pyradtran.clouds.CloudFileWriter

pyradtran.clouds.CloudFileWriter#

class pyradtran.clouds.CloudFileWriter[source]#

Bases: object

Persist CloudLayer sequences as libRadtran .dat files.

Two static methods are provided — one per cloud phase:

The output format is a three-column ASCII table (altitude, water-content, effective-radius) understood by libRadtran’s wc_file / ic_file input options.

See also

CloudGenerator

Build CloudLayer lists from data or parameters.

static write_ice_cloud_file(cloud_layers: List[CloudLayer], output_path: Path, include_zero_layers: bool = True, altitude_resolution_km: float = 0.1) → Path[source]#

Write an ice-cloud .dat file for libRadtran.

Analogous to write_water_cloud_file() but uses iwc_g_m3 and defaults to a 30 µm effective radius.

Parameters:

  • cloud_layers (list of CloudLayer) – Layers to rasterise. Only entries with iwc_g_m3 > 0 contribute unless include_zero_layers is set.

  • output_path (pathlib.Path) – Destination file.

  • include_zero_layers (bool, default True) – Write zero-IWC grid points when True.

  • altitude_resolution_km (float, default 0.1) – Vertical spacing of the output grid (km).

Returns:

output_path.

Return type:

pathlib.Path

Examples

>>> CloudFileWriter.write_ice_cloud_file(layers, Path("ic.dat"))
PosixPath('ic.dat')
static write_water_cloud_file(cloud_layers: List[CloudLayer], output_path: Path, include_zero_layers: bool = True, altitude_resolution_km: float = 0.1) → Path[source]#

Write a water-cloud .dat file for libRadtran.

The file contains three columns — altitude (km), liquid water content (g m⁻³), and effective radius (µm) — on a regular altitude grid.

Parameters:

  • cloud_layers (list of CloudLayer) – Layers to rasterise. Only entries with lwc_g_m3 > 0 contribute unless include_zero_layers is set.

  • output_path (pathlib.Path) – Destination file. Parent directories are created automatically.

  • include_zero_layers (bool, default True) – If True, grid points outside any layer are written as zero LWC. Set to False to skip them.

  • altitude_resolution_km (float, default 0.1) – Vertical spacing of the output grid (km).

Returns:

output_path (echoed back for convenience).

Return type:

pathlib.Path

Examples

>>> from pathlib import Path
>>> layers = CloudGenerator.from_simple_parameters(
...     z_base_km=1.0, z_top_km=2.0, lwc_g_m3=0.3
... )
>>> CloudFileWriter.write_water_cloud_file(layers, Path("wc.dat"))
PosixPath('wc.dat')
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