DayCent5: Daily Weather Data

Weather data consists of precipitation, minimum and maximum temperature, and optionally, solar radiation flux, relative humidity, and wind speed.

File Types for DayCent5 Weather Data

DayCent5 can read daily data from a text file whose format is described below. Daily weather data can also be stored in a netCDF file in CF format. These formats are described in the following pages.

DayCent5 Daily text file: See DayCent Daily Weather Data: Text Format.
DayCent5 netCDF file: simple grid format: See Daily gridded weather data in a netCDF file with a simple grid format.
DayCent5 netCDF file: indexed grid format: See Daily gridded weather data in a netCDF file in a compact indexed grid format.

Using the Daily Data

In the work directory in which you run your simulations, include a file named WeatherDataPaths.txt. Each line in the file can be either a comment (the first character is #) or a name=path pair. The name part is the name of the computer on which the simulation is running, such as returned in a Linux console with "uname -n" command, or in a Microsoft Windows command window with the VER command. If you have several computers that start with the same string, such as on a Linux cluster, then only the first common part of the node name is needed.

Utilities to Manipulate Weather Data

Data can be provided in several formats and translated to DayCent5's format using a utility program.

Utility programs are provided with the Century distribution which allow you to manipulate weather files. You can view a list of these in the section Utilities.