298 lines
11 KiB
HTML
298 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
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content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<meta name="GENERATOR"
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content="Mozilla/4.78 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.9-31smp i686) [Netscape]">
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<title>Daily Forecast Critique User's Manual</title>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#ffffff">
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<h1 class="1Heading">
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Daily Forecast Critique User's Guide</h1>
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<div class="1Heading">July 23, 2003<br>
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<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Overview">Overview</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Starting_DFC">Starting DFC</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#The_DFC_Interface">The DFC Interface</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Data_Sources"> Data Sources</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Weather_Element">Weather Element</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Stations">Stations</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Plot_Button">Plot Button</a></h3>
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<h3>
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<a href="#Combine_Button">Combine Button</a></h3>
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<b><font color="#3333ff"><font size="+1"><a href="#StatusMessage">Status
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Message</a></font></font></b>
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<br>
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</p>
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</div>
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<h2 class="1Heading">
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<a name="Overview"></a>Overview</h2>
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<div class="1Heading">The Daily Forecast Critique (DFC) is a suite of
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programs
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that allows forecasters to compare forecasts (Official or model
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forecasts)
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to observations. With this first release, DFC only compare
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point observations with point forecasts extracted from the
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various
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forecast grids. Future versions will allow forecasters to compare
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gridded forecasts with gridded analyses, calculate statistics for use
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in
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a Smart Tool (to correct for any bias, for example), and provide a
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flexible
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framework within which forecasters can write tools to calculate their
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own
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statistics and summaries.</div>
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<div class="1Heading"> </div>
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<div class="1Heading">DFC comprises three different programs: a
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programs
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that archives point observations, a second that archives the extracts
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point
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forecasts from the various forecast grids, and a third that provides a
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user interface that lets forecasters compare the observations to a
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variety
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of forecasts. The diagram below illustrates the relationship
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between
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these programs and the data that they generate or display.</div>
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<div class="1Heading"><img src="images/DFC.gif"
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alt="overview of DFC processes" height="226" width="524">
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<br>
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</div>
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<div class="1Heading">The archiveObs process is launched automatically
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from the ifpServer. It reads local observations from the AWIPS
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surface
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observations database and stores them in the observations
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archive.
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The archivePointFcst process is also launched from the
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ifpServer.
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It reads grids from the ifpServer, extracts the values at locations for
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which we have observations and stores the point forecast in the
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archive.
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Since the archive processes archive local data only, you can configure
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DFC to store data as far back in time as you like, provided you have
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the
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enough disk space. If DFC relied purely on the existing AWIPS
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real-time
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databases, you would be allow to view data that is only 1-2 days
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old.
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These archive processes and database allow you to extend that to
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several
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weeks. For more information on how to configure DFC, refer to the
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<a href="dfcConfig.html">DFC Configuration Guide</a>.
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<br>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<p>The ifpDFC main program allows you to plot observations and
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forecasts
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extracted at a point on the same display. This allows you to
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assess
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the quality of not only your forecast, but forecasts objectively
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derived
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from models via ifpInit. This section show you how to start the
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DFC
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display program.
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</p>
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<h2><a name="Starting_DFC"></a>Starting DFC</h2>
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You can start ifpDFC two different ways. The first way is to open
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a terminal window and "cd' to the bin directory.
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<p><font color="#3366ff">cd /awips/GFESuite/primary/bin</font>
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</p>
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<p>Your directory may be in a different location, depending on how your
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office set up the directory structure at installation time. From this
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directory
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type:
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</p>
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<p><font color="#3366ff">ifpDFC</font>
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</p>
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<p>The other way to start the main DFC display is to select from the
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main
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menu bar in the GFE <b>Verify->Daily Forecast Critique</b>. This
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menu item
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is located just to the right if the Edit Areas menu item as in the
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figure
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below.
