ConvStrat

ConvStrat identifies convective and stratiform regions within a Cartesian radar volume.

Overview

ConvStrat identifies convective and stratiform regions within radar files in MDV format.

Prerequesites

The following items are required:

• Radar data (MDV format)

Parameter file

ConvStrat uses one parameter file that includes the basic parameters related to input/output locations and thresholds to tune the algorithm.

Ensure file is up to date

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

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

Important parameters

Process control

• mode: determines if the program waits for new files (REALTIME), moves through start and end times specified on the command line (ARCHIVE), or moves through list of files specified on the command line (FILELIST)

Data input

• input_url: directory containing radar data in MDV format (if not specified on the command line)
• dbz_field_name: name of dBZ field in input MDV fields

Specifying vertical levels

• vert_levels_type: specify whether vertical levels are given my temperature (VERT_LEVELS_BY_TEMP) or height (VERT_LEVELS_BY_HT)
• temp_profile_url: path to temperature profile data in MDV or NetCDF format
• temp_profile_field_name: name of temperature field
• shallow_threshold_ht: maximum height (km) of shallow clouds
• shallow_threshold_temp: minimum temperature (C) of shallow clouds
• deep_threshold_ht: minimum height (km) of deep clouds
• deep_threshold_temp: maximum temperature (C) of deep clouds

Data output

• output_url: output files will be written to this directory

Running ConvStrat

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

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

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

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

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

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