File Descriptions of Model Data

Files within the LASSO-ENA data set consist of model inputs and outputs from the SAM model. A standardized filename convention is used to uniquely identify these files to assist with their retreival and scripting. This section describes that convention and the different available file types.

Filename Convention

The LASSO-ENA filename convention combines details specific to LASSO modeling with ARM’s naming convention. The approach is similar to the filenames used for LASSO-CACTI, with the primary difference being an adaptation to using the SAM model. For example, SAM does not use nested domains like WRF, so domain numbers are replaced by a more descriptive label. LASSO-ENA also uses more physics-based ensemble members than LASSO-CACTI, which is reflected in the more expressive configuration labels.

The filename convention is as follows, with the first line showing the specific portions of the name and the second line showing a specific example:

sssIIII_FFFFFF_YYYYmmddHHEEEEdWWxXXX_aaaaFn.dl.YYYYmmdd.HHMMSS.ext
enalasso_sam3d_20180630merra2d25x100_sbmwrm-aer2-flxsstC1.m1.20180630.174500.nc

Table 8 describes the various pieces of the filename.

Table 8 Information Contained in LASSO-ENA Filenames.

Category	Description
sss	ARM site identifier, “ena” for the ENA atmospheric observatory
IIII	Instrument name, “lasso” for LASSO
FFFFFF	File type, i.e., the file type abbreviations for the various LASSO-ENA data types, e.g., samin, samrest, and sam3d
YYYYmmddHH	Case date, i.e., model start time
EEEE	Ensemble member data source (ERA5 or MERRA-2)
dWWxXXX	Domain width and horizontal grid spacing
aaaa	Configuration label to identify model configuration and domain settings
Fn	ARM facility designation, always C1 for LASSO-ENA
dl	Data level, either m0 (raw model data) or m1 (post-processed model data) for LASSO
YYYYmmdd.HHMMSS	Time of data in the file
ext	Filename extension, “nc” for netCDF files and “tar” for a grouping of files held within a tar file

Note that Table 7 lists the available configuration labels. These labels typically follow the format [microphysics]-[aerosol concentration]-[surface flux option]. However, additional details can be added to uniquely identify a particular configuration that could differ in other aspects.

File Types

The LASSO-ENA simulation data is effectively raw model output from the SAM model with the exception of minor post-processing to convert binary output into netCDF format. The different file types are:

• SAM Input Files
• SAM Restart Files
• SAM Statistic Output Files
• SAM 2-D Output Files
• SAM 3-D Output Files
• SAM Microphysics 3-D Output Files