Examining the obs_seq.final file

1. If you are testing with a single observation, just look in the file. If this file is in binary format, edit the &obs_sequence_nml namelist in input.nml so the output observation sequence file will be written in ASCII:

   &obs_sequence_nml
     write_binary_obs_sequence = .false.
   /
   

   Then rerun filter to regenerate an obs_seq.final file in ASCII. For an explanation of the contents of your obs_seq.final file, see Detailed structure of an obs_seq file.

2. If you are using many observations, run the obs_diag program appropriate for your model. The MATLAB® observation space diagnostics will help to summarize your output and to explore what is going on.

If there are no changes in the model state after assimilation and a visual examination of obs_seq.final was not informative, convert the obs_seq.final file to netCDF with obs_seq_to_netcdf and either use the Matlab tools distributed with DART or something of your own. Actually, obs_seq_to_netcdf works on all observation sequence files, not just obs_seq.final files.