Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

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fchouza
Posts: 3
Joined: January 22nd, 2021, 5:55 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

Post by fchouza »

I'm currently experiencing some issues with the data I obtained using the MER2ALR converter. The files converted without apparent issues, but the trajectories I obtain using those files don't agree at all (they are actually almost opposite) with the ones obtained using GFS or GDAS. For example:

MERRA-2-based trajectory

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     1     1
    MER2    19     9    23     1     0
     1 BACKWARD OMEGA   
    19     9    23    20   16.600 -100.000 26000.0
     1 PRESSURE
     1     1    19     9    23    20     0     0     0.0   16.600 -100.000  26000.0     30.4
     1     1    19     9    23    19     0     0    -1.0   15.943 -100.512  26036.2     30.1
     1     1    19     9    23    18     0     0    -2.0   15.334 -100.948  26036.9     29.7
     1     1    19     9    23    17     0     0    -3.0   14.782 -101.310  26036.5     29.4
     1     1    19     9    23    16     0     0    -4.0   14.295 -101.616  26035.1     29.2
     1     1    19     9    23    15     0     0    -5.0   13.923 -101.930  26033.4     29.3
     1     1    19     9    23    14     0     0    -6.0   13.667 -102.260  26031.6     29.3
     1     1    19     9    23    13     0     0    -7.0   13.521 -102.603  26029.6     29.4
     1     1    19     9    23    12     0     0    -8.0   13.453 -103.009  26028.5     29.8
     1     1    19     9    23    11     0     0    -9.0   13.464 -103.472  26028.4     30.0
     1     1    19     9    23    10     0     0   -10.0   13.553 -103.983  26029.6     30.2
     1     1    19     9    23     9     0     0   -11.0   13.672 -104.562  26031.7     30.3
     1     1    19     9    23     8     0     0   -12.0   13.826 -105.202  26034.7     30.3



GFS-based trajectory

Code: Select all

     1     1
    GFSQ    19     9    23     0     0
     1 BACKWARD OMEGA   
    19     9    23    20   16.600 -100.000 26000.0
     1 PRESSURE
     1     1    19     9    23    20     0     2     0.0   16.600 -100.000  26000.0     20.9
     1     1    19     9    23    19     0     1    -1.0   16.687  -99.168  25967.4     20.7
     1     1    19     9    23    18     0     0    -2.0   16.758  -98.351  25815.7     20.2
     1     1    19     9    23    17     0     1    -3.0   16.809  -97.428  25242.3     18.2
     1     1    19     9    23    16     0     2    -4.0   16.830  -96.402  25279.3     17.9
     1     1    19     9    23    15     0     3    -5.0   16.839  -95.365  25921.9     19.1
     1     1    19     9    23    14     0     2    -6.0   16.899  -94.378  26018.6     18.4
     1     1    19     9    23    13     0     1    -7.0   17.031  -93.393  26179.6     18.3
     1     1    19     9    23    12     0     0    -8.0   17.192  -92.433  26057.6     17.7
     1     1    19     9    23    11     0     1    -9.0   17.322  -91.552  26436.1     18.8
     1     1    19     9    23    10     0     2   -10.0   17.363  -90.700  26582.5     18.8
     1     1    19     9    23     9     0     3   -11.0   17.365  -89.813  26490.2     18.5
     1     1    19     9    23     8     0     2   -12.0   17.376  -88.896  26638.8     18.6

I've retrieved a met profile for a specific location from the MERRA-2 and GFS ARL datasets using the tools provided by HYSPLIT and I've noticed that the leftmost column of the two files are quite different. The profile derived from the GFS files has monotonically decreasing numbers (similar to pressure), while the one from MERRA-2 starts fine but at 675 starts to behave somewhat erratically. I'm not sure about the exact meaning of that leftmost column, but could this be a symptom of the issue I'm experiencing?

