NCL Home > Documentation > Functions > CESM

wgt_vert_avg_beta

Computes weighted vertical average or sum using pressure thickness and beta factors.

Prototype

	function wgt_vert_avg_beta (
		p          : numeric,  
		datai      : numeric,  
		psfc       : numeric,  
		punits [1] : integer,  
		opt        : integer   
	)

	return_val  :  numeric

Arguments

p

An array containing the pressure levels. If it is a one-dimensional array then the same pressure levels will be used for all the levels of datai. If it is a multidimensional array then it must have the same dimension sizes and order as datai. The order of the level dimension (top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top) must be consistent with the order of datai.

datai

An array of 3 or 4 dimensions. The order of the dimensions is specific. The three rightmost dimensions must be level x lat x lon [e.g. T(level,lat,lon) or T(time,level,lat,lon)]. The order of the level dimension (top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top) must be consistent with the order of p.

psfc

A multi-dimensional array of surface pressures. It has the same dimensions as datai except it does not have a level dimension. [ie: psfc(lat,lon) or psfc(time,lat,lon)]

punits

A scalar value indicating the units of p and psfc: punits=0 indicates hPa or mb; punits=1 indicates Pa.

opt

Two options:

A scalar indicating whether the pressure-thickness weighted vertical sum (opt=0) or pressure-thickness weighted average (opt=1) should be returned.

A one dimensional array of length 3: opt(0)=0 or opt(0)=1 indicates what will be returned; opt(1) and opt(2) are user specified pressures indicating that only a subset of the input pressures should be used. Same pressure units as p and psfc.

Return value

If datai is (level,lat,lon) the returned array will be of size (lat,lon); If datai is (time,level,lat,lon) the returned array will be of size (time,lat,lon).

The type of the output data will be double only if psfc or datai are of type double. Otherwise, the return type will be float.

Description

This function uses pressure thickness (delp) and beta factors (beta) to compute a weighted vertical average (wva) or sum (wvs) at each grid point. Let x = datai(n,:,j,i)

      wvs = SUM [x*delp*beta]       [opt=0]

      wva = wvs/SUM [delp*beta]     [opt=1]
The units returned when [opt=0] will be the units of datai times the units of [p]. The units returned when [opt=1] will be the same units as datai.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference: 
Climate Diagnostics from Global Analyses: Conservation of Mass ....
Kevin Trenberth
July, 1991,  pp 707-
-------------------------------------------------------------------

See Also

vibeta

Examples

Example 1:

Let T(time,lev_p,lat,lon) and ps(time,lat,lon) [units: hPa] where:

   lev_p = (/  1,   2,   3,   5,   7,  10,  20,  30\
            , 50,  70, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400\
            ,500, 600, 700, 775, 850, 925,1000     /) 
                                              ; the following is not necessary  :-)
   lev_p!0         = "lev_p"                  ; variable/dim name 
   lev_p&lev_p     =  lev_p                   ; create coordinate variable
   lev_p@long_name = "pressure"               ; attach some attributes
   lev_p@units     = "hPa"                    ; punits=0
   lev_p@positive  = "down"
Then to compute the vertical average T:
      T_wva = wgt_vert_avg_beta(lev_p, T, PS, 0, 0)     ; T_wva(time,lat,lon) 
Note that if lev_p had been a coordinate variable associated with the variable T, then the following could be used:
      T_wva = wgt_vert_avg_beta(T&lev_p, T, PS, 0, 0)     ; T_wva(time,lat,lon) 

Example 2:

Same as Example 1 but calculate the weighted vertical average between (a) 10 and 100 and (b) 650 and 900 only.

      opt = (/ 0, 10, 100 /)
      T_wva_10_100  = wgt_vert_avg_beta(lev_p, T, PS, 0, opt)  
snd
      opt = (/ 0, 650, 900 /)
      T_wva_650_900 = wgt_vert_avg_beta(lev_p, T, PS, 0, opt)  

Example 3:

Let T(time,lev,lat,lon) and PS(time,lat,lon)

   f    = addfile("ccm.nc", "r")
   hyam = f->hyam 
   hybm = f->hybm
   P0   = 100000.                        ; reference pressure [Pa]
   PS   = f->PS                          ; Pa  [punits=1]
   T    = f->T

   pm   = pres_hybrid_ccm(PS,P0,hyam,hybm)    ; ps(time,lev,lat,lon) [Pa]  

   T_wva = wgt_vert_avg_beta(pm, T, PS, 1, 0)