip( 4)

chrip(36)='central longitude of coarse domain(deg.)                        '

rhrip( 5)

chrip(37)='grid distance of coarse domain (km)                             '

rhrip( 6)

chrip(38)='grid distance of this domain (km)                               '

rhrip( 7)

chrip(39)='coarse dom. y-position of lower left corner of this domain      '

rhrip( 8)

chrip(40)='coarse dom. x-position of lower left corner of this domain      '

rhrip(13)

chrip(45)='rhourb: diff (in h) between exact time and mdate of hour-0      '

rhrip(14)

chrip(46)='rhour: diff (in h) between exact time and mdate of this data    '

rhrip(15)

chrip(47)='xtime: exact time of this data relative to exact hour-0 (in h)  '

 

If you want to create a version of RIPDP that converts output from a given model into a RIP data set, there are certain rules that apply to the variable that RIPDP can or should create, and the variables expected by RIP.  The data variables can be classified into three different categories:

1)      Required variables

2)      Optional variables

3)      Unexpected variables

 

Required variables are fundamental variables that RIP expects to find at every time period that will be processed.  If it does not, it will abort.  Therefore, RIPDP  should create these variables exactly as shown in the table below, particularly in terms of variable name, dimensionality, and grid (cross or dot-point).

Table of Required Variables

Variable

Dimensions

[ihrip(6)]

Grid

[ihrip(7)]

Description of variable (vardesc)

Units of variable in PLOTCHAR code

(plchun)

uuu

3

0

Horizontal wind (y-comp.), m/s

m s~S~-1~N~

vvv

3

0

Horizontal wind (y-comp.), m/s

m s~S~-1~N~

tmk

3

1

Temperature, K

K

ght

3

1

Geopotential height, m

m

prs

3

1

Pressure, hPa

hPa

ter

2

1

Terrain height AMSL, m

m

sfp

2

1

Surface pressure, hPa

hPa

xmap

2

1

Map factor on cross points

none

dmap

2

1

Map factor on dot points

none

cor

2

1

Coriolis parameter, per s

s~S~-1~N~

 

Optional variables are variables that RIP might expect to find depending on the field(s) requested in the user input file.  However, they are not required for RIP to run.  If any of these variables is reuested directly, or if a field is requested that requires one of the optional variables, in some cases the variable will be assumed to be zero, and in other cases RIP will abort.  If you are creating a version of RIPDP for your model, it is a good idea to have it create these optional variables if they are available, and to make sure they agree with the attributes shown in the table below.  This will improve the functionality of RIP.  For example, there is a field in RIP called qpr, which is the sum of all the precipitation mixing ratio fields.  When this field is calculated, RIP specifically looks for files with variable names qra, qsn, and qgr.  If they do not exist, or if they exist but are named something else, then the qpr field will not work.

Table of Optional Variables

Variable

Dimensions

[ihrip(6)]

Grid

[ihrip(7)]

Description of variable (vardesc)

Units of variable in PLOTCHAR code

(plchun)

qvp

3

1

Water vapor mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

www

3

1

Vertical velocity, cm/s

cm s~S~-1~N~

qcw

3

1

Cloud water mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

qra

3

1

Rain water mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

qci

3

1

Cloud ice mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

qsn

3

1

Snow mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

qgr

3

1

Graupel mixing ratio, g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

rtc

2

1

Cumulus precip. since h 0, mm

Mm

rte

2

1

Explicit precip. since h 0, mm

Mm

tgk

2

1

Ground/sea-surface temperature, K

K

tmk_sfan

2

1

Temperature (sfc. anal.), K

K

qvp_sfan

2

1

Water vapor mixing ratio (sfc. anal.), g/kg

g kg~S~-1~N~

xlat

2

1

Latitude, degrees

degrees

xlon

2

1

Longitude, degrees

degrees

xlus

2

1

Land use category

none

 

Finally, an unexpected variable is a variable that RIPDP does not specifically expect to find in the model output, but upon encountering it, processes it and creates a data file.  The variable name, dimensionality, grid, description, and units are determined from metadata in the model output file.  These variables can be plotted by RIP by using the automatically determined variable name in the feld= plot specifier.