MET Tools

The major components of the MET package are represented in the figure below (Fig 1). The main stages represented are data reformatting, statistical analysis, and aggregation. MET Version 3.0 consists of 11 tools as well as 3 optional tools (not shown in flowchart) organized into 4 groups:

1. Data reformatting and preparation tools:
   • Gen-Poly-Mask Tool
   • PCP-Combine Tool
   • ASCII2NC Tool
   • PB2NC Tool
   • Ensemble-Stat Tool
2. Statistical verification tools:
   • Point-Stat Tool
   • Grid-Stat Tool
   • Wavlet-Stat Tool
   • Ensemble-Stat Tool (also listed above)
   • MODE (Method For Object-Based Diagnositic Evaluation) Tool
3. Aggregation and analysis tools:
   • Stat-Analysis Tool
   • MODE-Analysis Tool
4. Optional tools (not shown in flowchart):
   • WWMCA (World Wide Merged Cloud Analysis) Regrid Tool
   • WWMCA Plot Tool
   • Plot-Point-Obs Tool

Figure 1: Flowchart representation of METv3.0 structure. Green areas represent executables, while gray represent data.

PB2NC Tool

• Stratify the contents of PrepBufr files containing point observations.
• Write output to intermediate NetCDF format.
• Run prior to Point-Stat.

ASCII2NC Tool

• Reformat point observations from ASCII to NetCDF.
• Run prior to Point-Stat.

PCP-Combine Tool

• Add, subtract, or sum up precipitation from multiple GRIB files.
• Write output to intermediate NetCDF format.
• Optionally run prior to Grid-Stat and MODE tools.

Gen-Poly-Mask Tool

• Apply a Lat/Lon polyline to a gridded data file to define a verification masking region in an efficient way.
• Write masking region bitmap output to NetCDF format.
• Optionally run prior to Point-Stat, Grid-Stat, Wavelet-Stat, and MODE tools.

Point-Stat Tool

• Compute traditional and neighborhood verification scores by comparing a gridded forecast to point observations (output of PB2NC or ASCII2NC tools).
• Write output to ASCII statistics files.

Ensemble-Stat Tool

• Process multiple ensemble forecasts and derive common summary fields, such as ensemble mean, spread, and relative frequency. These output fields may be verified using other MET statistics tools.
• If observations are provided, also compute rank histograms and continuous ranked probability scores.
• Write output to ASCII statistics files and write ensemble fields to NetCDF format.

Grid-Stat Tool

• Compute traditional and neighborhood verification scores by comparing a gridded forecast to a gridded analysis.
• Write output to ASCII statistics files and write matched pairs to NetCDF format.

Wavelet-Stat Tool

• Apply an intensity-scale wavelet decomposition verification technique in comparing a gridded forecast to a gridded analysis.
• Write output to ASCII statistics files, write decomposed fields to NetCDF format, and generate a PostScript summary plot.

MODE Tool

• Apply an object-based verification technique in comparing a gridded forecast to a gridded analysis.
• Write output to ASCII statistics files, write object fields to NetCDF format, and generate a PostScript summary plot.

Stat-Analysis Tool

• Compute aggregate verification scores across mulitple cases.
• Filter contents of STAT files (output of the Point-Stat, Grid-Stat, and Wavelet-Stat tools) based upon search parameters.

MODE-Analysis Tool

• Compute aggregate object-based verification information across mulitple cases.
• Filter contents of MODE object files based upon search parameters.

WWMCA Regrid Tool

• Regrid the global WWMCA binary data to a user-defined grid and write out a NetCDF file that may be read by the other MET statistics tools.

WWMCA Plot Tool

• Create a plot of the global WWMCA binary data.

Plot-Point-Obs Tool

• Create a plot showing the locations of the point observations contained in the NetCDF output of the PB2NC or ASCII2NC tools.