Example utilities that might be useful when writing
either the run script or the advance_model script.

trans_time:

Usually during a model advance either the script or
a namelist for the model needs to know the current
time for the data that just came out of the assimilation
(sometimes called the analysis), and the time that
the model needs to advance to (sometimes called the
forecast).  

The 'trans_time.f90' source shows an example of
reading the two timestamps from the front of any
dart state vector, in either binary or ascii format,
and unpacking it into the year, month, day, hour,
minute, and second.  This program does assume
a Gregorian calendar.  The output is an ascii file
with the two times in it, but this code can be
copied to the model-specific directory and
the output customized for ease in integrating 
with the model scripts.

To test here, run:

csh ./mkmf_trans_time
make
./trans_time

The program reads an example state vector
file called 'temp_ic', and writes a file
called 'times'.

cat times

Will show the program output.


