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prcwater_dp

Computes column precipitable water of the rightmost dimension.

Prototype

	function prcwater_dp (
		q  : numeric,  
		p  : numeric   
	)

	return_val  :  numeric

Arguments

An array of any dimensionality or a scalar value equal to the specific humidity in kg/kg. The rightmost dimension must be the level dimension.

An array of the same size as q or a one-dimensional array with only a level dimension equal to the pressure layer thickness in Pa.

Return value

An array of the same size as q minus the rightmost dimension. Units are kg/m2.

Description

Computes column precipitable water of the rightmost dimension.

Examples

Example 1

Let q and dp be one-dimensional. The pw will be a scalar:

  dp = (/ 10., 30. , 50., ..., 100., 50., 50, 50./)   ; hPa [mb]
  q  = (/ 20.8,19.4,16.5, ..., 1.7,1.0,0.5,0.1   /)   ; g/kg
 
  dp = dp*100.   ; convert to pascals
  q  = q*0.001   ; convert to kg/kg
  
  pw = prcwater_dp (q,dp)    ; pw [kg/m2]
  pw@long_name = "total column precipitable water"
  pw@units     = "kg/m2"

Example 2

Let q be four-dimensional with dimensions time, lev, lat, and lon. Reorder the array so that lev is the rightmost dimension. The units are g/kg. dp is one-dimensional with units of pascals. pw will be three-dimensional with dimensions time,lat,lon. The same dp is used at all locations.

  pw = prcwater_dp (q(time|:,lat|:,lon|:,lev|:)*0.001, dp)    
; pw [kg/m2]
  pw@long_name = "total column precipitable water"
  pw@units     = "kg/m2"

Example 3

q is four-dimensional with dimensions time, lev, lat, and lon. Units are kg/kg. dp (Pa) is calculated from the hybrid coefficients using dpres_hybrid_ccm. Different layer thicknesses are used at each grid point. pw will be three-dimensional with dimensions time, lat, and lon.

  q    = f->Q    ; specific humidity [kg/kg]
  hyai = f->hyai ; read from a file the interface hybrid coefficients (size = nlev)
  hybi = f->hybi ; read from a file
  ps   = f->PS   ; surface pressure [Pa]
  p0   = 100000. ; since ps is in Pa 

  dp   = dpres_hybrid_ccm(ps,p0,hyai,hybi)   
; dp(ntime,nlev-1,nlat,nlon)
  dp!0 = "time"
  dp!1 = "lev"
  dp!2 = "lat"
  dp!3 = "lon"

  pw = prcwater_dp(q(time|:,lat|:,lon|:,lev|:),dp(time|:,lat|:,lon|:,lev|:))    
; pw [kg/m2]
  pw@long_name = "total column precipitable water"
  pw@units     = "kg/m2"

Example 4

In example 3, q and dp are conformable [i.e. they have the same shape (both are four-dimensional) and each dimension is of the same size]. dim_sum or, better, dim_sum_n sum the multiplications performed at each level at each grid points for all times. The result is divided by gravity (m/s2). The advantage of the prcwater_dp is that it does not require dp and q be fully conformable. Only the level dimension must be the same size.