Introduction

The -tosubmsg option writes out the current field as a submessage in a larger grib message. This can save space as various sections do not have to be repeated. For example, often you only need one grid definition section for all the submessages. This feature can save space when the bitmaps are repeated. By combining the fields into one message, only one copy of the bitmap is needed. The -tosubmsg option will only write out one grib message. Fields that cannot be added to the grib message will be ignored with warning. Fields cannot be added to the the submessage if section 0 (except the message length) or section 1 differ.

Note that the -tosubmsg is the only grib output option which cannot write to a pipe. However, the somewhat similar -ncep_uv option is pipe compatible.

By combining several grib messages into one big message, you can save space. The practical drawbacks include

• A few codes cannot handle submessages
• Decoders tend to load the entire grib message into memory. Loading a 2+ GB grib message would be a problem on 32-bit machines and machines with limited memory.
• Inefficient with "partial-http downloading" (of concern to web servers)

Usage

-tosubmsg OUTPUT_FILE
NOTE: OUTPUT_FILE cannot be a pipe.

Example

$ wgrib2 test.grb2 -tosubmsg new.grb2

1:0:d=2008120200:TMP:800 mb:anl:
2:4786:d=2008120200:TMP:750 mb:anl:
3:9572:d=2008120200:RH:800 mb:anl:
4:13335:d=2008120200:RH:750 mb:anl:
5:17098:d=2008120200:TMP:2743 m above mean sea level:anl:

Submessage statistics:
- # submessages written  : 5
- Kbytes saved           : 0
- Kbytes written         : 20
$ wgrib2  new.grb2
1.1:0:d=2008120200:TMP:800 mb:anl:
1.2:0:d=2008120200:TMP:750 mb:anl:
1.3:0:d=2008120200:RH:800 mb:anl:
1.4:0:d=2008120200:RH:750 mb:anl:
1.5:0:d=2008120200:TMP:2743 m above mean sea level:anl:

See also: -GRIB, -ncep_uv, -submsg