check_params: Check for input parameter errors

In futureheatwaves: Find, Characterize, and Explore Extreme Events in Climate Projections

Description

This function goes through all parameter inputs for gen_hw_set and makes sure all parameter entries are in the appropriate format. If any parameters are in an incorrect format, the function stops and returns an error describing the problem.

Usage

check_params(out, dataFolder, dataDirectories, citycsv, coordinateFilenames,
  tasFilenames, timeFilenames, IDheatwavesFunction, thresholdBoundaries,
  projectionBoundaries, referenceBoundaries, numDays, seasonal_months,
  absolute_thresholds)

Arguments

out	Character string with pathway to directory to which extreme event files will be written. This should be a pathname to a directory on the user's local computer. If the directory already exists, it will be overwritten by this function, so the user should either specify a pathname for a directory that does not yet exist or be willing to overwrite the existing directory. The parent directory of the specified directory must exist.
dataFolder	Character string with pathway to a directory with climate projection data. This directory must have a specific structure– see the futureheatwaves vignette for guidance on setting up this directory.
dataDirectories	A list object, with two elements, one for each of the two subdirectories included in the main directory. Typically, these will be separate directories of historical and projection experiments from climate models. Each element of the list should be named with the name of the subdirectory and should provide a numeric vector with the starting and ending years of the data within each of the two subdirectories (e.g., list("historical" = c(1990, 1999), "rcp85" = c(2060, 2079)) for a dataFolder with historical experiment data for 1990 to 1999 and RCP8.5 projections for 2060 to 2079).
citycsv	Character string giving the filepath to a comma-separated (.csv) file with, for each study city, a unique city identifier, latitude, and longitude. These values must be specified with the column names city, lat, and lon. See the futureheatwaves vignette for guidance on setting up this file.
coordinateFilenames	Character string the with filename of each grid point location file. This filename should be identical for all ensemble member subdirectories included in the dataFolder directory. See the package vignette for an example of the required structure for this file.
tasFilenames	Character string the with filename of each climate projection file. This filename should be identical for all ensemble member subdirectories included in the dataFolder directory. See the package vignette for an example of the required structure for this file.
timeFilenames	Character string the with filename of each projection dates file. This filename should be identical for all ensemble member subdirectories included in the dataFolder directory. See the package vignette for an example of the required structure for this file.
IDheatwavesFunction	A character string with the name of the R function to use to identify extreme events. This function may be a user-specified custom function, but it must be loaded into the current R session. The function name must be put in quotation marks. For more guidance on how to write and use a custom function to identify extreme events, see the package vignette for futureheatwaves.
thresholdBoundaries	A numeric vector with the custom time boundaries to be used to determine the threshold variable values for the extreme event definition. The required format for this vector is c(start year, end year), with the restriction that bounds must be contained within the time boundaries of one of the two experiment subdirectories specified by the dataDirectories argument in gen_hw_set. The default value is 1990 to 1999.
projectionBoundaries	A numeric vector with the custom time boundaries for which the user wants to create extreme event projections. The required format for this vector is c(start year, end year), with the restriction that bounds must be contained within the time boundaries of one of the two experiment subdirectories specified by the dataDirectories argument in gen_hw_set. The default value is 2070 to 2079.
referenceBoundaries	A numeric vector with the custom time boundaries to use in calculating relative characteristics for extreme events (i.e., to use when exploring the role of adaptation in projections). For more information on how reference temperatures are used, see the package vignette for futureheatwaves. The required format for this vector is c(start year, end year), with the restriction that bounds must be contained within the time boundaries of one of the two experiment subdirectories specified by the dataDirectories argument in gen_hw_set. The default value is 2070 to 2079. If the time bounds used differ from those used for projections, these reference variables will be pulled from the ensemble member for each climate model specified by threshold_ensemble.
numDays	Integer greater than 0 giving the number of days to use in the extreme event definition (e.g., numDays = 2 would define a heat wave as two or more days above the threshold temperature).
seasonal_months	A numeric vector giving the months to use to calculate the "mean.seasonal.var" column in the extreme event characteristics output file. For example, if seasonal_months is set to 6:8, daily temperatures from June through August each day during the reference years would be used to calculate this mean seasonal value. The default is 5:9 (May–September).
absolute_thresholds	A numeric vector with four values giving the absolute thresholds to use when calculating the "days.above.abs.thershold" columns in the heatwave characteristic output files. These values must be given in the units in which temperature is expressed in the input data (typically Kelvin for climate model output data). The default values are the values in Kelvin corresponding to 80, 85, 90, and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. If this parameter is customized, it must include four values.

Value

Only stops and returns an error if any parameters are incorrect.

Note

This function does not check if the data is organized in the proper structure or if any data exists within the directory at all, so a call to gen_hw_set could still pass through this check and make it further through the function code with those mistakes.This function also does not check if the three ensemble final .csv data files exist, only if they have the .csv extension if they do exist.

futureheatwaves documentation built on May 2, 2019, 9:43 a.m.