MERRA-2 ARL profile

Code: Select all

METEOROLOGICAL PROFILE LISTING ...
 Meteorological Profile: MERRA2_20190923.ARL
 File start time : 19  9 23  1 30
 File ending time: 19  9 23 22 30
 
___________________________________________________ 
 Profile Time:  19  9 23  1 30
 Used Nearest Grid Point ( 417, 214) to Lat:    16.67, Lon:  -100.00
        2D Fields 
        SHGT  PRSS  PRT3  PBLH  USTR  RGHS  DSWF  SHTF  LHTF  T02M  U10M  V10M  WDIR  WSPD 
           m   hPa  mm/h     m  cm/s     m  W/m2  W/m2  W/m2    oC   m/s   m/s   deg   m/s 
  1010     0  1010     0   809  15.3     0     0     0   128  29.0   3.1   2.6 230.9   4.1       
        3D Fields 
        PRES  TEMP  UWND  VWND  WWND  SPHU     TPOT  WDIR  WSPD               
                oC   m/s   m/s  mb/h  g/kg       oK   deg   m/s               
   985  1005  28.4   3.6   2.8  -5.4  16.9    301.2 232.0   4.6               
   970   988  26.9   3.8   2.7  -5.2  16.5    301.1 234.7   4.7               
   955   972  25.6   4.0   2.6  -4.7  16.3    301.3 236.8   4.7               
   940   955  24.3   4.1   2.5  -3.9  16.2    301.4 238.5   4.8               
   925   941  23.2   4.2   2.0  -2.7  15.8    301.5 244.2   4.7               
   910   927  21.7   4.2   1.4 -0.74  15.4    301.4 251.1   4.4               
   895   911  21.0   3.9  0.76 -0.60  14.5    302.1 259.0   4.0               
   880   897  20.6   3.5  0.27 -0.49  13.7    303.1 265.5   3.5               
   865   880  20.2   2.8  0.44     0  13.4    304.2 261.0   2.8               
   850   866  19.5   1.9  0.79  -1.2  13.1    304.9 247.8   2.1               
   835   850  18.8   1.1   1.3  -2.0  13.2    305.8 219.8   1.7               
   820   836  17.9  0.26   2.0  -2.8  13.2    306.4 187.2   2.1               
   800   818  17.0 -0.60   2.7  -3.7  12.6    307.3 167.5   2.8               
   775   796  15.8  -1.8   3.3  -3.7  11.7    308.5 150.9   3.7               
   750   770  14.2  -3.2   2.8  -3.8  10.3    309.7 132.0   4.3               
   725   744  12.6  -4.5   2.4  -3.0   9.2    310.9 118.3   5.1               
   700   718  11.0  -5.1   1.4  -3.1   8.7    312.3 105.9   5.3               
   675   694   9.2  -5.1   1.0  -3.3   8.4    313.4 101.2   5.2               
  1142   663   6.8  -5.6  0.73  -3.6   8.1    314.9  97.4   5.6               
   600   624   4.3  -6.3  1E-1  -2.1   7.4    317.5  90.6   6.3               
  1067   585   1.7  -6.8 -0.46  -2.1   6.6    320.4  86.1   6.8               
   525   548  -1.1  -7.4  -1.1  -2.1   5.9    323.2  81.7   7.4               
   992   510  -3.9  -7.3  -1.6     0   5.2    326.5  77.8   7.5               
   450   472  -7.4  -7.8  -3.0     0   4.1    329.5  69.2   8.4               
   917   434 -10.8  -7.7  -2.9   1.4   3.2    333.1  69.4   8.3               
   375   396 -15.3  -8.0  -3.1   1.4   2.1    336.2  68.8   8.6               
   842   358 -20.8  -8.6  -4.1   1.3  0.78    338.6  64.6   9.5               
   369   314 -26.2  -3.4     0   1.5  0.62    344.0  90.0   3.4               
  1133   267 -35.3 -0.43   2.2   1.4  0.23    347.0 168.7   2.2               
   359   227 -45.3  -2.1  -1.5   3.6  0.13    348.3  53.3   2.6               
  1115   193 -54.7  -3.5  -3.4   2.4  5E-2    349.8  45.9   4.9               
