r.stage3

[Nalneesh Gaur]

The Arkansas Red River Basin River Forecast Center (ABRFC) at Tulsa is
releasing r.stage3, a program to convert stage3 precipitation data to GRASS
raster map. You can obtain the program via anonymous ftp from the following 
site:

	gopherpc.abrfc.noaa.gov
	/pub/grass/r.stage3.tar.Z

Following is the README file of the program.

----------------------8<-------------------------------------------------------
INFORMATION ON ABRFC PRODUCTS
-----------------------------

The Arkansas-Red river Basin Forecast Center (ABRFC) covers the entire state of
Oklahoma as well as parts of Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas
and Missouri. The ABRFC provides NetCDF files as well as GIF files of hourly 
precipitation on its gopher server: 

	gopherpc.abrfc.noaa.gov (192.133.17.165)

The NetCDF files are contained in the /pub/StageIII/NETCDF_files. The GIF files 
are contained in the /pub/StageIII/GIF_files.  Files in this directory are 
produced every hour (6am to 10 pm -- During non-flood season and 24hours during
flood) and are held for three consecutive days after its generation. The NetCDF
files are named after the ending ZULU hour of the data contained within. All 
NetCDF files have a ".nc" suffix to it and all GIF files have a ".GIF" suffix 
to it. These products are made available to public free of cost. Future
products will include a 24hr NetCDF file ending at 12Z each day.

SOFTWARE MODULE TO CONVERT NetCDF FILES TO GRASS RASTER MAPS
------------------------------------------------------------

r.stage3 is an initial attempt to convert NetCDF files containing rainfall 
precipitation data into GRASS raster maps.  The NetCDF files containing the 
precipitation values in the units of 1/100 of mm can be obtained from ABRFC's
gopher server. r.stage3 program generates the GRASS raster map layers only
in the Lat/Lon coordinate system. UTM is not utilized because the Area being
refrenced is too large for a UTM zone. The region settings for the ABRFC's
coverage area is:
	______________________________________________________________
	projection: 3 (Latitude-Longitude)
	zone:       0
	north:      41:16:06N
	south:      32:48:28N
	east:       90:53:28W
	west:       107:08:03W
	______________________________________________________________

The r.stage3 module can be obtained from the ABRFC's gopher server. r.stage3 
can be run only within GRASS. 

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose without fee is hereby granted. ABRFC or the
National Weather Service (NWS) makes no representations about the suitability
of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or
implied warranty. It is provided with no support and without obligation on the
part of ABRFC or the NWS, to assist in its use, correction, modification, or
enhancement. However, if this software is used, it is requested that proper
acknowledgement be given to the ABRFC or the NWS.

COMPILING r.stage3 MODULE
-------------------------

You will need the NetCDF libraries created by the Unidata Program Center. The
NetCDF libraries can be obtained via anonymous ftp from unidata.ucar.edu under
pub/netcdf/netcdf.tar.Z. You will the need to compile the libraries. r.stage3
can be only run within GRASS. GRASS is a public domain GIS which can be obtained
from U. S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. The anonymous
ftp addresss for obtaining GRASS is moon.cecer.army.mil. r.stage3 needs both the
NetCDF libraries as well as the GRASS libraries. If you have all the libraries
then r.stage3 can be compiled simply by running "gmake" (For GRASS 4.1 it is
gmake4.1) in this directory.

RUNNING r.stage3 MODULE
-----------------------

r.stage3 has the following commandline syntax:

	_______________________________________________________________
	Usage:
	 	r.stage3 [-v] input=name [output=name]

	Flags:
	  	-v   Verbose

	Parameters:
		input   Name of the netcdf file to be converted
		output   Name of the resultant raster map
	_______________________________________________________________

In the above, if output parameter is not specified then a mapname with
the same name as that of the input parameter is created. The rainbow 
colortable is created for the resultant map.

Few sample NetCDF files and the corresponding GIF files are provided
in the sample directory. The vector directory contains the vector boundary
output from the command v.out.ascii of the ABRFC basin.

To run r.stage3 on the sample files just go into the sample directory and type:

	_________________________________________________________________
	r.stage3 -v in=04059418.nc
	_________________________________________________________________

	This will create a raster map by the name 04059418.nc. Similarly r.stage3
	can be run on other sample files. You can use the corresponding GIF files
	to compare them. Since the GIF files is in a different projection system,
	There is some distortion in between the raster maps and the GIF file.
	However the values in the raster are properly georefrenced.

QUESTIONS:
---------
All questions concerning the stageIII data only should be sent to 
Norman L. Bingham at the ABRFC for the ABRFC area of responsibility at:

	_____________________________________________________________
	Norman L. Bingham
	Phone: (918) 581-7632
	E-mail: nlb at apwk01g3.abrfc.noaa.gov or nlb at 192.133.17.71
	_____________________________________________________________

All questions concerning stageIII precipitation algorithms should be sent to 
William E. Lawrence at the ABRFC for the ABRFC area of responsibility at:
	______________________________________________________________
	William E. Lawrence
	Phone: (918) 581-7633
	E-mail: wel at apwk01g3.abrfc.noaa.gov or wel at 192.133.17.71
	______________________________________________________________

All questions concerning the r.stage3 module under GRASS should be directed to
Nalneesh Gaur at:

	______________________________________________________________
	Nalneesh Gaur
	Phone: (918) 581-7634
	E-mail: ngaur at apwk01g3.abrfc.noaa.gov or ngaur at 192.133.17.71
	______________________________________________________________
-----------------------8<------------------------------------------------------

Nalneesh Gaur, ABRFC, TULSA