The programs and all of the files associated with the compilation and running of the programs are organized and arranged in a structure that takes advantage of the capabilities of a UNIX machine and makes the process of installing, compiling and running the programs relatively straightforward.
A User Guide (postscript) is available that describes the structure of LAMPS and explains how one goes about installing, compiling and running the LAMPS system of programs. For information regarding a particular program, see the Programmer's Guide.
LAMPS contains many different programs. Many different programs are needed in order to do all of things that are needed to do. There are three types of programs: initialization, dynamic model, post-processing.
The principle part of LAMPS is the dynamic model. This is the program that makes a forecast given an initial field. Contrary to what one might expect, the dynamic model is not just a bunch of equations processed by the computer to spit out a forecast. In addition to the equations, there is a significant amount of code needed to handle the I/O (i.e., input and output) of the dynamic model and memory limitations of the computer. Not too surprisingly, several different files are required to contain all of the source code for the dynamic model program.
Furthermore, LAMPS does not just consist of a dynamic model. There are also programs to process the observations (for interpolating to model grid and removing errors) and programs to process the forecasts (for graphing). The former are called initialization programs (because they create an initial data field) and the latter are called post-processing programs (because they are used after the forecast has been made).
The source code for the LAMPS programs can be quite complicated. In addition, it can be quite difficult, especially for the novice, to find all of the source code for a particular program. An attempt has been made to address this problem by providing a clear file structure in LAMPS. In addition, procedures have been laid out for installing LAMPS and compiling and running programs.
Still, everybody is different. Some users just need to run the programs. Others need to make changes to the programs or write additional programs. While attempts have been made to accommodate both, LAMPS is geared more for the latter. As such, certain structures may appear overly complicated to the novice.
Last updated: March 21, 2000.
Questions and comments should be directed to Robert Cohen
Return to LAMPS home page.