Difference between revisions of "How to read GRIB files!"
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'''Tools to inspect the content of and compare GRIB messages''' | '''Tools to inspect the content of and compare GRIB messages''' | ||
− | '''grib_ls''' | + | '''grib_ls''' summary of the content of a GRIB file. (Do not use in scripts - only interactive mode!) |
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Useful options | Useful options | ||
-O to show the content in WMO style (easier to read) | -O to show the content in WMO style (easier to read) |
Revision as of 14:38, 13 March 2013
Back to ECMWF overview[1]
Updated by nik: 13 March 2013
GRIB
GRIdded Binary is a compressed format for meterological data used since 1985.
Requires software for encoding and decoding.
GRIB1
Currently used for ECMWF operational surface and pressure level data.
GRIB1 data is stored in 5 sections where section 4 includes the compressed data and the other sections are data specifications.
One GRIB1 file may include many messages (blocks of sections).
GRIB2
was introduced for ECMWF operational model level data on 18 May 2011.
Migration from GRIB1 to GRIB2 was necessary because GRIB1 data could only hold 126 model levels.
Number of model levels in the high resolution forecast will be increased from 91 to 137 in June 2013.
Pressure levels will still have GRIB1 but eventually this will also be changed.
"Old" model data will still have GRIB1 format in the archive.
GRIB2 also allows more flexibility and is more complex than GRIB1.
For example higher precision of variables.
GRIB1: Lon/lat is in milli-degree GRIB2: Lon/lat is in micro-degree
GRIB2 data are stored in 8 sections where section 7 includes the compressed data and the other sections are data specifications.
Thus, the structure of GRIB1 and GRIB2 messages is different, the order of the sections are different and there are additional sections for GRIB2.
GRIB-decoding
To decode GRIB data there are software available from ECMWF.
This software is the GRIB_API (Application Programming Interface) library.
This software hides the binary layer of the message and uses a key/value approach to access the information in a GRIB message.
GRIB1 and GRIB2 uses the same function call.
Many keys to identify a parameter are edition independent, use these where possible!
GRIB_API can be used either through
Command line tools Fortran90/C/Python interfaces
COMMAND-LINE GRIB TOOLS
General syntax for use of the grib tools
grib_<tool> [options] grib_file1 grib_file2... [output file]
Manuals for each tool are available by running the tool without any options or input file.
Tools to inspect the content of and compare GRIB messages
grib_ls summary of the content of a GRIB file. (Do not use in scripts - only interactive mode!) A default list of keys in printed without using options: edition, centre, typeOfLevel, level, dataDate, stepRange, dataType, shortName, packingType, gridType Useful options -p keys to print (other than the default list) -P additional keys to print (additional to the default list) -m print MARS keys. Very useful to see the keys as they would be specified in a MARS request! E.g. domain, levtype, levelist, date, time, step, param, class, type, stream, expver -w "where", prints only the content for specified key=value Example: grib_ls
grib_dump provides a more detailed view and listing of the file. Useful options -O to show the content in WMO style (easier to read) Example:
grib_get grib_get_data
Tools for counting and copying some messages
grib_copy
grib_count
Tools for making changes to the content of a GRIB message
grib_set
grib_filter