OOV

Observation Output Verification tools to compare 2 different versions of obsproc runs.

Update (2026-03-13)

New files

• compare_config.py: setting base path and network-specific rules
• compare_utils.py: utilities shared by both scripts
• comp2dirs.py: compare 2 directories
• comp2prepbs.py: compare 2 PREPBUFR files

Modes

• mode=exp: compare 2 different experiments
• mode=date: compare 2 different dates

Usage

Load Python first:

module load python

Run examples:

python comp2dirs.py gfs --date1 20260313 --hh 00 --mode exp
python comp2dirs.py gdas --date1 20260312 --date2 20260313 --hh 00 --mode date
python comp2prepbs.py rap_p --date1 20260313 --hh 06 --tm 00 --mode exp

NOTE for CDAS: special treatment for CDAS due to the fact that user exp is saved mostly on ptmp instead of stmp due to time restrictions. This have to be set in compare_config.py by removing commment # for test_base.
For para/prod tests, keep it commented!

Setup

Install required packages (if not already installed):

• tabulate
• matplotlib
• pandas

pip install <package>

Load modules:

module load python

Supported networks:

• gdas
• gfs
• cdas
• nam
• rap
• rap_e
• rap_p
• urma
• rtma

Old versions kept as-is

Before running comparison scripts, set the paths for BASE_COMROOT and BASE_SMTP.

• comp2dir.py
• copm2prepb.py

Available comparison scripts

1. Compare two directories, print differences and relative differences on screen, and save data into a CSV file. Also lists differences and counts of bufr_d, *nr, and status files.

python comp2dir.sh <network> <yyyymmdd> [HH]

2. Compare two PREPBUFR files, calculate differences, and print directories and production time on screen and into a CSV file.

python comp2prepb.sh <network> <yyyymmdd> [HH]