ANUCLIM Inputs

Climate surfaces

The climate surface coefficient files are produced from irregular networks of actual meteorological variables by the ANUSPLIN package (Hutchinson 1989, 1991) and are essential for the running of ESOCLIM, BIOCLIM and GROCLIM. If these files do not exist for the region or country of interest, you must first create them. This requires access to the ANUSPLIN software and good long-term meteorological data for as many sites as possible. The process of generating the surfaces is usually iterative. Surfaces are generated, checked for errors, the input data corrected and the surfaces regenerated. This process is repeated until the surfaces are accurate, and is explained in detail in the documentation supplied with ANUSPLIN.

The names of the surface files, along with boundary and other information is supplied to ANUCLIM by the surflist file. This is a text file and is usually just called surflist. It is normally found in the same directory as the surface files (the surf directory under the ANUCLIM installation), and should be found automatically by ANUCLIM when it starts up.

Note that unless you modify the surflist file, ANUCLIM will look for climate surfaces in the same directory as the surflist file. This means that if you move the standard surflist file out of the surf directory, ANUCLIM will be unable to find the surface files. See Advanced topics for more information.

ANUCLIM is usually supplied with climate surfaces for Australia, so you will probably not need to generate surfaces or modify the surflist file if your region of study is within mainland Australia or Tasmania. If you do need to modify or create a new surflist file, make a copy of the supplied surflist file and edit it with a text editor. The surflist file contains comments that describe its format. If you do edit the surflist file, the climate variables 1 to 6 must remain as ...

• 1 maximum temperature deg.C
• 2 minimum temperature deg.C
• 3 rainfall mm.
• 4 solar radiation with rainfall Mj/m2/day
• 5 solar radiation Mj/m2/day
• 6 evaporation mm/month

Note that both surfaces 4 and 5 describe solar radiation. In general, surface 4 provides better results. While surface 5 estimates solar radiation from longitude and latitude, surface 4 is also fitted to rainfall. Since there is a strong negative correlation between rainfall and solar radiation (the more cloud, the less radiation), this makes the surface more accurate. However, it does mean that you need rainfall values for the points at which you want radiation estimates. If you don't have these, the rainfall surface can be used to estimate them from longitude, latitude and elevation before the radiation estimates are computed. More about this below.

Using the ANUCLIM file choosers to find your input files

Many of the ANUCLIM windows have a file chooser which is used to specify the file containing your input data. The file choosers look like this:

Figure 3: The file chooser window
The file choosers have the following features

• The Directory: menu. This is a list of all the directories (also known as folders) in the path to the directory you are currently viewing. Use this to quickly change to a higher level directory.
• The file list and scrollbar. This displays all the files of interest and all the directories within the selected directory. Click on the file list to select a file. You can also click and type on the file list to select files (see below).
• The "up folder" button. This changes directory to the parent directory of the one you are currently viewing. It is a shortcut for selecting the 2nd last item on the directory menu.
• The go to: button and entry box. If you type characters into the entry box, all the files and directories in the file list that start with those characters will be selected when you stop typing. You can also click and type on the file list itself to achieve the same effect.

  If a single directory is selected, you can press return or click the go to: button to change into that directory. If more than 1 file or directory is selected, pressing return or clicking the goto button has no effect.

  If the character string showing in the entry box doesn't select any files, you can press return or click the go to: button to make the file chooser interpret your string as a file pathname. This will change the file chooser display to show the file or directory specified. You can use a file pathname starting with ~/ to mean your home directory (under Microsoft Windows, this is usually C:\, unless overridden by the HOME environment variable). On unix platforms, you can use a file pathname starting with ~username/ to mean the home directory of another user.

• The Open directory button. This is only active when a single directory is selected in the file list. Clicking this button changes the file list to show the contents of the selected directory. Double clicking a directory in the file list has the same effect as selecting the directory and clicking the Open directory button.

