tides-converter v3.2.3¶

Mercurial revision 5770:c90c3015e72d | 2026-05-22

Description¶

tides-converter is a tool designed to convert and interpolate structured tidal atlases. It supports various input and output formats, allowing users to transform tidal data into different representations, apply smoothing, and adjust grid parameters.

Usage¶

tides-converter input [OPTIONS]

Options¶

General Options¶

Option	Description
`-h`, `--help`	Display help and exit.
`-cm`	Input data is in centimeters instead of meters.
`-mm`	Input data is in millimeters instead of meters.
`-Pa`	Input data is in 0.0001 meters (e.g., for Pa units).
`-bmg`	Set output format to BMG.
`-debug`	Enable debug mode when reading topography or mask files.
`-o <file>`	Specify the output file name.

Input Options¶

Option	Description
`-w <wave>`	Targeted wave if the input contains multiple waves.
`-f <format>`	Input format: `bmg`, `ascii`, `netcdf`, `got`, `tpxo`, `otis`, `dtu` (equivalent to `ascii`), `eot`, `osu`, `cst`, or `s2c`. If not specified, the format is inferred from the file extension (`.nc` → `netcdf`, `.asc` → `ascii`, otherwise `bmg`).
`-uv`	Read 2 buffers from the atlas (e.g., for U and V components). Implies `ascii` input format.
`-iv <var1> <var2>`, `--input-variables <var1> <var2>`	Specify input variable names for amplitude and phase (default: `Ha` and `Hg`).
`-ig <file>`, `--input-grid <file>`	Input grid file. Defaults to the input file.
`-igv <var>`, `--input-grid-variable <var>`	Grid variable name in the input grid file. Defaults to the amplitude variable.

Output Grid Options¶

Option	Description
`-xmin <value>`, `-xmax <value>`, `-ymin <value>`, `-ymax <value>`	Grid span parameters in degrees. Default: input grid span.
`-dx <value>`, `-dy <value>`	Output resolution parameters. Supported units: `d` (degrees), `m` (minutes), `'` (minutes), `s` (seconds), `"` (arcseconds). Default: Automatically determined to keep the number of points ≥ 1440,000.
`-g <file>`	Output grid file. Defaults to the input grid.
`-v <var>`	Grid variable name for the output grid.
`-z <name	resolution>`
`-extend`	Add one column to repeat the 0/360 longitude boundary.

Processing Options¶

Option	Description
`-m <file>`	Mask file to apply to the input data.
`-b <file>`	Topography file. Useful as an alternative to the mask file.
`-s <value>`	Smoothing factor in meters. Default: No smoothing.
`-average`	Use averaging interpolation (default: pointwise).
`-pointwise`	Use pointwise interpolation (default).
`-deflate <level>`	Set the compression level for NetCDF output.

Examples¶

Convert a NetCDF Atlas to BMG Format¶

tides-converter input.nc -f netcdf -bmg -o output.bimg

Convert an ASCII Atlas with Custom Variables¶

tides-converter input.asc -f ascii -iv Ha Hg -o output.nc

Interpolate to a New Grid¶

tides-converter input.nc -g new_grid.nc -dx 0.1 -dy 0.1 -o output.nc

Apply Smoothing to the Atlas¶

tides-converter input.nc -s 10000 -o smoothed_output.nc

Convert TPXO Format to NetCDF¶

tides-converter input_tpxo.nc -f tpxo -o output.nc

Use a Mask File¶

tides-converter input.nc -m mask.nc -o masked_output.nc

Convert with Averaging Interpolation¶

tides-converter input.nc -average -o averaged_output.nc

Convert a Multi-Wave Input for a Specific Wave¶

tides-converter input.nc -w M2 -o M2_output.nc

Convert Units from Centimeters to Meters¶

tides-converter input.nc -cm -o output_in_meters.nc

Environment Variables¶

tides-converter does not rely on specific environment variables. However, it uses standard system libraries (e.g., NetCDF, OpenMP) that may be influenced by their respective environment variables.

Notes¶

Input Formats:

If the input file extension is .nc, the default format is netcdf.
If the extension is .asc, the default format is ascii.
Otherwise, the default format is bmg.

Output Formats:

If -bmg is specified, the output will be in BMG format.
Otherwise, the output defaults to NetCDF unless another format is specified.

Grid Handling:

If no output grid is specified (-g), the input grid is used.
Use -xmin, -xmax, -ymin, -ymax, -dx, and -dy to define a custom grid.

Smoothing:

The smoothing factor (-s) is specified in meters and applies a spatial smoothing to the tidal data.

Interpolation Modes:

-average: Uses averaging interpolation for smoother transitions.
-pointwise: Uses pointwise interpolation (default).

Multi-Buffer Input:

Use -uv to read two buffers (e.g., for U and V components) from the atlas. This implies the ascii input format.