Are u10 values in MPAS output files instantaneous?

[Ridick]

Are variables (e.g. u10,v10,t2) values in MPAS model output files instantaneous values or averages of the output interval?

Lets suppose that I configure the model to write diag files at 6 hourly interval as below:

//////////////////////////////////
diag.1987-01-01_00.00.00.nc
diag.1987-01-01_06.00.00.nc
diag.1987-01-01_12.00.00.nc
diag.1987-01-01_18.00.00.nc
///////////////////////////////////

Will the u10 value in the file diag.1987-01-01_12.00.00.nc be the average for the interval beginning from time 1987-01-01_06.00.00 to time 1987-01-01_12.00.00 or is it simply the instantaneous speed at 1987-01-01_12.00.00?

If I need monthly values for u10, is it sufficient to simply configure the model to write output at 1 month interval,then use the values in the monthly output files as monthly values or are there transformations I need to make to get the monthly values?

 

[mgduda]

The u10, v10, t2, and most other output fields represent instantaneous values, so some work would be needed to get min/max/mean values over an output interval. There is a set of slides from the MPAS-Atmosphere tutorial that may help in guiding you through the process of adding new average-value diagnostics to the model. You can also go through section 7 of the online tutorial exercises for another example of how to add a diagnostic field to the model.

If you do decide to try adding a new diagnostic and encounter any issues, please feel free to create a new thread in the Code development section of the forum and we can offer some further guidance.

 

[Ridick]

Thanks a lot for your quick reply and for the links to useful resources.