grads

grads [ - ] b|l|p [ -c 'command ]

Where:

grads is an interactive desktop tool that is currently in use worldwide for the analysis and display of earth science data.

GrADS implements a 4-Dimensional data model, where the dimensions are usually latitude, longitude, level and time. Each data set is located within this 4-Dimensional space by the use of a data descriptor file. Both gridded and station data may be described. Gridded data may be non-linearly spaced; Gaussian grids and variable resolution ocean model grids are directly supported. The internal data representa- tion in a file may be either binary or GRIB.

Operations may be performed on the data directly, and interactively, by entering FORTRAN-like expressions at the command line. A rich set of built-in functions are provided.

In addition, users may add their own functions as external routines written in any programming language. The expression syntax allows complex operations that range over very large amounts of data to be performed with simple expressions.

GrADS is freely distributed over the Internet.

Usage Notes

Some environment variables must be set before starting the GrADS.

For example:

Examples

  1. example% grads -pc 'open data.ctl'

    start grads and open data descriptor file data.ctl.

  2. example% grads -bpc 'run script.gs'

    running grads in batch mode, executing the GrADS script script.gs in portrait mode.