Verification files

Bris-inference can generate verification files compatible with the Verif program (https://github.com/WFRT/verif). These files contain both forecasts and observations for point locations and together with the Veeif tools let's you do extensive analysis of the performance of the model.

This can be configured by adding a Verif output in the config file:

outputs:
  - verif:
      filename: output_filename.nc
      variable: 2t
      obs_sources:
        - verif:
            filename: observation_file.nc

A Verif file can be produced for a single variable, which is defined by variable. This must be the name of a variable that the model produces.

filename is the name of the output file. obs_sources is a list of observation sources, described next.

Observations

Verif NetCDF files typically contain forecasts and observations. In many cases, the user has available a Verif file containing observations. These files can be used to provide observations for this output.

However, Bris inference can also parse NetCDF files with a simpler format, containing only the observations. So if you do not already have Verif files we recommend that you dump observations and station metadata onto a NetCDF file with this structure:

   netcdf format {
   dimensions:
      time = UNLIMITED;
      location = 10;
   variables:
      int time(time);               // Valid time of forecast initialization in
                                    // number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +00:00
      float lat(location);          // Decimal degrees latitude
      float lon(location);          // Decimal degrees longitude
      float altitude(location);     // Altitude in meters
      float obs(time, location);    // Observations
      }