I have been digging into M3Tools for some air quality data handling, around format conversion and preprocessing. I have got the basics down but I want to know if anyone here has figured out ways to automate repetitive tasks such as regridding or QA/QC processes efficiently. Any scripts, workflows or even just tips that have worked for you would be awesome!
Also, slightly off-topic but related to why I am exploring automation — I took a Generative AI Course & it got me thinking about ways to integrate smarter preprocessing, maybe even predictive checks or automated flagging. I know it is a stretch but has anyone tried anything such as that with M3Tools?
I am still learning, so feel free to throw beginner-friendly advice my way too.
The general idea is that you first run the program interactively, noting down the prompts and their responses; then write your script accordingly to generate a “UI” file that contains them and runs the tool with input redirected from the UI. Here is an example from a hydrology-forecasting application:
#!/bin/csh -f
#
# $Id: timeagg.LSM_OUT_2D.daily.csh 1790 2012-07-23 16:25:28Z usfcst_test@coosa11 $
#
# Copyright (c) 2012 by Baron Advanced Meteorological Systems (BAMS)
# This software is copyrighted and is the proprietary product of BAMS.
# Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or transfer of this software, in
# any medium, is strictly prohibited.
#
# Script to run "timeagg" on LSM_OUT_2D.
# Variables which may be plotted are:
#
# SWNET LWNET QLE QH QG RAINF SNOWF SKINTEMP
# ALBEDO EVAPTOT TRANSPVEG EVAPSOIL EVAPPOND
# SOILMOITOTFR SOILMOISTFR1 SOILT1 ROOTMOIST
# SWE SNOWDPTH CANWAT SFCRNOFF
# BASFRNOFF SNOWMELT SFCHEAD INFXSRT
# TCWINFIL INFXSR_ACCUM BASFLR_ACCUM SATXSR_ACCUM
limit stacksize 1024m
limit memoryuse 5072m
unalias rm
##### Machine-type; Directories; Executable
set bar = '-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-'
set UI = /tmp/timeagg.$$
set rc = /data/lsm/FFG_SEUS03
set data = /perc0/bamsrt/FFG_SEUS03
set img = ${data}/IMAGES
set pgm = ${HOME}/apps/${BIN}/timeagg
setenv GRID FFG_SEUS03
setenv VERSION calib1
setenv SDATE 1979002
setenv STIME 000000
setenv TSTEP 87660000
setenv NRECS
setenv CASE 1979-2012
setenv AGGMODE MEAN
setenv INFILE ${data}/LSM_OUT_2D.${GRID}.${CASE}.${VERSION}.ncf
setenv OUTFILE ${data}/LSM_AGG_2D.year.${GRID}.${CASE}.${VERSION}.${AGGMODE}.ncf
setenv VARLIST ${rc}/LSM_OUT_2D.timeagg.INFXSR_ACCUM.txt
#### UI file (defaults are "plot entire time step sequence"; environment
echo "Yes " >& ${UI} # continue with the program
echo ${bar}
env | sort
echo ${bar}
ls -l ${pgm}
ls -l ${INFILE}
limit
echo "UI command-line input:"
cat ${UI}
echo ${bar}
#### run program
time ${pgm} < ${UI}
set foo = ${status}
rm ${UI}
echo ${bar}
if ( ${foo} != 0 ) then
echo "### ERROR ${foo} on program ${pgm}"
endif
exit ( ${foo} )
