pp2cf

pp2cf − a PP to CF-netCDF file converter

Version

0.9.6

Description

Convert PP files to a single netCDF file or convert PP files to multiple netCDF files on a file by file basis. All output files are CF compliant.

PP fields contributing to the same output netCDF file are aggregated into as few multidimensional netCDF variables as possible using the CF aggregation rules based on the CF data model.

The conversion is carried out internally using the python cf package, which must be installed.

Man page

pp2cf man page (plain text, html or pdf)

Examples

>> man pp2cf

>> pp2cf file.pp
>> pp2cf −o output.nc file.pp
>> pp2cf −d directory file.pp

>> pp2cf *.pp
>> pp2cf −o output.nc *.pp
>> pp2cf −d directory *.pp

>> pp2cf −u 7.6 file1.pp file2.pp
>> export UMVERSION=7.6
>> pp2cf file1.pp file2.pp
 
>> pp2cf −f NETCDF4 −t user_table.txt −v file.pp
 
>> pp2cf −a messages=1 -r "squeeze=-1, ignore_ioerror=1" directory/file*.pp
 
>> pp2cf −V

Installation

pp2cf is bundled with, and depends on, the python cf package version 0.9.6. During installation, the pp2cf script is automatically placed in a location in the environment's PATH, but its man page (scripts/man1/pp2cf.1) needs to be manully copied to a location in the environment's MANPATH.

Issues

Converting large files which contain lots of CF fields to netCDF-3 classic format can take a long time. NetCDF-4 formats to not have this problem.
It is not yet possible to convert packed PP fields (such as WGDOS packed fields), but this is being looked into.

Contact:
E-mail: d.c.hassell@reading.ac.uk

David Hassell
National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS)
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading,
Earley Gate, PO Box 243,
Reading RG6 6BB,
U.K.