PBL-LIB, a library of PBL modeling routines

BWIND needs only one (but would like four) parameters to run:

• Sea Level Pressure (to calculate winds; necessary)
• Near-sfc Air Temperature (for stratification correction and thermal wind)
• Surface Temperature (for stratification correction)
• Humidity or Dew Point (for latent heat flux)

To retrieve input data, there is a program called UNBUNDLE. It currently reads from a variety of sources of data that can be obtained from NCAR (ncardata.ucar.edu):

• NMC data:
• ds464.0: slp, sat and rlh, gridded to the 47 by 51 Octagon
• ds195.0: sst, gridded to the 47 by 51 Octagon
• ECMWF data:
• ds111.0: surface and upper air, T106/T63 spherical harmonic grid
• ds111.1: surface only, N80/N48 gaussian-latitude grid
• ds111.2: surface and upper air, 2.5 by 2.5 degree grid

UNBUNDLE extracts subregions of the entire grids, has the option of interpolating to another grid, and writes them to a file in the "pbl format" that BWIND expects. These are binary files; for the exact specs, see the file called write_pbl.f. You can use the subroutines write_pbl.f and read_pbl.f to manipulate the data with your own programs (or your own data display programs). Get the helpful file 'USER I/O' along with the source code for some hints and help.

PBL-LIB consists of a series of programs written in FORTRAN 77 (and one in C) for unix. Here is a list:

bwind

calculates a whole host of PBL parameters. Reads the input files from the subdirectory ../data/ and writes its output to the same directory (both in binary pbl-format).

unbundle

extracts subsets of data (both in time and space) from huge data files for use as input files for bwind. Writes its output to the subdirectory ../data/ in pbl-format.

pbl_to_asc

translates pbl-format files into ASCII; default output is to the screen. There are several switches. Use the "-h" switch to list all the current options.

pbl_math

performs elementary mathematical operations on a data file, or point-by-point operations between two data files (both files must be on the same grid). Use this to scale a data file, find the difference between two grids, etc.

pbl_ave

averages the files you pass it (all files must be on the same grid) and writes an output file.

pbl_find

can find the high, the low, all values greater than a given cutoff, all values less than a given cutoff, or simply the value at a grid point in a data file.

pbl_plot

plots the values of one file vs. the values of another. Calls the program gnuplot. Can create postscript files.

pbl_uv2ma

reads the u- and v-vector files and creates files of the magnitude and angle (w.r.t. East). File name extensions are of the form .??m and .??a, where the ?? is from the vector (.??u and .??v).

pbl_density

reads the slp, sat, and either rlh or dew files and calculates the density of the near-surface air. Easier than running bwind on a grid if that's the only output you need.

pbl_neutral

reads a near-surface wind file of your choice (along with the sst, sat, slp and either rlh or dew) and can either calculate the neutral-equivalent wind or correct a neutral wind for stratification.

pbl_interp

interpolates from any grid onto an equal-angle (lat-lon) grid.

pbl_to_si

creates a satellite-image file (pixels) for viewing in satview*. Places the file in the subdirectory ../sat. This program works on any grid, regardless of whether or not it is an equal-angle (lat-lon) grid.

pbl_to_ov

creates an overlay file (contours, vectors) for viewing in satview*. Places the file in the subdirectory ../sat. The data file MUST be on an equal-angle (lat-lon) grid, or you will get an output file filled with garbage (with one exception: see the "irregular vectors" option).

* Satview is a data display program developed at the University of Washington; contact satview@atmos.washington.edu and/or look here for more information.

Of course, since this is a point model, the user can forgo the "wrapper" and call the similarity model directly from his/her program. The appropriate subroutine to call is brown.f and is packaged in the source code for BWIND. It has a long section of comments in the beginning describing each of the input and output variables. You could call it at each grid point of your own model, if you need one of the output variables.

FORTRAN codes

Source Code and Installation Guide (FTP links)

Get the source code for BWIND: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Get the source code for UNBUNDLE: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Get the source code for UTILITIES: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Get the helpful file USER I/O: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Get some Sample Input and Output Files: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Get some extra programs that calculate the profiles and hodographs of wind components, including secondary flow: a compressed .tar file or a .zip file

Links to the README files

• README
• README.bwind
• README.unbundle
• README.utils
• README.userIO
• README.params
• Installing PBL-LIB at your site.

MATLAB codes

The Matlab direct model was created by Dr. Ralph Foster in September 1998. The main Matlab program is twolayer.m and a sample call is provided in exbr1.m. All the Matlab (*.m) commands necessary to run the model are packaged together in each of the links below.

This model is still undergoing testing and improvements.

Input Parameters

Output Parameters

Source Code Links

• PKZIP style
• Unix compressed tar file
• Gnu zipped tar file