Site data in plain text files

Climate variables (or parameters derived from climate variables) can be estimated for particular point locations by supplying these point locations as site data. The most common way of supplying these point locations is by using a plain-text file(.txt file on Microsoft Windows), generated by a text editor or a spreadsheet export function.

Each line of the file contains the position, elevation, site identifier and other data for one site. For each location two values are always required: longitude and latitude (or easting and northing if using UTM or TM coordinates). How many and which additional values are required is dependent on the climate variables chosen and the independent variables that were used in the creation of the surface coefficient files for those climate variables. Elevation is usually the only additional value required. Text files can be either

• Free format: Values are separated with commas, spaces or tabs. Strings, such as the site identifier, can be quoted using single quotes to preserve internal spaces. tabs, commas or slashes. Any unquoted slash characters (i.e. / ) mark the end of useful data on the line and are discarded, along with any following characters. Example:

      'site 1' 123.45 -34.56 789
      'site 2',  123.56, -34.78, 111 / This text after the slash is ignored
      site3 123.56 -34.79 123        / No need to quote site3
      'site3/4' 123.59 -34.79 123    / Need to quote site3/4 as it contains a slash.
      

  Except for the site identifier, you should not include any non-numeric data items in a free-format data file. See Common problems with input data files for details.
• Fixed format: The file is formatted so that all lines use exactly the same character positions for each value. This causes the data to appear in rigidly aligned columns when displayed in a fixed-width font. Quoting of the site identifier is unnecessary, and slash characters are treated just like any other character. Example

      site A  123.45  -34.56 789
      site B  123.56  -34.78 111  You can put any text you like in the file
      site1C  132.21  -34.651029  providing its outside the character positions
      site1D  132.21  -34.0   29  of the data values.
      

  Note that this file can't be read in free format for 3 reasons
  • The site name sometimes contains spaces (e.g. site A)
  • The last 2 data items on a line are not always separated by a space (e.g. site1C)
  • The comments at the end of each line aren't preceded by a slash character.

In both cases, the file format is specified to ANUCLIM by graphically indicating which value is which on a preview of your data file.

For plain text files, longitude and latitude information can be supplied as decimal values or as separate degrees, minutes and seconds values. Southern hemisphere latitudes do not have to be recorded as negative. You can specify that all your latitudes are to be interpreted as negative at run time.

Examples of site data in plain text files

1. This file is in fixed format and contains coordinates in degrees and minutes. Reading from left to right, the six data items are
   1. Longitude degrees
   2. Longitude minutes
   3. Latitude degrees
   4. Latitude minutes
   5. Elevation metres
   6. Site identification

   141 11 ­19 21  60 Lyrian
   141 12 ­19 28  60 3km west of Saxby River
   141 45 ­20 40 120 Julia Creek
   141 53 ­20 42 130 Garomna
   141 48 ­20 50 135 Eureka
   142 12 ­20 53 150 Edith Downs­Alexmere
   142 25 ­20 27 145 Euraba
   142 13 ­20 39 140 Nelia
   142 54 ­20 41 180 Wyangarie
   142 55 ­20 59 200 Leslew Downs
   142 07 ­21 26 200 Crendon
     

2. This file is in free format, and contains both decimal degrees and UTM coordinates. It could be used with either the decimal degrees or the UTM all points in one zone coordinate systems. It could also be used with the Australian wind surfaces, as it contains distance from coast information. Reading from left to right, the nine data items are
   1. Site number (could be used as site id)
   2. Identifier string (could be used as site id)
   3. Latitude in decimal degrees
   4. Longitude in decimal degrees
   5. Distance from coast in kilometres
   6. Elevation in metres
   7. UTM Northing value in metres
   8. UTM Easting value in metres
   9. UTM zone number (not used)

