NCL/NCARG

NCAR Graphics is a Fortran and C based software package for scientific visualization.  NCL (The NCAR Command Language), is a free interpreted language designed specifically for scientific data processing and visualization. It is a product of the Computational & Information Systems Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. NCL has robust file input and output: it can read and write netCDF-3, netCDF-4 classic, HDF4, binary, and ASCII data, and read HDF-EOS2, GRIB1, and GRIB2. The graphics are based on NCAR Graphics.

Availability and Restrictions

Versions

NCL/NCAR Graphics is available on Oakley and Owens Cluster. The versions currently available at OSC are:

version oakley Owens
6.0.0 X  
6.2.1 X  
6.3.0 X(GI)*  X(GI)*
6.5.0   X(GI)
* Current default version; G = available with gnu; I = available with intel

You can use  module spider ncarg to view available NCL/NCAR Graphics modules. Feel free to contact OSC Help if you need other versions for your work.

Access 

NCL/NCAR Graphics is available for use by all OSC users.

Usage

Usage on Oakley

Set-up on Oakley

To load the default version, first load the cairo module, then use either module load ncarg. To select a particular version, use module load ncarg/version. For example, use module load ncarg/6.3.0 to load NCARG version 6.3.0 on Oakley. For the default version of ncarg, use 
module load cairo
module load ncarg

Batch Usage on Oakley

Batch jobs can request mutiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations for Oakley and Scheduling Policies and Limits for more info. 
Interactive Batch Session
For an interactive batch session on Oakley, one can run the following command:
qsub -I -l nodes=1:ppn=12 -l walltime=1:00:00
which gives you 12 cores (-l nodes=1:ppn=12) with 1 hour (-l walltime=1:00:00). You may adjust the numbers per your need.
Non-interactive Batch Job (Serial Run)
A batch script can be created and submitted for a serial or parallel run. You can create the batch script using any text editor you like in a working directory on the system of your choice. The following example batch script file will use the input file named interp1d_1.ncl.
Below is the example batch script job.txt for a serial run:
#PBS -l walltime=1:00:00
#PBS -l nodes=1:ppn=12
#PBS -N jobname
#PBS -j oe
module load cairo
module load ncarg
cp interp1d_1.ncl $TMPDIR
cd $TMPDIR
ncl interp1d_1.ncl
cp interp1d.ps $PBS_O_WORKDIR

In order to run it via the batch system, submit the job.txt file with the following command:

qsub job.txt

Usage on Owens

Set-up on Owens

To load the default version use module load ncarg. To select a particular version, use module load ncarg/version. For example, use module load ncarg/6.3.0 to load NCARG version 6.3.0 on Owens. For the default version of ncarg, use 
module load ncarg

Batch Usage on Owens

Batch jobs can request mutiple nodes/cores and compute time up to the limits of the OSC systems. Refer to Queues and Reservations for Owens and Scheduling Policies and Limits for more info. 
Interactive Batch Session
For an interactive batch session on Owens, one can run the following command:
qsub -I -l nodes=1:ppn=28 -l walltime=1:00:00
which gives you 28 cores (-l nodes=1:ppn=28) with 1 hour (-l walltime=1:00:00). You may adjust the numbers per your need.
Non-interactive Batch Job (Serial Run)
A batch script can be created and submitted for a serial or parallel run. You can create the batch script using any text editor you like in a working directory on the system of your choice. The following example batch script file will use the input file named interp1d_1.ncl.
Below is the example batch script job.txt for a serial run:
#PBS -l walltime=1:00:00
#PBS -l nodes=1:ppn=28
#PBS -N jobname
#PBS -j oe
module load ncarg
cp interp1d_1.ncl $TMPDIR
cd $TMPDIR
ncl interp1d_1.ncl
cp interp1d.ps $PBS_O_WORKDIR

In order to run it via the batch system, submit the job.txt file with the following command:

qsub job.txt

Further Reading

Official documentation can be obtained from NCL homepage.

Service: 
Software
Fields of Science: 
Earth Sciences
Visualization