   544   164 -63.1  -4.9  -2.1     0  3E-2    352.5  66.4   5.3               
   975   139 -69.9 -11.5   1.2  -1.1  1E-2    357.2  96.2  11.6               
   775   118 -77.2 -12.5   3.8 -0.17  5E-3    360.9 106.7  13.1               
   462   101 -79.4 -13.7   2.4  0.48  4E-3    373.8  99.9  13.9               
   595  85.4 -78.0 -15.2   1.4  0.30  3E-3    394.3  95.1  15.2               
   675  72.6 -74.8 -13.8 -0.96  0.18  3E-3    420.1  86.0  13.8               
   448  61.5 -69.8 -12.7  1E-1  0.22  3E-3    451.4  90.3  12.7               
   697  52.0 -66.8 -12.1   1.4  4E-2  3E-3    480.7  96.6  12.2               
   217  43.9 -65.5 -11.5 -0.15 -1E-1  3E-3    507.8  89.2  11.5               
   851  37.0 -64.4 -13.9  1E-1 -1E-2  3E-3    536.0  90.3  13.9               
   400  31.1 -62.2 -18.0 -0.13     0  3E-3    569.3  89.6  18.0               
   760  26.0 -59.6 -20.8  -2.2 -1E-1  3E-3    606.3  84.0  20.9               
   819  21.8 -58.1 -21.9   1.1 -0.10  3E-3    642.6  92.9  21.9               
   478  18.1 -57.5 -24.1   5.2 -1E-1  3E-3    679.0 102.3  24.7               
   662  15.1 -55.6 -29.8   2.3 -1E-2  3E-3    722.3  94.4  29.9               
   291  12.5 -52.8 -34.4  -2.0  3E-2  3E-3    772.3  86.7  34.4               
   305  10.3 -48.8 -38.2  -5.7  1E-1  3E-3    830.6  81.4  38.6               
   633   8.5 -43.8 -40.2  -6.5  1E-1  3E-3    898.0  80.8  40.7               
   225   6.9 -39.7 -38.5  -4.3  3E-2  3E-3    968.3  83.6  38.8               
    51   5.6 -37.1 -35.3  -1.3  2E-2  3E-3   1038.2  87.9  35.4               
    81   4.6 -34.2 -32.5   2.0  4E-2  3E-3   1116.4  93.6  32.6               
   282   3.7 -31.7 -31.6   6.8  3E-2  3E-3   1199.8 102.2  32.3               
   628   2.9 -26.3 -23.8   7.9 -1E-3  4E-3   1306.9 108.3  25.1               
    88   2.4 -16.9  -6.6  11.0 -3E-2  4E-3   1446.6 148.9  12.8               
   658   1.9 -16.0   7.8   2.1 -2E-2  4E-3   1551.2 254.9   8.1               
   305   1.5  -7.9  11.4   2.1  1E-2  4E-3   1711.3 259.6  11.6               
    21   1.2  -3.1  21.8   4.6  1E-3  4E-3   1866.7 258.0  22.3               
   803  0.91  -5.5  26.4   3.0 -1E-2  4E-3   1984.2 263.5  26.6               
   623  0.71 -10.1  25.2  -2.9 -1E-2  4E-3   2095.4 276.7  25.3               
   481  0.55 -16.2  21.0  -4.3 -1E-2  4E-3   2202.7 281.5  21.4               
   369  0.42 -22.8  19.2  -3.5 -4E-3  4E-3   2313.4 280.5  19.5               
   281  0.32 -28.7  18.6  -1.6 -4E-3  4E-3   2438.5 275.0  18.7               
   213  0.24 -33.7  19.1   1.2 -3E-3  4E-3   2582.3 266.3  19.1               
   161  0.19 -37.5  22.9   5.7 -3E-3  4E-3   2751.9 256.1  23.6               
   121  0.14 -42.2  28.4  10.1 -3E-3  4E-3   2924.7 250.4  30.1               
    90  0.10 -48.9  33.8  11.6 -3E-3  4E-3   3085.2 251.0  35.8               
    67  1E-1 -56.3  36.8  12.1 -2E-3  4E-3   3248.0 251.7  38.7               
    48  1E-1 -63.6  36.2  13.6 -1E-3  4E-3   3432.6 249.4  38.7               
    33  4E-2 -70.5  31.1  16.5  1E-4  4E-3   3665.7 242.1  35.2               
    20  3E-2 -74.0  19.5  20.1  1E-3  3E-3   4063.2 224.1  28.0               
    10  1E-2 -71.2   3.2  25.4  3E-4  2E-3   4840.8 187.1  25.6  
             
