Usage: bufrdump.pl [--filter ] [--param [--csv [--delimiter ]] [--sort] [--sort_on [-]] [--station ] [--transform ] [--lon1 ] [--lat1 ] [--lon2 ] [--lat2 ] [--obstype ] [--tablepath ] [--help] Options: --filter Decode observations meeting criteria in filter file or filter list only --param [--csv [--delimiter ]] Print parameters in parameter file or comma separated list (e.g. wmonr,TA) only, in same order as they occur there. If using --csv possibly followed by --delimiter , the parameters vill be printed using the CSV (comma-separated values) format, with the delimiter del (default is ';') --sort Sort the decoded observations on station identification; first stations with wmonr, then stations with nationalnr, call sign, buoy_id or aircraft (others left out) --sort_on [-] Sort the decoded observations on increasing values of parameter, or decreasing values if a '-' follows the parameter name. E.g. --sort_on TA- will sort on decreasing temperatures. Observations not containing the parameter at all will be printed lastly, except when --sort_on is combined with --sort (in which case sorting is done firstly on station identification, secondly on parameter with missing values printed first) --station Print observations for stations in station list only, e.g. wmonr=01384,01492 --transform Do the transformations of parameter values listed in transformation file --lon1 Decode observations with longitude >= x1 only --lat1 Decode observations with latitude >= y1 only --lon2 Decode observations with longitude <= x2 only --lat2 Decode observations with latitude <= y2 only x1,y1,x2,y2 should be decimal degrees --obstype ] Force observation type. If this option is not set, will make an educated guess of observation type based on metadata in section 1 of each BUFR message --tablepath Set path to BUFR tables (overrides ENV{BUFR_TABLES}) --help Print this Usage (but you might instead prefer to use perldoc bufrdump.pl) Options may be abbreviated, e.g. --h or -h for --help. To avoid having to use the "--tablepath" option, you are adviced to set the environment variable BUFR_TABLES to the directory where your BUFR tables are located (unless the default path provided by bufrdump.pl works for you). The lines in , or the comma separated values in , should be name of the parameters you want to be printed. For example, if you want only station identification and temperature to be printed for a BUFR SYNOP file, either supply wmonr,nationalnr,call_sign,TA as argument to --params, or supply a which should look like this: wmonr nationalnr call_sign TA If you want "parameter=value" to be printed also when value is missing in BUFR message, precede the parameter name with an exclamation mark (e.g. '!TA'). Missing values will then be displayed as -32767. If the argument to --param is a parameter list, you must prevent the shell from attaching special meaning to the exclamation mark by enclosing the list in single quotes. If the parameter list consists of one parameter only, a comma must be appended (e.g. 'wmonr,') because bufrdump.pl uses the appearence of comma to signal that this is not a filename but parameter name(s). If --csv is used in conjunction with --param, all values will be printed using the CSV format, with first line listing the parameters, and with missing fields printed as -32767 if the parameter is marked with '!' in parameter file or list. With the parameter file above, the listing may for example start like wmonr;nationalnr;call_sign;TA 01001;;;-1.5 ;;LF5U;9.0 You can choose another delimiter than semicolon by use of option --delimiter , e.g. --csv --delimiter ',' Using --filter will decode only those observations that meet at least one of the BUFR descriptor criteria and all of the parameter criteria in , where the BUFR descriptor criteria should come first in filter file followed by a blank line, then comes the parameter criteria which should match or ! or where operator is one of =, !=, =~, !~, <, <=, > and >=. What follows =~ and !~ should be a Perl match regular expression. The parameter criteria may be phrased as alternatives by separating them with '|' on a single line. An example filter file is D: 001001 I2.2 01 D: 001001 I2.2 001002 I3.3 03 895 06 252 D: 001011 A9 LF5U type = Manned NN != 8 TA >= 5 TA < 9.5 RR_24 which decodes all observations with block number 01, two other specific wmo stations and one specific ship, where stations should be manned and have cloud cover with a value different from 8, and have temperature between 5 and 9.5 degrees Celsius, and contain precipitation for last 24 hours. Comment lines starting with # will be ignored. Another example: the filter file (starting with a blank line!) call_sign =~ /^L[A-N]..$/ obstime >= '2012-02-10 06:00:00' HW | HWA | PW | PWA FF > 10 | FG_010 > 10 will print only those ship observations for which the 4 character call_sign starts with 2 letters in the interval LA-LN, and having obstime larger or equal to the datetime given, and containing wave data (specifically: height or period of waves, manually or automatically measured), and with wind or 10 minutes gust more than 10 m/s. For convenience, when there are no BUFR descriptor criteria, you might provide the filter criteria on the command line. Example: --filter 'wmonr,TA > 0,RR_12 | RR_24, !FF' will decode only observations with wmonr, having positive temperature and containing precipitation for 12 or 24 hours and not reporting wind. If (like for --param) the filter list consists of one criterium only, a comma must be appended. To avoid the need of creating a filter file when observations for some few stations are requested, you can provide the stations in a comma separated list after option --station. Some examples: --station wmonr=01001,01152,01492 --station nationalnr=614_0050410003,637_108 --station call_sign=LF5U --station buoyid=64607,64609 --station aircraft=EU3421,JHCWUURA You cannot mix different kinds of stations this way (before '=' you must choose either wmonr, nationalnr, call_sign, buoy_id or aircraft). Note also that providing the stations in the BUFR descriptor part (first part) of the filter file will speed up execution time considerably, compared to using option --station. It is possible to combine --filter with --station if done with some care, e.g. specifying WMO block 01 and the required parameters in filter file, then the requested stations in station list. The --transform option is provided mainly to be able to use other units than what is default in bufrdump.pl. The transformation file should list the transformations wanted, one per line as = where $x is original value of the parameter. For example, the following transformation file will display wind speed FF and wind gust FG in knots instead of m/s, rounded to one decimal, and cloud cover NN in % (instead of the default which is using WMO code table 2700, roughly counting octas): FF = sprintf("%.1f", $x*1.9438) FG = sprintf("%.1f", $x*1.9438) NN = int($x*12.5 + .5) If --transform is combined with --filter, the filter criteria should refer to the transformed values. E.g. if the above NN transform to % is to be applied for sky not all covered by clouds, you should use NN != 100 instead of NN != 8 in filter file. The --obstype option might be handy in some special cases, like when you are interested only in the surface part of oceanographic data (then use '--obstype surface'), or when you want to see only levels with vss>0 in high resolution radiosonde data (then use '--obstype sounding-'), or when data category and/or data sub-category in the BUFR messages have unusual values.