   2012 'HALLS CREEK (A.)M.O.' ­18.230 127.670 340.9 423 7983850 359374 52
   3003 'BROOME AERO ' ­17.950 122.250 0.1 012 8015179 420579 51
   4032 'PORT HEDLAND (A)M.O. ' ­20.380 118.620 3.8 006 7745627 669067 50
   9034 'PERTH REGIONAL OFFIC ' ­31.950 115.850 9.3 019 6464517 391314 50
   15590 'ALICE SPRINGS ' ­23.820 133.900 891.9 545 7365258 387957 53
   17043 'OODNADATTA (A.)M.O. ' ­27.550 135.470 535.3 112 6952546 546403 53
   23090 'ADELAIDE R.O. ' ­34.920 138.620 11.0 047 6133230 282587 54
   31011 'CAIRNS AERO ' ­16.880 145.750 1.9 003 8133292 366852 55
   55054 'TAMWORTH (A).M.O. ' ­31.080 150.850 192.4 403 6559533 294897 56
   66037 'MASCOT (A.)M.O. ' ­33.930 151.180 2.3 003 6244101 331777 56
   70015 'CANBERRA FORESTRY' ­35.300 149.100 107.9 581 6091651 690942 55
   72060 'KHANCOBAN (S.M.C.)' ­36.220 148.130 174.1 337 5991044 601563 55
   72150 'WAGGA M.O.' ­35.170 147.470 252.8 218 6107990 542800 55
   82042 'STRATHBOGIE P.O.' ­36.870 145.730 128.7 506 5918782 386804 55
   88133 'NEWBURY' ­37.420 144.280 69.1 768 5855047 259298 55
    

Specifying the format of plain text files

Since the format of lines in a plain text file is arbitrarily determined by the person or program creating the text file, ANUCLIM needs to be informed about the layout of plain text files in order to use the data in them. ANUCLIM uses a graphical mechanism for specifying format.

Figure 4: text file format specifier window
In the middle of the window (underneath the file chooser) is the file preview display. This shows the first few lines of your selected data file. Underneath this are the lists of undefined and defined data items, otherwise known as fields. Between the two lists are buttons labeled << and >> that you use to tell ANUCLIM which field is which.

If you have used this file before, its likely that ANUCLIM will already know the file format, and will preset the field definitions in the right-hand listbox. If you have not used this file before, you will have to specify which column (or range of character positions) contains which data item.

You should first decide whether the file is in free- or fixed format (see above). Make this selection from the File is in menu. Having done that you can then proceed to defining the fields.

When you first select a file, ANUCLIM will highlight what it thinks is the first data item on each line in the file preview display. As you define fields it will try to guess the next data item on the line, but it may guess incorrectly. At any point you can correct its guess of the data item or character positions.

• In free-format mode, click on the file preview display to select a different column of data.
• In fixed-format mode, click on the first character of a data item in the file preview, drag the mouse to the last character of the data item and release the mouse button. When you release the mouse button, ANUCLIM will highlight the range of character positions spanned by your selection. You can also double-click on a character to extend the selection forwards and backwards to the surrounding space characters. Take care to check that your indicated column positions always encompass all characters of the field. For instance, if the file preview shows

        Mount Springfield   123.45 45.67   10
        Shelbyville         123.78 56.78 1099
        

  the last column is actually 4 characters wide, not 2 as the first line suggests.

Once you have selected the data item on the file preview, select the corresponding data item name under Items not yet defined and click the >> button. As a shortcut, you can just double-click the data item name instead. This will define the data item, and ANUCLIM will then guess the next data item on the file preview. If the guess is wrong (e.g. refers to a data item that ANUCLIM doesn't use, or doesn't span all the character positions), change it (see above).

Occasionally you may make a mistake in your field definitions, or ANUCLIM may preset the field definitions wrongly because the file format has changed. In both these cases, select an item under Items defined and click the << button (or double-click on the item) to move a data item back onto the Items not yet defined list. You can then redefine it correctly.

Repeat the field definition process for all data items and click OK. The OK button will only become active once you have defined all the required items.

