How to open and modify forcing files in .ieeer8 file format?

[Laura]

I barely know this file format, except that it is probably a binary file, and I have no idea how to deal with it. Can Python/MATLAB/NCL... open it? What should I do if I want to modify the values in this files? Is it possible to transform .ieeer8 to .nc?

Any messages about it is appreciated. Thanks at advance.

Laura

 

[emaroon]

Hi Laura,

I haven't opened the ieeer8 files with python, but I have opened ieeei4 files using numpy. Here's a quick python snippet that I use that might help:

import numpy as np
topog_fname ='topography_20161215.ieeei4'
kmt_flat = np.fromfile(topog_fname, dtype='>i4', count=-1) #flat array
kmt_reshaped = kmt_flat.reshape([384,320]).astype(np.int32) #2d array, hard-coded for 384x320 resolution

You should be able to modify the dtype for a float (r8); watch out for endianness. I probably figured this out by poking around the pop_tools package or the paleotools. More hints are probably available in those packages.

All the best,
Liz

 

[michelle_dvorak]

Just as an alternative, you could use NCL for this -- specifically the fbindirread function (https://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Functions/Built-in/fbindirread.shtml); example:

setfileoption ("bin", "ReadByteOrder", "BigEndian")
setfileoption ("bin", "WriteByteOrder","BigEndian")

kmt = fbindirread(binary_file, 0,(/384, 320/), "integer")

system("cp example_pop_netcdf_file_with_same_dimensions "+ncout)
f=addfile(ncout,"w")
f->kmt = (/kmt/)

Michelle