CAVE Fundamentals
Text Products
This lesson provides instructions on how to use AWIPS text windows to display a variety of text products commonly referenced by three-letter text product IDs or by 9-character Automation of Field Service Operations and Services (AFOS) Product Inventory List (PIL) references. For a comprehensive list of 3-letter text product IDs, see this NWS Weather Forecast Office Product Listing. For a detailed listing of AFOS PILs for most NWS offices, see this version of the afos2awips file (web content, text file). These text products can be alphanumeric radar products generated by the WSR-88D or any of the text products generated by a WFO that are currently in the local database. On AWIPS, text products are viewed using the Text Monitor which can be launched from the CAVE->New->Text Workstation menu.
Displaying Alphanumeric RPG Products
While most products generated by the WSR-88D Radar Product Generator (RPG) can be displayed as graphical or image products in the D2D perspective, some products contain text information designed for display in a text window. These products are often referred to as Alphanumeric RPG Products. Some of these products are simply text products (e.g., Free Text Message) while others contain text information embedded within a graphic product and can only be displayed in a text window (e.g., adaptable parameters of the Tornado Vortex Signature).
Here is a list of the different alphanumeric RPG products you can view in a text window (including the three letter identifier for that product):
| Product Name | Three-Letter Identifier |
|---|---|
| Free Text Message | FTM |
| Hail Index | HAI |
| Mesocyclone | MES |
| One Hour Precipitation | OHP |
| One Hour Snow Depth | OSD |
| One Hour Snow Water Equivalent | OSW |
| Product List | PTL |
| Radar Coded Message | RCM |
| Storm Structure | SST |
| Storm Total Precipitation | STP |
| Storm Total Snow Depth | SSD |
| Storm Total Snow Water Equivalent | SSW |
| Storm Track Information | STI |
| Supplemental Precipitation Data | SPD |
| Three Hour Precipitation | THP |
| Tornado Vortex Signature | TVS |
| User Alert Message | USM |
| User Selectable Snow Depth | USD |
| User Selectable Snow Water Equivalent | USW |
| VAD Wind Profile | VWP |
The steps for displaying these products are shown in the following task that covers how to view a VWP product.
This task demonstrates how to use a text window to access the attribute and adaptable parameter information embedded within a VWP product.
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Displaying Office Text Products
In addition to RPG alphanumeric products, the AWIPS text window can display any text product currently in the AWIPS database. These products may be issued by your local office or by neighboring offices which are pertinent to your operations.
There are several ways to access these products in a text window (see NWS Weather Forecast Office Product Listing for product listing). Like RPG alphanumeric products, the nine-letter ID (see AFOS PILs) for a product in the “AFOS Cmd:” entry field retrieves all instances of that product from the database. Alternatively, the AFOS Browser provides a GUI used to select the Node, Category, and Designator from menus that construct the nine-letter ID for a text product. The AFOS Browser is particularly useful for loading less common products. Lastly, you can use the Load History to open text products that have been viewed previously on that AWIPS workstation.
This task demonstrates the steps for using the AFOS Browser to view an Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) from your local office AWIPS database.
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