Note that the list of data items that need to be defined depends on several settings, including the Coordinate system and the set of selected surfaces. If you find that there are still fields remaining under Items not yet defined after you have defined all the items in your data file, check that the Coordinate system is set correctly. Also check the surface selections, the adjust radiation for slope/aspect checkbox, and for GROCLIM, the settings for soil information.

Site data in GIS site files

ANUCLIM can also use site data stored in site files in a GIS. These types of files are also known as point files or vector files. This is usually less convenient than using a plain text file. Not only are you unable to supply a unique site id for each point, but each 3rd independent variable must be in a separate file. Furthermore, if you need to supply more than one 3rd independent variable (e.g. elevation and distance from coast), all the files must describe exactly the same points in exactly the same sequence. The coordinate system that your site files use must be either longitude/latitude, UTM or TM (see Coordinate systems and options).

ANUCLIM currently recognises GIS site files in the following formats:

• IDRISI vector file If you are using the IDRISI Geographic Information system, ANUCLIM can read site information from the .vec files directly. The value stored at each point in your .vec file should be the elevation at that point. If you are using a surface that requires something other than elevation as its third independent variable (e.g. an Australian wind surface), you will need an extra .vec file that has the third independent variable (e.g. distance from coast) stored at each point.
• ARC/INFO UNGENERATE file If you are using the ARC/INFO Geographic Information system, ANUCLIM can read site information from a file created with the ARC/INFO UNGENERATE POINT command. The ARC/INFO cover-id number is read as the elevation value for a point. To set the cover-id item in the point coverage equal to the height, follow these steps:
  1. If the cover-ids are meaningful (not just sequential numbers). make a copy of the coverage first.
  2. Update the id in the feature attribute table. Example:

            arc> tables
            tables> select cover.pat
            tables> calculate cover-id = height
            

     where height is info item which stores the elevation value
  3. Update the coverage ids stored with the coordinates. Example:

           arc> idedit cover point
           

  4. Ungenerate the point file. Example:

           arc> ungenerate point cover cover.gen
           

  If you are using a surface that requires something other than elevation as its third independent variable (e.g. an Australian wind surface), you will need an extra UNGENERATE file that has the third independent variable (e.g. distance from coast) stored at each point.

Grid data

Climate variables (or parameters derived from climate variables) can be estimated for each point on a regular grid by supplying ANUCLIM with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). If you are using BIOCLIM in conjunction with BIOMAP as a predictive system, you will need to run BIOCLIM in this mode in order to generate the gridded parameters for BIOMAP. If you don't have a DEM of your area of study, our recommendation is to use the ANUDEM package (Hutchinson 1988,1989). ANUDEM has been incorporated into ARC/INFO as TOPOGRID.

The coordinate system that your grid files use must be either longitude/latitude, UTM or TM (see Coordinate systems and options). ANUCLIM can read grid data in 4 formats:

• ARC/INFO FLOATGRID. These are generated with the ARC/INFO GRIDFLOAT command, and consist of a "body" file and a "header" file (.hdr extension). Note: ANUCLIM can currently only read floatgrid files written with the same byte order as the machine that ANUCLIM is running on.
• ARC/INFO ASCIIGRID. These are generated with the ARC/INFO GRIDASCII command, and consist of plain text. The first few lines of the file contains the header information. Here are the first few lines from an ASCIIGRID file:

  NCOLS 241
  NROWS 161
  XLLCORNER 145.9875
  YLLCORNER -38.0125
  CELLSIZE 0.025
  NODATA_VALUE -99
  148     145     140     149     158     175     194     200     314     439
  
      

• IDRISI image format. ANUCLIM can read IDRISI .img and .doc files directly.
• Plain text format. ANUCLIM can read either free- or fixed format plain text files containing grid cell values. Select either free- or fixed-format for plain text grids from the Preferences item on the File menu.

