Planeflight diagnostic
On this page we provide information about the GEOS-Chem planeflight diagnostic, which allows you to save certain diagnostic quantities along flight tracks or at the position of ground observations. This can be more efficient in terms of storage than saving out 3-D data files via the GEOS-Chem History diagnostics.
Attention
Several diagnostic quantities were disabled when the SMVGEAR chemistry solver was replaced with the FlexChem implementation of KPP (cf: Update chemical mechanisms with KPP). Therefore, you may find that functionality is not currently working. We look to GEOS-Chem community members to help us maintain the planeflight diagnostic.
The Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD configuration file
The Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD files allow you to specify the
diagnostic quantities (species, reaction rates, met fields) that you
want to print out for a specific longitude, latitude, altitude, and
time. A sample Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD file is given below. Of
course if you have lots of flight track data points, your file will be
much longer.
If the plane flight following diagnostic is switched on, then it will
look for a new Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD file each day. If a
Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD:` file is found for a given day, then
GEOS-Chem will save out diagnostic quantities along the flight
track(s) to the plane.log.YYYYMMDD file.
Format
Planeflight.dat -- Input file for planeflight diagnostic
GCST
July 2018
-----------------------------------------------------------
9 <-- # of variables to be output (listed below)
-----------------------------------------------------------
TRA_001
TRA_002
TRA_003
GMAO_TEMP
GMAO_ABSH
GMAO_RELH
GMAO_IIEV
GMAO_JJEV
GMAO_LLEV
-----------------------------------------------------------
Now give the times and locations of the flight
-----------------------------------------------------------
Point Type DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM LAT LON ALT/PRE OBS
1 Scrz 30-06-2012 13:53 -46.43 51.85 202.00 1765.030
2 Scrz 30-06-2012 13:53 -46.43 51.85 202.00 1765.060
3 Sush 30-06-2012 16:25 -54.85 -68.31 32.00 1764.750
4 Sush 30-06-2012 16:25 -54.85 -68.31 32.00 1765.610
5 Sllb 30-06-2012 17:13 54.95 -112.45 588.00 1891.200
6 Sllb 30-06-2012 17:13 54.95 -112.45 588.00 1891.310
99999 END 00-00-0000 00:00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000
The data in this text file can be read and plotted using GAMAP routines CTM_READPLANEFLIGHT and PLANE_PLOT.
Requesting diagnostic quantities
The first part of the Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD file allows you
to request several diagnostic quantities that you would like to be
archived along the plane’s flight track. These are listed in the
table below.
You must make sure that you have specified the number of requested quantities properly, or you will get an input error.
Important
Several planeflight diagnostic quantities had to be disabled when the SMVGEAR chemical solver was replaced by the FlexChem implementation of the KPP chemical solver. Therefore, you may find that not all of the planeflight diagnostic quantities listed below are still functional. Please report any issues to the GEOS-Chem Support Team by opening a new Github issue.
Quantity |
Description |
Units |
|---|---|---|
|
Species concentration (nnn = species index) |
v/v dry |
|
Species concentration |
molec/cm3 |
|
Concentration of RO2 family |
v/v dry |
|
Concentration of AN family |
v/v dry |
|
Concentration of NOy family |
v/v dry |
|
Temperature |
K |
|
Absolute humidity |
unitless |
|
Aerosol surface area |
cm2/cm3 |
|
Surface pressure |
hPa |
|
Zonal winds |
m/s |
|
Meridional winds |
m/s |
|
Longitude index |
unitless |
|
Latitude index |
unitless |
|
Level index |
unitless |
|
Relative humidity |
% |
|
Sea level pressure |
hPa |
|
Water vapor mixing ratio |
v/v |
|
Potential temperature |
K |
|
Pressure at center of grid box |
hPa |
|
SEAICEnn fields |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, sulfate |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, black carbon |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, organic carbon |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, fine sea salt |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, coarse sea salt |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, dust |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, sulfate (below aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, black carbon (below aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, organic carbon (below aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, fine sea salt (below aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, coarse sea salt (below aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Column AOD, dust (below the aircraft) |
unitless |
|
Nucleation rates (TOMAS) |
|
|
Frac of Hg(II) in gas phase |
unitless |
|
Frac Hg(II) in particle phase |
unitless |
|
ISORROPIA H+ |
M |
|
ISORROPIA pH |
unitless |
|
ISORROPIA aerosol water |
ug/m3 air |
|
ISORROPIA bifulfate |
M |
|
Local time |
hours |
|
Aqueous aerosol radius |
cm |
|
Aqueous aerosol surface area |
cm2/cm3 |
|
Production rates (needs updating) |
molec/cm3/s |
|
Reaction rates (Needs updating) |
molec/cm3/s |
Specifying the flight track
The next section of the Planeflight.dat.YYYYMMDD file is where
you will specify the points that make up the flight track.
Quantity |
Description |
|---|---|
|
A sequential index of flight track points. |
|
Identifier for the plane (or station) |
|
Day of the observation |
|
Month of the observation |
|
Year of the observation |
|
Hour of the observation (UTC) |
|
Minute of the observation (UTC) |
|
Latitude (deg), range -90 to +90 |
|
Longitude (deg), range -180 to +180 |
|
Altitude [m] or Pressure [hPa] of the observation |
|
Value of the observation (if known), used to compare to model output |
Important
The TYPE column can be used to specify the aircraft type
and flight number to distinguish between multiple plane flight tracks.
The planeflight diagnostic will automatically set L=1 if
it does not recognize TYPE. When using a new flight track,
make sure to add your TYPE to this IF statement
if you do not wish to use L=1 for that type value.
The plane.log.YYYYMMDD output file
The plane.log.YYYYMMDD file contains output from the
planeflight diagnostic.
Format
POINT TYPE YYYYMMDD HHMM LAT LON PRESS OBS T-IND P-I I-IND J-IND TRA_001 GMAO_TEMP ...
1 Scrz 20120630 1353 -46.43 51.85 981.74 1765.030 000061277 002 00047 00012 1.785E-006 2.780E+002 ...
2 Scrz 20120630 1353 -46.43 51.85 981.74 1765.060 000061277 002 00047 00012 1.785E-006 2.780E+002 ...
3 Sush 20120630 1625 -54.85 -68.31 949.77 1764.750 000061281 002 00023 00010 1.784E-006 2.746E+002 ...
4 Sush 20120630 1625 -54.85 -68.31 949.77 1765.610 000061281 002 00023 00010 1.784E-006 2.746E+002 ...
5 Sllb 20120630 1713 54.95 -112.45 876.13 1891.200 000061283 005 00015 00037 1.906E-006 2.942E+002 ...
6 Sllb 20120630 1713 54.95 -112.45 876.13 1891.310 000061283 005 00015 00037 1.906E-006 2.942E+002 ...
Columns
Column |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Flight track data point number (for reference) |
|
Aircraft/flight number ID or ground station ID |
|
Year, month, and day (UTC or each flight track point |
|
Hour and minute (UTC) for each flight track point |
|
Latitude (-90 to 90 degrees) for each flight track point |
|
Longitude (-180 to 180 degrees) for each flight track point |
|
Pressure in hPa for each flight track point |
|
Observation value from the flight campaign |
|
Time index |
|
GEOS-Chem level index |
|
GEOS-Chem longitude index |
|
GEOS-Chem latitude index |
|
Diagnostic quantities
requested in
|