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</p>
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<p><img src="images/DFCMenuSelector.gif"
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alt="Picture of GFE main menu bar" height="78" width="338"><br>
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</p>
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<p><br>
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The complete command line is shown below:<br>
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</p>
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<p>ifpDFC -h serverhost -p serverport<br>
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</p>
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<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="1"
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style="text-align: left; width: 100%;">
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<tbody>
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<tr>
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<td style="vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold;">Command Line
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Switch<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold;">Mandatory/Optional<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold;">Description<br>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">-h serverhost<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">Mandatory (see Note)<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">Specifies the host running the
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ifpServer.<br>
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">-p serverport<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">Mandatory (see Note)<br>
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</td>
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<td style="vertical-align: top;">Specifies the port for the
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ifpServer.</td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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<font color="#3366ff">Note: The -h and -p switches are predefined to
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match your GFESuite installation, such that they will point to the
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ifpServer
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specified on installation. Thus the -h and -p switches are not
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necessary
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for normal running of this program. However, if you wish to
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connect
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to a different server, then you will need to specify the -h and -p
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switches. </font><font color="#3366ff"> If environment
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variables ${CDSHOST} or
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${CDSPORT} are defined, then the default server and port will be
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determined from the environment variables, unless overridden with the
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user specified -h and -p switches.</font>
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<p></p>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="The_DFC_Interface"></a>The DFC Interface</h2>
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Once you successfully start ifpDFC, the DFC display will appear.
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It should look something like this.
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<p><img src="images/DFCInterface.gif"
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alt="Snaphopt image of DFC interface" height="321" width="606"><br>
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</p>
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<p>Note that the interface is divided into four sections: Weather
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Element,
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Stations, Data Sources, and ValidTime. Using the DFC interface,
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you
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may select these options to produce a plot of just the data you
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want.
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A description of each of these sections follows.
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<br>
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</p>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Weather_Element"></a>Weather Element</h2>
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Selecting one of the Weather Element buttons will eventually cause a
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time
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series weather element to be displayed. At this early stage in
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the
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DFC development there are only four weather elements supported:
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temperature,
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dew point, wind speed and wind direction. Future versions will
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hopefully
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support more weather elements.
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<br>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Stations"></a>Stations</h2>
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The next section, as you go left to right, is the Stations
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listbox.
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This widget allows you to select the station at which you want a time
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series
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display. You may only select one station at a time, but you can
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combine
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any time series with any other using the "Combine" button.
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<br>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Data_Sources"></a>Data Sources</h2>
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The Data Sources section allows you to specify the source of the point
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data. The first entry is always "Observations". These
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correspond
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to surface observations such as METAR, mesonet, or RAWS sites.
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Selecting
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"Observations" will eventually generate a time series plot of observed
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values vs. time.
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<p>Selecting either the observations or any of the models (either
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numerical
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models, MOS, or the Official) will generate a time series that shows
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the
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value of the weather element extracted from a point in the specified
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IFP
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model database. Note that these values are from the IFP database
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not the D2D database. IFPInit must generate an IFP database
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before
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any model data can be displayed in DFC.
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<br>
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</p>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Model_Times"></a>Model Times</h2>
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If you select a model as your data source, the Model Times
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section
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will display a list of possible model times times to choose from.
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These times are listed in mmDD_HHMM format, where mm is the numeric
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month,
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DD is the day of the month, HH is the hour and MM is the
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minute.
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This list is sorted so that the most recent models are on top. You may
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select as many model times as you want to see displayed in the DFC
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viewer.
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Once you select the Plot or Combine button, you will see as many model
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time series plots as you have selected in this column.
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<br>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Plot_Button"></a>Plot Button</h2>
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Once you have selected the data source, weather element, station, and
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valid
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time, you are ready to make a plot. To generate a plot,
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simply
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click on the button near the bottom of the interface labelled
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"Plot".
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Once you do this you should see a window appear that contains the time
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series that you specified. Each time you click "Plot", a new
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window
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with the specified time series will appear.
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<p>To remove the window, just click on the icon in the window's title
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bar
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that is labelled with an "X". Since your window manager may vary,
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this icon may be labelled differently or this action may be available
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from
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a pop-up menu invoked elsewhere on the window.
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<br>
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</p>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="Combine_Button"></a>Combine Button</h2>
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The "Combine" button works just like the "Plot" button except that the
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new plot will appear in a new window overlaid with the data you plotted
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previously. This allows you to overlay a model time series on top
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of a plot of observations, or compare two models for the same station.
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<p>Note that if you change the Weather Element and then select
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"Combine"
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a new window will be automatically created, since plotting weather
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elements
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with different units would require more than one vertical data scale.
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<br>
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</p>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left">
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<h2><a name="StatusMessage"></a>Status Message</h2>
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At the very bottom if ther interface is the area where status messages
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are displayed. Occasionally, you may forget to select a model
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time
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or data migh not be available. When events like these occur, a
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message
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is displayed to give you a hint about what to do next.
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<br>
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<hr width="100%" size="2" align="left"></div>
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<br>
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<br>
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</body>
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</html>
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