ROMS/TOMS Metadata
==================

This directory contains several CDL files showing ROMS input NetCDF
files structure. There is a lot of software out there to generate
such input files. It is very difficult to write generic programs
because it depends on the application. However, there is a very easy
way to generate these files using the CDL and the NetCDF "ncgen"
program. 

The ROMS metadata design is very rich and extensive. See "varinfo.dat"
for a list of all the variables names, units, attributes, associated time
variables, and scale factors. This is an user friendly file and variable
parameters can be changed very easily. As a matter of fact, some users like
to change the long-name attribute to a language other than English to
facilitate automatic labeling during plotting. However, for portability
I recommend to use the provided field variable name.

Currently, you can find the following CDL scripts:

    grd_spherical.cdl        Spherical grid NetCDF file

    ini_hydro.cdl            Initial conditions NetCDF file (hydrodynamics)
    ini_fasham.cdl           Initial conditions NetCDF file (hydrodynamics and biology)
    ini_ecosim.cdl           Initial conditions NetCDF file (hydrodynamics and bio-optics)
    ini_sed.cdl              Initial conditions NetCDF file (hydrodynamics and sediment)

    clm_ts.cdl               Temperature-Salinity climatology NetCDF file

    frc_uvstress.cdl         Forcing NetCDF file (surface momentum stresses)
    frc_fluxclm.cdl          Forcing NetCDF file (climatological heat fluxes variables)
    frc_bulk.cdl             Forcing NetCDF file (atmospheric variable for bulk fluxes)

    frc_rivers.cdl           Forcing NetCDF file (River point/sources)
    frc_tides.cdl            Forcing NetCDF file (tidal elevation and currents)

    bry_limit.cdl            Boundary NetCDF file (various time dimensions)
    bry_unlimit.cdl          Boundary NetCDF file (unlimited time dimensions)

    s4dvar_obs.cdl           4DVAR observation
    s4dvar_std.cdl           4DVAR background error covariance standard deviation

You can easily edit any of these files to change NetCDF file name, change
dimensions, add and remove variables, and add and modify global attibutes.
A NetCDF file can be created by typing:

    ncgen -b my_file.cdl

Then, you can use any program to write your data into the created NetCDF
file. I usually use the MeXCDF interface of Matlab to write the processed
data with just a single command line.

Notice that ROMS now allows for multiple forcing NetCDF files. See
input script.


