Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:19:10 +0200
Updated readme.rst and various documentation.
Overview ======== This package provides utilities to handle raw (atmospheric) lidar input data. The main format supported are Licel binary files (including the Raymetrics modified format). The package provides a single command line tool, called licel2scc that can convert Licel binary files to the EARLINET's Single Calculus Chain NetCDF format. Using it as a Licel to SCC converter ==================================== Parameter file -------------- Before converting Licel binary to SCC format, you need to create a file linking Licel channels to SCC channels. As an example, you can start by changing the file “cf_netcdf_parameters.py” that describe such parameters for the Clermont Ferrand lidar. Command line interface ---------------------- The usage of the ``licel2scc`` program is described bellow:: usage: licel2scc [-h] [-i] [-m MEASUREMENT_ID] [-n MEASUREMENT_NUMBER] [-t TEMPERATURE] [-p PRESSURE] [-d] [-s] parameter_file [directory] [search_string] A program to convert LICEL binary files to the SCC NetCDF format. positional arguments: parameter_file The path to a parameter file linking licel and SCC channels. directory Directory containing licel files (default '.') search_string Search string for files in directory (default '*.*') optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -i, --id_as_name Use transient digitizer ids as channel names, instead of descriptive names -m MEASUREMENT_ID, --measurement_id MEASUREMENT_ID The new measurement id -n MEASUREMENT_NUMBER, --measurement_number MEASUREMENT_NUMBER The measurement number for the date from 00 to 99. Used if no id is provided -t TEMPERATURE, --temperature TEMPERATURE The temperature (in C) at lidar level, required if using US Standard atmosphere -p PRESSURE, --pressure PRESSURE The pressure (in hPa) at lidar level, required if using US Standard atmosphere -d, --debug Print dubuging information. -s, --silent Show only warning and error messages. Usage in python code -------------------- System class ~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read data from a system, you need create a class that describes you system. This is very simple if your lidar data are in the Licel format, as you only need to specify the external file with the extra SCC parameters. You can use as an example the file “cf_netcdf_parameters.py”: .. code-block:: python :caption: cf_lidar.py from licel import LicelLidarMeasurement import cf_netcdf_parameters class CfLidarMeasurement(LicelLidarMeasurement): extra_netcdf_parameters = cf_netcdf_parameters This code assumes that the "cf_netcdf_parameters" is in your python path. Using the class ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once you have made the above setup you can start using it. The best way to understand how it works is through an interactive shell (I suggest [ipython](http://ipython.org/)). In the following example I use the cf_raymetrics setup: .. code-block:: python import glob # This is needed to read a list of filenames import cf_lidar # Go to the folder where you files are stored cd /path/to/lidar/files # Read the filenames files = glob.glob("*") # The * reads all the files in the folder. # Read the files my_measurement = cf_lidar.CfLidarMeasurement(files) # Now the data have been read, and you have a measurement object to work with: # See what channels are present print(my_measurement.channels) # Quicklooks of all the channels my_measurements.plot() Converting to SCC format ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are some extra info you need to put in before converting to SCC format, "Measurement_ID", "Temperature", "Pressure": .. code-block:: python my_measurement.info["Measurement_ID"] = "20101229op00" my_measurement.info["Temperature"] = "14" my_measurement.info["Pressure"] = "1010" You can use standard values of temperature and pressure by just calling: .. code-block:: python my_measurement.get_PT() You can specify the standard values by overriding your system's ``get_PT`` method: .. code-block:: python :caption: cf_lidar.py from licel import LicelLidarMeasurement import cf_netcdf_parameters class CfLidarMeasurement(LicelLidarMeasurement): extra_netcdf_parameters = cf_netcdf_parameters def get_PT(): self.info['Temperature'] = 25.0 self.info['Pressure'] = 1020.0 If you have an external source of temperature and pressure information (a meteorological station) you can automate this by reading the appropriate code in the ``get_PT`` method . After you have used this extra input, you save the file using this command: .. code-block:: python my_measurement.save_as_netcdf("filename") where you change the output filename to the filename you want to use.