Overview of NAWIPS Programs

Prepared by Ron Miller with additional material by Peggy Bruehl

The NAWIPS software package consists of the GEMPAK software and the NAWIPS Graphical User Interface (GUI) programs. A brief introduction two each of these is included below. At the end of this file is a map of the directory structure of the NAWIPS software distribution.

NAWIPS GUI Programs

• Ntl

  This is the top-level program for the other NAWIPS programs. To execute it, just type ntl. It will bring up a window with icons for Ntrans, Nsat, AFOS, and Nwx. While these programs can be run on their own from the Unix command-line, it's better to use Ntl so that the programs will share colors.

• Ntrans

  Used for viewing GEMPAK metafiles (graphics files produced running GEMPAK with DEVICE=nc.

  • Loading a graphic

    On black portion of window, click the right mouse button. This will toggle "on" 2 windows. Clicking the right mouse button again toggles them off.

    On the "Select Model" window, click one of the model buttons. This will present a list of metafiles in the window. Click on the desired file and then click the "Select" button.

    In the "Group Selection" window, click the left mouse button on the desired graphic. Then click the left mouse button on the "1" button at the bottom of the "Group Selection" window. (Hint: If you want the windows to disappear while the graphic is loading, click the right mouse button on the "1" button).

    Once the graphic has finished loading, the VCR buttons (yellow buttons in the upper-right portion of the Ntrans window) will be filled in the black arrows.

  • Looping

    Click the left mouse button on the desired control to step or loop forward/backward. (Hint: The + and - keys on the keyboard will step forward/backward and the l (ell) key will start the loop forward.

    To change the loop speed, turn off the looping and pull-down the "Tools" menu, selecting Dwell Rate (You can also type Ctrl-D). A "Dwell Rate Setting" menu will appear. You can adjust the first/intermediate/last times individually, or you can just click on the 1-5 buttons at the bottom to change the loop speed.

  • Other Utilities

    If new graphics have been created since you started Ntrans, you must click the "Update" button on the "Select Model" window, or from the "File" pull-down menu. This will cause Ntrans to rescan the disk and allow you to access the newer data.

    To change any of the graphics colors, click the middle mouse button on the desired color. A menu will pop up displaying 32 colors that you can select. You can also vary the RGB settings individually. Click on "Close" to save the new selection. Click on "Default" to return to the original color.

• Nsat

  Used to view Satellite or Radar imagery in McIDAS Area File format.

  • Loading the most recent images

    Click on the "File" menu. Then select "Open", "Images", and "GOES-7". Choose the image resolution (e.g., 1km, 4km, etc) and then the image type (VIS, IR, or WV).

    Once the graphic has finished loading, the VCR buttons (yellow buttons in the upper-right portion of the Nsat window) will be filled in the black arrows.

  • Loading selected images

    Click on the "File" menu. Then select "Open" and "Image Lists". A "Select Data File" menu appears. In the upper-left portion, select the directory desired by double-clicking the left mouse button. Once a list of files appears in the upper-right portion, you can start choosing images.

    Double-click on the desired image. It's name will appear in the list in the middle of the window. Continue to select as many images as you want, in the order you wish for them to be looped. (Note: If you make a mistake, press "Clear_Select" to start over).

    To view the images, click on the "Load" button at the bottom of the window.

  • Looping

    Click the left mouse button on the desired control to step or loop forward/backward. (Hint: The + and - keys on the keyboard will step forward/backward and the l (ell) key will start the loop forward.

    To change the loop speed, turn off the looping and pull-down the "Tools" menu, selecting Dwell Rate (You can also type Ctrl-D). A "Dwell Rate Setting" menu will appear. You can adjust the first/intermeadiate/last times individually, or you can just click on the 1-5 buttons at the bottom to change the loop speed.

  • Other Utilities

    To change the Color Enhancement of the image, pull down the "Tools" menu and select "Color Enhancement" or type Ctrl-M. A menu will appear allowing you to select various standard enhancement curves.

    The "Preferences" option under the "Tools" menu (or type Ctrl-P) allows you to set the number of images that are automatically loaded. The default is 10. You can also change the resolution of the map background and lat/long lines. Once you are satisfied with your choices, click on the "Close" button. Your selections are now active for any imagery that you now load.

• Nwx

  Used to display text data.

  • Displaying most recent product

    Click the left mouse button on the "Data_Type" menu. Choose your desired data type from the pull-down menu selections. If your selection is a National product (i.e., issued from a national center such as NMC), the most recent version of it will be displayed in the text window.