  You specify the grid cell bounds and cell size at run time. The number of values in your text file must exactly match the number of cells defined by your grid boundary and cell size values. The first value in your file is assumed to be for the cell in the north west corner of the grid. The next value is assumed to be for the next cell east of that. After reading enough values to fill all the cells along the north edge of the grid, ANUCLIM reads the next value as the value for the most westerly cell in the row just south of the preceding row. This process continues until the value for the cell in the south east corner has been read.

Some cells in a DEM refer to nonexistent or uninteresting points (e.g. the ocean). These cells are usually flagged by setting them to a no-data value (-9999 for example). If you are using an ARC/INFO or IDRISI grid, ANUCLIM will use the no-data value indicated in the grid's header information. If you are using grid data from a plain text file, you will have to enter the no-data value in the entry box provided.

If you are using a surface that requires something other than elevation as its third independent variable (e.g. an Australian wind surface), you will need a grid of the required third independent variable values (e.g. distance from coast). If you are using a surface that requires just 2 independent variables (e.g. radiation by longitude and latitude without rainfall), you will need to supply a mask grid . This is a grid that has no-data values in cells that are to be ignored, and any other value in cells where you want climate surface estimates.

If you are using two or more grids simultaneously, all your grids must have the same number of rows and columns, and must have the same boundary coordinates and cell size.

Coordinate systems and options

ANUCLIM can use site coordinate or grid cell boundary values in 3 different coordinate systems.

• Longitude and latitude. Latitude 0 is the equator, -90 is the south pole and +90 is the north pole. Longitude 0 is Greenwich (UK), and increases to the east.

  Extra information required to resolve coordinates:

  A longitude and latitude pair unambiguously locates a single point on the earth's surface, so no extra information is required. However, If all your longitudes or latitudes are negative and your data is in the form of sites, you can leave off the leading minus sign and tell ANUCLIM at run time that your longitudes or latitudes should be interpreted as being negative.

• Universal Transverse Mercator. (UTM) UTMs divide the earth into strips, or zones, which occupy a particular range of longitudes. Within a zone, coordinates are measured in metres from the zone origin. The X coordinate is known as the easting and the Y coordinate is known as the northing. These values are never negative. Australian map grid (AMG) coordinates are UTM coordinates.

  Extra information required to resolve coordinates:

  The value of any longitude running through the zone containing your site or grid.

  Note: Unlike other software which requires you to know the zone number when working in UTM coordinates, ANUCLIM only needs to know the longitude of any meridian running through the zone. It will compute the zone number from the longitude.
• local Transverse Mercator (TM). A more general, but less widely used, form of UTM.

  Extra information required to resolve coordinates:

  • LONGITUDE OF ORIGIN The longitude of the point from which coordinates in the projection are measured.
  • LATITUDE OF ORIGIN The latitude of the point from which coordinates in the projection are measured.
  • SCALE FACTOR A multiplication factor used to shrink or stretch a curved surface so that it fits the flat plane it is projected onto. This factor is often very close to 1.0, indicating that the surface being projected is only slightly curved.
  • FALSE EASTING The extra amount that has been added to easting coordinates in your data file. This is usually set so that none of the easting coordinates are less than zero.
  • FALSE NORTHING The extra amount that has been added to northing coordinates in your data file. This is usually set so that none of the northing coordinates are less than zero.

Depending on the form of your input data, you can supply the extra coordinate system reference information in several ways.

	Site data in plain text files	Site data in GIS files	grid data
Coordinates in decimal degrees	OK	OK	OK. Boundary coordinates must have correct sign.
Coordinates in degrees and minutes	OK. See note below.	Not available	Not available
Coordinates in degrees, minutes, seconds	OK. See note below.	Not available	Not available
UTM coordinates with all points or cells in the one zone	OK	OK	OK
UTM coordinates with points spanning several zones	OK. Longitude of a meridian within the point's UTM zone must be present on each line of the file.	Not available	Not available
TM coordinates with all points having the same origin, scale factor, false easting, false northing.	OK	OK	OK
TM coordinates with points having different origin, scale factor, false easting, false northing.	OK. Origin, scale factor, false easting, false northing must be present on each line of the file.	Not available	Not available

