>From: Unidata User Support <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Organization: Unidata Program Center/UCAR
>Keywords: 200205172114.g4HLEWa12891 IDD FNEXRAD
Unidata LDM Users:
New Products Available:
The Unidata IDD FNEXRAD feed (known as NMC3 in LDM release 5.1.2 and
earlier) now contains five images created from composites of
NEXRAD Level III products:
Decoded Decoded File Broadcast
Product Format size [bytes] Frequency IDD Feed
-------------------+--------+-------------+------------+--------
1 km national N0R GINI 14208533 6 - 10 min FNEXRAD
2 km national N1P GINI 3552533 6 - 10 min FNEXRAD
4 km national NTP GINI 888533 6 - 10 min FNEXRAD
6 km national N0R AREA 401280 6 - 10 min FNEXRAD
10 km national RCM AREA 166880 30 min FNEXRAD
The images sent in the IDD are in PNG-compressed formats; their
transmission sizes are considerably smaller (typically one tenth) than
the decoded sizes listed above.
All the images were created by routines distributed in the Unidata
GEMPAK 5.6F release.
Configuring the LDM to Request the Products:
For information on adding a request for FNEXRAD products feed in your
LDM's ldmd.conf file, please refer to:
How to Get NOAAPORT NEXRAD Data via the LDM
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/ldm/feedtypes/howto-nnexrad.html
Decoding the Products into GEMPAK/McIDAS usable Forms:
A new LDM-McIDAS release, Version 7.8.0, contains a new decoder for
the PNG-compressed GINI imagery (pngg2gini) and an updated decoder
for the PNG-compressed AREA imagery (pnga2area) listed above. It
also contains a file of example pqact.conf entries that demonstrate
the use of both of these decoders (you may need to adjust the example
entries to suit your needs) to produce image products usable by both
GEMPAK and Unidata McIDAS-X.
NOTE: GEMPAK 5.6F can use the imagery in both compressed and
uncompressed formats; Unidata McIDAS requires that the images be
uncompressed before they can be served by ADDE.
LDM-McIDAS binary distributions are available for a wide variety of
operating systems. A source release is available for sites needing
to build on systems for which there is no binary. Please refer to
the LDM-McIDAS home page for further information:
LDM-McIDAS
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mcidd
Example Displays of Products:
Example displays of these (and Unidata-Wisconsin satellite and NNEXRAD
Level III) images can be found on:
Unidata IDD Data Streams Containing Imagery
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/data/datastream.html
ADDE Access to the New Products:
The set of cooperating community servers that already provides access
to a variety of datasets to ADDE enabled applications (e.g., McIDAS
and MetApps) is also configured to serve these data through the
NEXRCOMP dataset:
Community Server Site
----------------------+----------------------------------------------
pscwx.plymouth.edu Plymouth State College
cacimbo.ggy.uga.edu University of Georgia
papagayo.unl.edu University of Nebraska-Lincoln
stratus.al.noaa.gov CU/CIRES
atm.geo.nsf.gov National Science Foundation
adde.ucar.edu UCAR/Unidata (motherlode)
To configure your McIDAS session to access the NEXRCOMP dataset, run
the following command from your McIDAS-X session:
DATALOC ADD NEXRCOMP <server name> <- specify 'server name' from the
list of community servers above
These images are best viewed in McIDAS-X 7.8 after updating your
distribution with modifications in the latest addendum, Unidata
McIDAS-X 7.806:
Updates/Bug Fixes (aka Addenda)
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/780/mcx/addenda.html
In particular, a new enhancement, BREF24.ET, is designed to be used
for the N0R composites, and updated enhancements for precipitation
products, PRE1.ET and PRET.ET, are included in the addendum. Also,
an updated MCGUI image display definition file, ADDEIMAGE.CORE,
has been included to support display of the composite images.
**************
* Disclaimer *
**************
The composite radar images in the IDD FNEXRAD datastream are
experimental. They are generated and maintained within a research
environment at the Unidata Program Center and are not intended to be
considered operational. Timeliness, availability, and accuracy are
sought but not guaranteed. We encourage all users to do their own
comparisons between the composites and individual NEXRAD Level III
products and make their own determination as to the representativeness
of the composite.
Please send any questions/comments to Unidata User Support.
Tom Yoksas
Steve Chiswell
**************************************************************************** <
Unidata User Support UCAR Unidata Program <
(303)497-8644 P.O. Box 3000 <
support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Boulder, CO 80307 <
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- <
Unidata WWW Service http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/ <
**************************************************************************** <
