Technical Report No. ? - DKRZ

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
DKRZ GRIB/EXTRA Format Module Documentation
The Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie (MPI) has a number of meteorological and oceanic data,
including both observed data and model simulations. A programming package has been set up that will
enable a user to do data extractions and analyses with little effort. This manual describes the two standard
data formats used, lists the programs available and gives instructions to use them. A comprehensive
list of observed data available at Hamburg and their structure should refer to:
DKRZ Technical Report No.1, Inventory of Available Observed Data Sets, by Ingo Jessel.
1.2 PURPOSE OF THIS MANUAL
This manual will enable scientists to extract the data they require from the sets, and to perform their analyses
quickly and easily. It describes a number of programs for doing simple arithmetic, statistic, selection
or display of data from the data sets.
Some of the programs have been provided by the Canadian Climate Centre (CCC) and have been modified
in Hamburg to cater for the specific Hamburg data structure.
1.3 CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL
This manual comprises three sections:
• Outline of the system.
• The GRIB-Format: Description of the format, outline of some of the data sets available, and full
details of the programs that work with GRIB-Format data sets.
• The EXTRA-Format: Description of the format, outline of some of the data sets available, and full
details of the programs that work with EXTRA-Format data sets.
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