Library of AMIP data Transmission Standards

			    LATS 1.0

	     http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/software/lats
		       lats@pcmdi.llnl.gov

		  Mike Fiorino and Bob Drach(1)

     Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison
	     Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
		    University of California
		       P.O. Box 808 L-264
		       Livermore, CA 94551
	     510-423-8505 (voice) 510-422-7675(fax)


			  19 March, 1997
				

1.  Introduction
----------------

Welcome to the root directory of the LATS distribution files!

Instructions for installation and testing are in the README files
within the distribution.  Simply ftp the appropriate file,
uncompress and untar it and then read the first README file in
the root directory of the distribution on your machine.  See the
sample session below.


2.  Description
---------------

LATS is a library of routines to output gridded data (2-D
rectilinear, longitude/latitude-referenced arrays) in two
formats: 1) WMO Gridded Binary (GRIB)
(ftp://ncardata.ucar.edu/docs/grib/); and/or 2) netCDF
(http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/index.html).

Please refer to the document at
http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/software/lats or contact us by email at
lats@pcmdi.llnl.gov for more information on LATS.


3.  Available Distributions
---------------------------

LATS has been built and tested on the following platforms:

Distribution Name
       | Machine 
                   | uname -a
                                                         | where made              | Note
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aix    | IBM       | AIX 2 3 000039577000                | cumulus.gcn.ou.edu
alpha  | DEC alpha | OSF1 V3.2 41.64 alpha               | cola.iges.org      
c90    | CRAY C90  | sn4005  8.0.4 u31.20 CRAY C90       | a.nersc.gov
hpux   | HP        | HP-UX A.09.01 A 9000/755            | sas-hp.nersc.gov
irix4  | SGI       | IRIX 4.0.5 06151813 IP12            | sgi39.wwb.noaa.gov
irix5  | SGI       | IRIX 5.3 11091812 IP22 mips         | tenki.llnl.gov
j90    | CRAY J90  | sn9550 9.0.2.2 car.6 CRAY J90       | killeen.nersc.gov
linux  | x86 PC    | Linux 2.0.21 #5                     | rosmondt.nrlmry.navy.mil
sol2   | SUN       | SunOS 5.5.1 Generic_103640-03 sun4d | sas-sun.nersc.gov
sunos4 | SUN       | SunOS 4.1.3 1 sun4m                 | typhoon.llnl.gov

If you cannot find a compatible distribution, contact us at
lats@pcmdi.llnl.gov to arrange a port.

Source is available under a collaborative agreement.  See the
LATS Home page (http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/software/lats) for more
information.

The name of the file you need to download will be

LATS-V.V.DDDD.tar.Z

where V.V is the version and DDDD is the distribution name.  


4.  Sample Download Session
---------------------------

Let's assume you will be running LATS on a SGI IRIX 6.3 platform.
You know that the irix5 distribution is compatible (and it really
should be).

a)	Create a LATS directory, e.g.,

mkdir /users/myhome/lats

b)	Do an anonymous ftp to sprite.llnl.gov,

cd /pub/lats
bin
get LATS-1.0.irix5.tar.Z
quit

c)	In your LATS directory /users/myhome/lats,

uncompress LATS-1.0.irix5.tar.Z
tar -xvf LATS-1.0.irix5.tar

where you will find the following directory structure:

/users/myhome/lats/LATS-1.0/README    THE MAIN STARTING POINT DOCUMENT!!!!
                           bin/	      various utilities to work with LATS-created data
                           doc/       documentation
                           lib/	      the LATS and netCDF libraries
                           include/   include files for C and fortran applications
                                      for both LATS and netCDF		
                           man/       LATS man pages 
                           table/     the AMIP II parameter/center/QC/level
                                      table which drives LATS
                           test/      fortran-based test routine to verify LATS is working


d)	The next and most important step is to read 
	the first README, i.e.,

/users/myhome/lats/LATS-1.0/README

This document is a road map through the distribution All the
basic information you need on testing and building LATS
applications is contained here.  The README files in the
subdirectories give information on contents and features of the
included files.  The most important README for application
development is in the test/ subdirectory.


5.  Troubleshooting and Questions
---------------------------------

The first README has a section on trouble shooting LATS, but
should you have difficulty getting to the distribution or
uncompressing and untaring, please contact us at,

lats@pcmdi.llnl.gov

Good luck and let us know how LATS is working!


-------------------------------------------------------------

(1) NOTE:

	Although Bob Drach has been the principal developer of
	LATS, Mike Fiorino has taken over maintenance and development
	until Bob returns from sabbatical this coming autumn.  
	The GRIB interface was written by Mike and the netCDF
	interface by Bob.