Updated May 2004

- Fix to interpolation to height levels
- Attribute change from CEN_LON to STAND_LON for Version 2 WRF data
  Version 1 data will revert back to using CEN_LON


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Updated 10 April 2002, wrfhelp

This version of converter is for WRF mass-coordinate model data.

10 November 2000, WCS

wrf_to_v5d is a tool to convert wrf netcdf output to compressed Vis5d
files.  The program is written in fortran90.  

To build the code, first edit the makefile to specify the
approriate paths for the netcdf and vis5d libraries.
Then, type "make" or "make wrf_to_v5d" to build the converter.

Compiler options are only provided for Alpha, Linux, Sun and SGI.
If you are compiling this program on another computer, you need
to modify the compiler options in Makefile.

To run the code, first edit the ascii input file "wrf_v5d_input",
specifying the times, the variables, and the wrf output files to use in
constructing the desired in the Vis5d file.

There is quite a bit of flexibility built into the converter that
is accessed through the input file.

  In the input file, the times can be specified as the time strings
  contained in the netcdf file (that can be viewed using the netcdf
  utility "ncdump"), or all the times in the output files can be
  automatically included in the netcdf file.

  Variables are specified using the variable names in the netcdf files.
  again, the names in the netcdf files can be viewed using the netcdf
  utility "ncdump".  A long list of names are included in the sample
  input file.  To not have a variable be output to the vis5d file, just
  indent the name with a single space - the converter will then ignore
  that name.  Also note that the first five variables are not output
  variables from the model, they are derived variables.  The converter
  knows what data is needed to diagnose these variables and output them
  to the vis5d file.

  In this updated version, some 2D fields are added in the converter.
  Background map is also added.

  Next, there is a list of files for the converter to examine to find
  the output times for which it is looking.  If you want all the times
  in all the files, make sure that the file list is ordered from earliest
  to latest times.  The converter will compare time strings to avoid
  writing duplicate times into the Vis5d file.

  The strings "end_of_file_list" and "end_of_variable_id list" exist so that
  the converter knows that it has reached the end of that set of
  information in the input file.  do not remove these strings.

  The last piece of information is specification of vertical coordinate
  for the output grid.  Specifying 0 means output the model grid
  unchanged (i.e., sigma surfaces are flat in vis5d).  Specifying -1
  causes the variables to be interpolated to a grid defined by the
  heights in the column at the lowest terrain point in the domain.  The
  vertical grid can also be specified, but we haven't tested this option
  yet.

To run the converter -> wrf_to_v5d wrf_v5d_input vis5d_output_file

use vis5d to view the resulting output file.


Notes:

the include file "v5df.h" comes from the vis5d package.  The reason it
is included here is that the file that comes with vis5d is not
free-format but rather is fixed format.  So if you need to update this
file with a later version (this file comes from Vis5d-5.2), you should
copy the new v5df.h and reformat it for free form (which only requires 
replacing "C" in column 1 with "!"

Updates:

28 November 2000:  compiles on linux with PG compilers.
                   compiles on COMPAQ with DIGITAL Fortran 90 V5.2-705 compiler.

10 April 2002:     options added for Sun and SGI