MMERGE -- FFantastic!


The fortran program merge.f has been compiled (as mmerge) so that it can be run with input parameters entered from the command line. You can successfully merge files by just typing mmerge at the command line and responding to the prompts. However, it is also possible to pipe in the input parameters from an input text file. This is a sample input file (which contains highly useful comments):

     1998112400e_            !Radar 1 (west) .fit file
     1998112400f_            !Radar 2 (east) .fit file
     1998                    !year
     11 24 08 00 00          !start time (mo dy hr mn sc)
     11 24 12 00 00          !end time   (mo dy hr mn sc)
     n                       !Standard options?
     2                       !average over scans//1: single scan//2:more than 1 scan
     240                     !averaging time (seconds) if averaging more than 1 scan
     n                       !change frequency interval from 8 - 20 MHz?
     1                       !virtual height(1:constant vh//2:model//3:elev angle)
     400                     !change from default (400 km) virtual height?
     2                       !GS (1:include//2:exclude//3:exclude one radar/4:TBD)
     2                       !E-region echoes?(1:y/2:kill using min F rng/3:exc el>)
     900                     !cutoff range for F-region echoes
     n                       !perform radial velocity smoothing?
     n                       !perform div-free analysis?
     3                       !min power value in dB (default 3 dB)
     25                      !min velocity (default 25 m/s)
     3000                    !max vel in m/s (3000 m/s)
     100                     !max vel error (default 50 m/s; recommended to be above 100 m/s)


***Here is the important bit...
In order to run mmerge, copy the file merge-input to your working directory, make the appropriate changes to the input data, move your fit files to a directory in your path (e.g. your CUTLASS fit file area), and type the following command:

     mmerge < merge-input
Well, there you go! The bouncing baby merge file, in the above case 19981124ef.mrg, should appear in your working directory if all goes well. (Note that 4-digit years must be used.)

You may have trouble with your CUTLASS paths, like I have, and if mmerge doesn't run properly (usually with an error that the files don't exist) then check if the file names are correct and that they exist. If the file names are indeed correct, then type the following:

     . /people/cutlass/.cutlass_setup


The unix-type command line version should still work the way it did before and can be found in Gabby's directories (~gp3). This should work, for example:
     cd ~gp3/CUTLASS/MERGE
     . /people/cutlass/.cutlass_setup
     ./merge_all -f 1998112400 -s 0800 -d 4 -i 600 -c

For more information on running merge this way, see John Taylor's Merged Data Visualisation Routines web page.


If you have any comments or questions, please direct them to:
Kathryn McWilliams