NAME

camvdfcreate - Generate a VDF metadata file for a CAM data set

SYNOPSIS

camvdfcreate [options] cam_ncdf_files... vdffile

DESCRIPTION

camvdfcreate generates a .vdf metafile that defines a VAPOR Data Collection (VDC) suitable for containing atmospheric simulation simulat from a CAM model output. All of the CAM output NetCDF file names must be provided on the command line, followed the desired VAPOR (.vdf) file name.

VDC data sets require a vertical coordinate, named ELEVATION, that is measured in units of length, typically meters. If the Z3 variable is present in a CAM data set it will be used as the ELEVATION coordinate. If Z3 is not present the ELEVATION coordinate will be approximated using the variables below:

T - Virtual Temperature
P0 - Pressure Constant
HYAM - Hybrid A midpoint coefficients
HYBM - Hybrid B midpoint coefficients
HYAI - Hybrid A interface coefficients
HYBI - Hybrid B interface coefficients
PS - Surface Pressure
PHIS - Surface Geopotential Height

OPTIONS

-vars <varnames>: A colon-delimited list of names of 2D and 3D (spatial) data variables to include in the .vdf file. In general, the list of variables should be a subset of the data variables found in the MOM/POP input files. If this option is not present the default behavior is to generate the list of variables from all of the 2D and 3D (spatial) variables found in any of the MOM/POP netCDF input files.
-level <level>: See vdfcreate.
-comment <string>: See vdfcreate.
-bs <NXxNYxNZ>: See vdfcreate.
-wname <wave_name>: This option is for VDC2 only, see vdfcreate.
-cratios <vector>: This option is for VDC2 only, see vdfcreate.
-help: Print a usage statement and then exit.

EXAMPLES

The command

    camvdfcreate -vars u:v:temp cam1.nc cam2.nc cam3.nc mydata.vdf

will construct a VDF file, mydata.vdf that will contain the u, v, and temp variable names for all time steps found in the CAM netCDF files cam1.nc, cam2.nc, and cam3.nc.

HISTORY