Aggregation YAML Configuration

This page describes the structure and fields of the YAML file used to configure the standalone Aggregation module in VCasT. This file controls which input file is aggregated, how rows are grouped, and where the aggregated results are written.

Example YAML File

Sample Aggregation Configuration YAML

# ====================================================
# Aggregation Configuration File
# ====================================================
# This YAML configuration is used to run the aggregation mode.
# It specifies the input file containing all the processed statistics,
# the columns by which the data should be grouped/aggregated, and
# the output path for saving the aggregated results.

# ------------------------
# Input Data File
# ------------------------
input_file: "/path/to/inputfile.data"       # Path to the processed input data file containing all statistics

# ------------------------
# Grouping Settings
# ------------------------
group_by: ["model", "fcst_lead"]            # List of columns used for aggregation.
                                             # The order determines how the data is grouped.

ci: true                                    # Add Student's t-based confidence intervals

stats:
  - 'rmse'
  - 'bias'

# ------------------------
# Output Data File
# ------------------------
output_agg_file: "/path/to/output_agg.data"   # Path and filename to save the aggregated data

Configuration Sections

Input Data

• input_file: Path to a tab-separated file of per-record statistics, such as the output of the Statistics or MET Stat components.

Grouping and Metrics

• group_by: List of column names to group rows by before averaging (e.g. ["model", "fcst_lead"]). The order of columns determines the grouping hierarchy in the output.

• stats: List of metric column names to average within each group (e.g. ["rmse", "bias"]). Each metric produces one output column named after the metric.

• ci: [true, false] Whether to compute a 95% confidence interval around each group mean, using a Student’s t-distribution. When enabled, each metric column is accompanied by {metric}_bcl (lower bound) and {metric}_bcu (upper bound) columns.

Output

• output_agg_file: Path where the aggregated, tab-separated output file is written. The output includes one row per unique combination of group_by values, a count column with the number of records in that group, and the averaged (and optionally bounded) metric columns.

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For a working example, see the following use case.