Global Positioning System, maps, geodetic datum and ellipsoids

There are a number of slightly different standards in use for specifying longitude and latitude, and you should try to convert any positional information you have into the standard used by the climate surfaces. For example, the Global Positioning System uses a standard called the World Geodetic System 1984 [WGS84], whereas the Australian climate surfaces were based on Australian Map Grid [AMG66/84]. As a result, GPS coordinates differ by about 200m. See http://www.auslig.gov.au/ausgda/gdastrat.htm for details.

Notes regarding signed degrees, minutes and seconds coordinates

When using position information in the form of separate degrees, minutes and seconds values, the sign should normally be present on the degree value, and the minutes and seconds values should be left unsigned. This presents a problem if your sites are within 1 degree of the equator, as the degree value will be 0 and will lose its sign. In these cases, either use decimal degrees or ensure than the sign is applied to the minutes column, or to the seconds column if the minutes is also zero. In all cases, make sure that the sign is applied to the most significant non-zero figure in the coordinate and not to any others.

Units of data in your input files

Each climate surface has at least 2 independent variables - longitude and latitude - and ANUCLIM converts your input file coordinates into these units. Most surfaces have a third independent variable, usually elevation. In addition to the third independent variable for the climate surfaces, ANUCLIM sometimes requires other independent variables (slope, aspect, or soil information) in order to compute its parameters. The units for all these independent variables are as follows:

Third independent variable	Units
Elevation	metres
Distance from coast	Kilometres
Slope	Degrees, 0 (horizontal) to 90 (vertical).
Aspect	Degrees, 0 (north) to 360 (north), increasing clockwise from north.
Rainfall	millimetres per month
Maximum soil water availability	millimetres
Soil type indicator	1 = Sandy loam 2 = Clay loam 3 = Clay

Using the rainfall surface to supply rainfall as the third independent variable

In the case where a surface uses rainfall as its third independent variable, you normally use the rainfall surface to supply the estimated monthly mean rainfall values. This means that you don't have to provide all 12 rainfall values for each point in your data file. In fact, the only circumstances under which you can supply all 12 rainfall values is if you are using site data in a plain text file.

When you are using the rainfall surface to provide the third independent variable for another surface (usually the "radiation with rainfall" surface), ANUCLIM will first use the rainfall surface and the longitude, latitude and elevation of each data point to generate monthly mean rainfall estimates for each location. It will then use the longitude, latitude and estimated monthly mean rainfall values as the three independent variables for the "radiation with rainfall" surface.

All you have to do to enable this 2-stage process is to select the rainfall surface whenever you select the "radiation with rainfall" surface. In fact, ANUCLIM will automatically select the rainfall surface when "radiation with rainfall" is selected, except if your input data is in the form of sites in a plain text file. If you find that ANUCLIM is asking for 12 monthly mean rainfall values in your input file, but you only have longitude, latitude and elevation, selecting the rainfall surface will drop the requirement for you to supply rainfall data.

Modification of radiation by slope and aspect

The radiation surfaces estimate solar radiation received by a level plane at the specified location. The radiation received by a slope at that location (a hillside, for example) can be quite different, and depends on the direction that the slope is facing (known as the aspect) and the steepness of the slope. A slope facing towards the sun will receive more solar radiation that one facing away. Under certain circumstances, ANUCLIM can correct for this effect.

The way this correction is done is to split the estimated radiation into diffuse and direct components. The diffuse component is that contributed by scattering in the atmosphere (due to the air itself, water vapour, clouds and dust), and the direct component is that contributed by unscattered radiation from the sun. Once the diffuse and direct components are known, the slope and aspect can be used to recombine these 2 components back into total received radiation. In general, the contribution by diffuse radiation is much less affected by the slope and aspect that is the contribution by direct radiation.

