CalcMoisture

CalcMoisture calculates water vapor pressure and dew point temperature.

Overview

CalcMoisture calculates water vapor pressure and dew point temperature based on the refractivity field and the mean temperature and pressure fields from nearby weather stations.

Prerequesites

The following items are required:

• Refractivity data (MDV format)
• Weather station data (SPDB database containing station information)

Parameter file

CalcMoisture uses one parameter file that describes the location of refractivity and station data.

Ensure file is up to date

To obtain the default parameter file, use the following command:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/CalcMoisture -print_params > param_file_name

If you already have a parameter file and simply want to check for (and add) updated parameters while retaining current parameters, use the following command:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/CalcMoisture -params orig_param_file_name -print_params > new_param_file_name

Important parameters

Process triggering parameters

• trigger_mode: set whether the program operates on the most recent data (LATEST_DATA) or on archived data (TIME_LIST)
• time_list_trigger: if operating on TIME_LIST mode, specify the start and end time of the data being processed

Process I/O parameters

• n_field: specify the path to the refractivity (N) data and how to identify the N field in files
• output_url: location where files will be saved

Algorithm parameters

• station_url: location of the SPDB files
• station_list: list of stations to calculate the mean temperature and pressure

Running CalcMoisture

To check all command line options for CalcMoisture, including debugging options and file paths, type the following command into a terminal.

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/CalcMoisture -h

Once your parameter file is complete, use a command similar to the following to run the application:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/CalcMoisture -params param_file_name

The user can also specify the location of cfradial files in the following manner:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/CalcMoisture -f /path/to/cfradial/files/ -params param_file_name