    If your selection is a Local product (i.e., issued from a local WSFO or WFO), red diamonds will be plotted on the map. Using the left mouse button, click on the desired location. The most recent version of the product will be displayed in the text window.

    Once a product is displayed in the text window, you can click on the "Previous" text-window button to view the previous version of the product. The "Next" button allows you to view the next version of the product.

  • Changing the map background

    Click the left mouse button on the "Map_Area" menu. From the pull-down menu you can select a different map background.

  • Choosing between Station or State

    Click the left mouse button on the "Select_By" menu. You can choose Station or State.

    If you choose Station (the default), only the product for the exact location that you select on the map will be displayed in the text window. If you choose State, the product for all stations in the state you select on the map will be displayed in the text window.

  • Changing the default time

    Click the left mouse button on the "Date_Time" menu. You can choose from Today's, Yesterday's, or the Day Before Yesterday's data.

Basic GEMPAK program structure

SF Surface Data (SAO, Ship, Buoy) SN Sounding Data (RAOB, Profiler) GD Gridded Data OA Objective Analysis (Barnes analysis) GP Graphics Programs

• Listing Programs

  SFLIST, SNLIST, GDLIST, GDINFO

• Mapping Programs

  SFMAP, SNMAP, GDMAP

• Graphics Utility Programs

  GPMAP, GPSAVE, GPREST, GPEND

• Graphing Programs

  SFGRAM Surface Meteogram SNCROSS Sounding Cross Section SNHODO Sounding Hodograph SNPROF Upper Air Profiles (e.g. SkewT) SNTSER Sounding Time Series GDCROSS Gridded Vertical Cross Section GDPROF Gridded Soundings GDTSER Gridded Time Series

• Gridded Data Programs

  GDCNTR, GDWIND, GDSTREAM, GDPLOT
  More information on each of these programs is available in the NAWIPS User's Guide in Chapter 4.

• Device Drivers

  xw Write graphics to an X-Window display nc Write graphics to metafile for viewing with Ntrans ps Write graphics to postscript format file

• .nts files

  Creates last.nts and gemglb.nts files in current directory These files remember previous GEMPAK settings

NAWIPS Software Directory Structure

Environment Variables in parentheses

nawips / ( $NAWIPS )
|--bin /
|--exe /
|  |-- hpux / ( $GEMEXE $NAWIPS_EXE )
|--gempak5.2 / ( $GEMPAK )
|     |-- data / ( $GEMDATA )
|     |-- error / ( $GEMERR )
|     |-- help / ( $GEMHLP )
|     |-- include / ( $GEMINC )
|     |-- install /
|     |-- maps / ( $GEMMAPS )
|     |-- nts / ( $GEMNTS )
|     |-- parm /
|     |-- pdf / ( $GEMPDF )
|     |-- source /
|              |-- appl /
|              |-- cgemlib /
|              |-- device /
|              |-- driver /
|              |-- gemlib /
|              |-- gplt /
|              |-- nxmlib / ( $NXM )
|              |-- programs /
|              |-- syslib /
|     |-- tables / ( $GEMTBL )
|     |-- txt /
|     |-- utilities /
|     |-- versions /
|--help / ( $NAWIPS_HELP )
|     |-- afos /
|     |-- nsat /
|     |-- ntrans /
|     |-- nwx /
|-- icons /
|-- include / ( $NAWIPS_INC )
|-- lib /
|     |-- hpux / ( $GEMOLB $NAWIPS_LIB )
|-- metdat /
|-- nprogs /
|     |-- afos2.0 / ( $AFOS )
|     |     |-- bitmaps / ( $AFOS_BITMAPS )
|     |     |-- source /
|     |-- nsat1.1 / ( $NSAT )
|     |     |-- include /
|     |     |-- source /
|     |-- ntl1.0 / ( $NTL )
|     |     |-- source /
|     |-- ntrans2.1 / ( $NTRANS )
|     |     |-- include /
|     |     |-- source /
|     |-- nwx2.0 / ( $NWX )
|          |-- source /
|-- resource /
|-- scripts /
|     |-- ez /
|     |-- sat /
|     |-- nawips /
|-- tables / ( $NAWIPS_TABLES )
      |-- afos /
      |-- nsat /
      |-- ntl /
      |-- ntrans /
      |-- nwx /