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One of the two user-created input files required by tide_lz is referred to as the input file. It is a text file that tells tide_lz the start and stop times of the data to be processed, the name of the parameter file that describes the processing to be done, output display type(s), color table to use, path for output files, a unique output file ID character sequence, and a list of all the data files needed for the processing.
These files are automatically created for the user when using the web front-end for Custom Plots and Data Dumps.
There are a couple sample files listed below and there are several examples on the TIDE archives in /archive/tide_docs/ProcFiles/InputFiles.
The first line of the file is the start date and time. The second line is the stop date and time. Both lines have the same format either mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss or mm-dd-yy hh:mm:ss. The third line is the name of the parameter file that describes the processing to be done. If the parameter file is not in the same directory as the tide_lz software, the file name needs to include the path. See Parameter File Creation for details about the parameter file.
Line 4 is the type of graphic output, window display (w), postscript file (p), gif image (g). Even if the processing option does not create any graphics, there should be at least a w on this line. The line can be blank.
Line 5 is the number of the color table to use for spectrogram and velocity distribution plots. Again, there must be something on the line. The recommendation is to always use 1. The web interface only allows the use of color table 1. The color table options are:
- 1 - blue-cyan-green-yellow-red (bcgyr.tbl)
- 2 - black-red-orange-yellow-white (broyw.tbl)
- 3 - blue-purple-red-orange-yellow (bbgopw.tbl)
- 4 - black-white grayscale (black_white.tbl)
- 5 - white-black grayscale (white-black.tbl)
Line 6 is the name of the directory location for the text and graphic output files. If they are to be created in the directory that @run_tide is run from, the line can be blank.
TIDE has very specific output file naming convections. See File Extensions for details. Occasionally, it is necessary to run the same time period with slightly different processing options. In order to create uniquely named files, you can add an extension to the filename. Line 7 is the extension. Filenames are already long, so keep the extension short. If no extension is required, leave line 7 blank.
The remaining lines are the filetype and filename of all in time-dependent input files. Each file is listed on a separate line. The first character is the one-digit filetype then a space followed by the full path and name of the file to be processed. The filetypes are:
- 1 - TIDE level-zero file
- 2 - Polar Orbit CDF file
- 3 - Polar Attitude CDF file
- 4 - mask background removal file
- 5 - spacecraft potential file (created from EFI key parameter CDF files)
- 6 - peak file used to set range for moments calculations
- 7 - MFE magnetic field file
- 8 - not used
- 9 - a number used to over-ride the mask correction number in the parameter file
For routine processing, Find Files on the TIDE websites can be used to get the name and location of the level-zero, orbit, attitude, spacecraft potential, and mask files for a specific date. If the processing crosses a day, then the files for each day are listed on separate lines for level-zero, orbit, and attitude. If the processing crosses a month, then two spacecraft potential files are needed.
Input file example for ion data: In this example, the moments plot will come to the screen (w) and postscript (p) and gif (g) files will be created. The parameter file is in a subdirectory called parm and the output files will be created in the moments subdirectory. 5mass will be included in each output filename.
- 04/19/96 11:25:00
- 04/19/96 11:50:00
- parm/moments_1spn_5mass.parm
- wpg
- 1
- moments
- 5mass
- 1 /archive/po_tid_lz_9604/data/po/tid/lz/96041901.dat
- 2 /archive/po_tid_lz_9604/data/po/def/or/96041902.cdf
- 3 /archive/po_tid_lz_9604/data/po/def/at/96041901.cdf
- 4 /archive/data/mask/t960419_v2.mask
- 5 /archive/data/scpot/199604xx.dat
Input file example for Total Ion (Stops) data: This example uses a blank line for the output file directory so the output will be placed in the directory @run_tide is run from. There is a blank line for the file extension so the output files will have the standard TIDE filenames. The parameter file is also in the @run_tide directory. The code uses a peak range file created on the web and it uses a MFE magnetic field file. It also will multiply the mask by 0.72 to avoid over subtraction and to override what is in the parameter file.
- 07/27/04 09:15:00
- 07/27/04 10:00:00
- moments_peaks_1spn.parm
- wpg
- 1
- 1 /archive/po_tid_lz_0407/data/po/tid/lz/04072701.dat
- 2 /archive/po_tid_lz_0407/data/po/pre/or/04072701.cdf
- 3 /archive/po_tid_lz_0407/data/po/pre/at/04072701.cdf
- 4 /archive/data/mask/t040726_v2.mask
- 5 /archive/data/scpot/200407xx.dat
- 6 t0407270900_1000.peaks
- 7 t0407270900_1000.mfe
- 9 0.72
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Last Updated: September 2008