Plotting GOES-9 Sounding Retrievals on RAMSDIS

Kevin J. Schrab, NWS/WRH/SSD


Steps 2-5 are done once, while steps 6 and 7 are done each
time you wish to plot retrieval data.  Steps for plotting 
GOES-9 retrieval data:

1)  Contact Kevin Schrab to get executables so plotting
    will function.

2)  Set up ingest of GOES-9 retrieval file.  Enter the 
    following on the McIDAS command line:   

  SKE 96300 16:5?:00 999999 01:00 TOL=00:05 "GETRETS

  where ? in 16:5?:00 is a number 0-5, this is so not everyone      
  ingests the data at the same time.  

  NOTE:  GOES-9 retrievals are ingested hourly.  For example, the  
  15Z retrieval is ingested at 15:5?.

3)  Set up conversion of retrieval file into a file that a skewt   
    can be plotted from by entering:

  SKE 96300 16:58:00 999999 01:00 TOL=00:05 "RETSRAOB
  
4)  On McIDAS command line enter:

	SCHE DCIRAB
	
	this will allow the creation of the SKEWT type files by
	the RETSRAOB program

5)  Enter SKL on the McIDAS command line to see that these entries     
    have been added to the schedule.  They should look something like:

T# ID XS NEXT EXECUTN # REM INTERVAL  TOL  NAME PROJ COMMAND TEXT 
-- -- -- ------------ ----- -------- ----- ---- ---- ------------
1  29    96300 165100  MANY    10000   500  MTR 5000 GETRETS
1  30    96300 165800  MANY    10000   500  MTR 5000 RETSRAOB

  the ID may be different, the main thing to check is #REM and       
  INTERVAL and the COMMAND TEXT.

6a)  To plot a GOES-9 derived parameter on a single satellite image enter:

  SOUNDONE param time

  where, param is parameter to plot, param can be (click to get 
  sample plot):
     LI   lifted index
     WV   total precipitable water
     WV1  low level (1000-900mb) precipitable water 
     WV2  mid level (900-700mb) precipitable water
     WV3  high level (700-300mb) precipitable water
     IDN  identification number of sounding (used in skewts)
     ALL  plot LI,WV,WV1,WV2,WV3 in a station plot
          
   and, time is hour (hh format) of sounding to plot (defaults to match   
        time of image, so can usually be omitted)


6b)  To plot a GOES-9 derived parameter on all images in a loop enter:

  SOUNDALL param time

  where, param is parameter to plot, param can be (click to get 
  sample plot):
     LI   lifted index
     WV   total precipitable water
     WV1  low level (1000-900mb) precipitable water 
     WV2  mid level (900-700mb) precipitable water
     WV3  high level (700-300mb) precipitable water
     IDN  identification number of sounding (used in skewts)
     ALL  plot LI,WV,WV1,WV2,WV3 in a station plot
          
   and, time is hour (hh format) of sounding to plot (defaults to match   
        time of image, so can usually be omitted)

  CAUTION:  Since soundings come from 2 different sounder scan  
	    sectors the idn may not be unique.  This problem is 
	    being worked on.

7a)  To plot a skewt of GOES-9 sounding over the Pacific (west of 125W) enter:

  SKEWTG9 idn time (click to get sample plot)

  where, idn is identification number of sounding (use SOUNDONE   
       to locate the idn you wish to plot)

       time is hour (hh format) of sounding to plot 

7b)  To plot a skewt of GOES-9 sounding over WR (east of 125W) enter:

  SKEWTG99 idn time (click to get sample plot)

  where, idn is identification number of sounding (use SOUNDONE   
       to locate the idn you wish to plot)

       time is hour (hh format) of sounding to plot 

  NOTE:  Use a blank frame to plot skewt.  So, before doing       
       SKEWTG9 enter:  SF 250;EG 250;EU REST BLACK 250

  NOTE:  You may wish to make a loop of skewts by entering        
       numerous SKEWTG9 commands.  You could use frames 1-16 
       for this purpose.

  NOTE:  The idn for a particular location changes for every time 
       since they are numbered by of many sounding are produced 
       (which is dependent on cloud cover).
       
       
       
8)  If SOUNDONE does not plot anything click here.
    If SKEWTG9 does not plot anything click here.