The main difficulty in correcting for slope and aspect in this way is that the ratio of diffuse to direct radiation varies according to local meteorological conditions, and has to be determined empirically. The ratio is also affected by the latitude of the site concerned. For these reasons, ANUCLIM uses specially constructed radiation-ratio tables which use slope, aspect and month to estimate the direct:diffuse ratio for a particular region. Since ANUCLIM typically uses several rainfall surfaces to cover a continent (known as "patches"), each rainfall patch can have an associated radiation-ratio table which is used to modify radiation for sites within that patch.

In the current version of ANUCLIM, radiation ratio tables are only supplied for 2 rainfall patches in the set of Australian surfaces

• North Queensland
• Tasmania

If you choose to correct radiation for slope and aspect, but none of your sites fall within an area for which there are radiation ratio tables, the estimated radiation values will not be modified. If this happens, you will see a warning message in the log window alerting you to the fact that no values were modified.

In the case where one or more points fall within the boundaries of the radiation ratio tables, you will see a summary in the log window indicating how many points were modified by each table.

If you want to generate your own radiation-ratio tables, see Advanced topics: Radiation ratio tables.

Note that in order to correct radiation for slope and aspect, you will also need to have slope and aspect values in your input data. They can be included as extra columns in a plain text file or as separate grids or GIS site files. Be careful when generating slope and aspect data from a DEM. The conventions used by the GIS for aspect, in particular, may be different to those stated here. See Units of input data for details.

Common problems with input data files

• Wrong end of line sequence. Unix, Microsoft Windows and Macintoshes all use different conventions for the end-of-line characters in a text file. Unix uses a single linefeed character, Microsoft Windows uses a carriage-return linefeed sequence and Macintoshes use just a carriage-return. If you generate your text files on one system and use them on another, you will have to convert the end-of-line sequences.

  Under Microsoft Windows, opening a unix-style text file in the DOS EDIT command, then saving it will convert the end-of-line sequences to that required under Microsoft Windows.

  Under unix you can use
  tr -d '\r\032' < input_file > output_file
  to convert a Microsoft Windows text file into a unix text file. On some versions of unix you may also be able to use
  dos2unix input_file output_file
  

  To convert a Macintosh text file to a unix text file, use the unix command
  tr '\r' '\n' < input_file > output_file
  

• Missing end of line at end of file If ANUCLIM seems unable to read the last site in your file, make sure it has an end-of-line sequence. Open the file in a text editor, and go to the end of the file. If the cursor sits at the end of the last line, and not at the very left hand side of the window, press RETURN and save the file.
• Extra lines or characters at end of file If ANUCLIM seems to process all your sites but runs into trouble after the last one, open the file in a text editor, and go to the end of the file. Delete any stray characters or blank lines after the last line of data. Make sure you keep the end-of-line sequence on the last line of data.
• Non-numeric data between values in a free format file . ANUCLIM will complain if you try and read a free format file that has non-numeric characters between the data item values on each line. The site identifier may contain non-numeric characters, as may any data to the right of the last value on the line used by ANUCLIM, but they should not appear in any other places.
• Attempting to read "/" in a free format file The "/" (slash) character signals the end of useful data on a line when reading the file in free format. You have several choices:
  • Delete or change the slash characters. Under unix you can use
    tr / _ < input_file > output_file
    to convert them to underscores.
  • Quote the data item concerned. For example, Change
    site1/hillside 12.34 56.78 123
    to
    'site1/hillside' 12.34 56.78 123
    
  • Read the file in fixed format. If all the lines have exactly the same character position format (form neat columns when viewed in a fixed-width font), you can read the file in fixed format.
• Spaces or tabs in filenames On some platforms, ANUCLIM cannot read files that have spaces in their names or in the directories that contain them. In general, it is best to avoid spaces and tabs in filenames.

These restrictions will probably be removed in future versions of ANUCLIM