GFS profile

Code: Select all

Meteorological Profile: 20190923_gfs0p25
 File start time : 19  9 23  0  0
 File ending time: 19  9 23 21  0
 
___________________________________________________ 
 Profile Time:  19  9 23  0  0
 Used Nearest Grid Point (1041, 428) to Lat:    16.67, Lon:  -100.00
        2D Fields 
        PRSS  MSLE  UMOF  VMOF  TPP6  SHTF  DSWF  SPH2  U10M  V10M  T02M  TCLD  PBLH  LHTF  USTR  RGHS  PTRO  SHGT  WDIR  WSPD 
         hPa                      mm  W/m2  W/m2         m/s   m/s    oC     %     m  W/m2  cm/s     m           m   deg   m/s 
  1009  1009  1010     0     0     0   7.7   632  2E-2   3.3  0.70  29.7  70.0   587  96.0   9.5     0   106     0 257.8   3.3       
        3D Fields 
        TEMP  UWND  VWND  WWND  RELH  PRES     TPOT  WDIR  WSPD               
          oC   m/s   m/s  mb/h     %             oK   deg   m/s               
  1009  29.2   3.4  0.62     0  66.2  1008    301.8 259.7   3.5               
  1004  28.7   3.5  0.83     0  67.7  1002    301.7 256.7   3.6               
   998  28.3   3.7  0.69  -2.1  69.5   995    301.8 259.4   3.7               
   991  27.6   3.7  0.78     0  70.8   988    301.8 258.1   3.8               
   983  26.9   3.7  0.68  -2.7  73.7   978    301.9 259.7   3.8               
   975  26.1   3.9  0.77     0  75.9   970    301.8 258.6   3.9               
   964  25.2   4.1  0.68  -1.8  78.4   959    301.9 260.6   4.1               
   953  24.4   4.3  0.41  -1.9  78.6   948    302.1 264.5   4.3               
   942  23.9   4.6     0  -4.6  72.9   933    303.0 270.0   4.6               
   928  23.4   4.8     0  -7.1  68.0   920    303.7 270.0   4.8               
   912  22.2   4.7  0.38  -9.5  71.1   904    304.0 265.4   4.8               
   894  20.8   4.1  0.88 -12.2  75.7   885    304.4 258.0   4.2               
   877  19.4   3.7   1.1 -15.2  79.0   865    304.9 252.7   3.8               
   856  17.9   3.1  0.96 -14.5  80.0   844    305.5 252.9   3.3               
   833  16.8   2.7  0.37  -9.8  78.0   820    306.8 262.0   2.7               
   809  15.7  0.95  0.55  -5.0  81.0   796    308.4 239.8   1.1               
   783  14.5  -1.1     0   2.6  77.0   770    310.0  90.0   1.1               
   755  13.5  -3.8  -1.2   6.2  62.0   741    312.3  72.7   4.0               
   725  11.5  -5.5 -0.93   9.6  66.0   709    314.0  80.4   5.6               
   694   9.0  -5.3 -0.25   5.9  73.0   677    315.5  87.3   5.3               
   661   6.3  -5.3 -0.49   5.9  74.0   643    317.1  84.8   5.3               
   627   3.8  -6.4  -1.1     0  67.8   609    319.1  79.8   6.5               
   597   1.2  -6.9  -2.1     0  67.2   574    321.6  72.6   7.2               
   557  -1.5  -6.6  -2.4     0  61.0   538    324.4  69.6   7.0               
   517  -4.6  -6.0  -2.3     0  58.0   502    327.1  68.8   6.4               
   486  -8.0  -5.9  -2.1     0  46.0   467    329.8  69.9   6.2               
   446 -11.2  -8.1 -0.79     0  22.0   431    333.2  84.5   8.2               
   413 -15.1  -8.3     0     0  14.8   397    336.2  90.0   8.3               
