Author: Travis Branham, Junior, Department of Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Pradeep K. Behera, Ph.D, PE, Department of Civil Engineering
This application is designed to parse rain "events" from a file of rain gauge data. These events are defined by a few key parameters:
Most of these parameters are self-explanatory; however, the Inter-Event Time is slightly more complicated. You, the user, will define an Inter-Event Time Definition (IETD) which will determine how the events are delimited from one another. The IETD is the minimum amount of time needed to separate two events. This means that, using an IETD of six hours, periods of rain that have gaps of fewer than six hours will all be considered 1 event.
The application has two different output formats: general stats and tab-delimited text file. The general stats will give you just that -- general statistics on the data you provided. You can use these numbers to get a sanity-check on the parameters you are interested in. The tab-delimited text file, on the other hand, will provide you with a full account of each "event" found within the source material. This file is suitable for opening in spreadsheet applications, such as Microsoft Excel, or in your favorite text-editor.
It should also be noted that the application is designed to work with files acquired from the National Climate Data Center (NCDC). It will not work with files generated by other means. For help on acquiring the proper file type, please read this brief tutorial: ncdc_instructions.pdf. If you have a need to parse material from other sources, please consider modifying the Ruby source code available in the Download section.