   379 -19.6  -7.3  0.37     0  15.4   363    338.8  92.9   7.3               
   344 -24.6  -5.9 -0.66     0  39.3   331    341.0  83.7   6.0               
   316 -29.9  -2.6  -1.7     0  45.4   301    343.1  57.0   3.2               
   287 -35.5  0.13 -0.49     0  71.5   272    344.9 344.7   0.5               
   256 -41.0   2.0  0.86     0  79.7   245    347.1 246.4   2.1               
   233 -47.3 -0.65 -0.25     0  65.2   220    348.3  68.7   0.7               
   207 -53.5  -2.0  -1.2     0  74.6   197    349.8  58.7   2.3               
   190 -59.2  -4.2 -0.24  -6.4  85.7   175    352.0  86.7   4.2               
   162 -65.6  -6.0   2.5  -5.9  90.8   156    353.1 112.6   6.5               
   142 -70.4  -9.2   4.2     0  61.4   138    357.1 114.6  10.1               
   132 -75.1 -11.9   2.9   1.1  90.3   122    361.3 103.5  12.2               
   111 -78.1 -12.9   2.1     0  98.5   108    368.9  99.0  13.1               
   101 -79.3 -14.1   3.9  0.56  79.5  94.8    380.3 105.6  14.6               
    88 -77.2 -11.5  0.89     0  50.2  83.2    399.1  94.4  11.6               
    78 -73.9 -11.1  -4.0     0  13.5  72.8    421.5  70.1  11.8               
    68 -71.4 -12.2  0.88 -0.32   3.0  63.6    443.7  94.1  12.3               
    59 -69.0 -11.8   3.6 -0.19   2.2  55.4    466.9 106.7  12.3               
    52 -66.1 -11.7  0.87     0   2.4  48.2    492.8  94.3  11.7               
    45 -65.4 -13.4 -0.27 -0.20   2.8  41.8    515.2  88.8  13.5               
    39 -65.4 -15.8 -0.33  0.40   2.4  36.1    537.2  88.8  15.8               
    34 -63.3 -18.9  -2.5  0.61   1.7  31.1    566.1  82.4  19.1               
    29 -60.3 -24.1  -3.5  1E-1   1.3  26.7    599.8  81.7  24.4               
    25 -57.4 -25.9 -0.32  0.23  0.79  22.9    635.9  89.3  25.9               
    21 -55.1 -24.4   4.7  0.27  0.60  19.5    673.0 100.9  24.8               
    18 -53.6 -26.3   3.9 -0.34  0.50  16.5    710.7  98.4  26.5               
    15 -53.8 -30.9   2.7 -0.69  0.40  13.8    745.8  95.0  31.0               
    13 -53.1 -31.6   1.0 -0.31  0.30  11.6    788.1  91.9  31.6               

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Fernando
Fantine
Posts: 150
Joined: November 8th, 2012, 3:41 pm

Re: Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

Post by Fantine »

Thank you for reporting the issue. We will fix the bug found in the MERRA2 converter. Stay tuned.
Fantine
Posts: 150
Joined: November 8th, 2012, 3:41 pm

Re: Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

Post by Fantine »

The mer2arl converter was updated. It can be downloaded from the HYSPLIT svn repository.
fchouza
Posts: 3
Joined: January 22nd, 2021, 5:55 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

Post by fchouza »

Thanks! I will take another look to it.
fchouza
Posts: 3
Joined: January 22nd, 2021, 5:55 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: Issue with MERRA-2 ARL files

Post by fchouza »

was the precompiled Linux version also updated or only the SVN repository? I'm getting the same issue using the precompiled mer2arl for Linux.
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