"Unidata Governing Commitee Status Report">
GEMPAK Status Report
Don Murray, Tom Yoksas, Jeff Weber
April 4, 2008
Purpose of GEMPAK status report
The activities carried out toward GEMPAK development and support
fulfill the endeavors as described in the Unidata 2008 NSF proposal.
Highlights
Current Status
GEMPAK 5.11.1 release
Additional improvements to programs have been made to improve use with
large grids by removing grid limitations from several programs and
librariy routines.
Additions to 5.11.1 include:
- Added RADAR Level II build 10.0 capability for super-resolution products.
Several problems with the Unidata 5.11.1 additions have been reported
by users. Unidata staff are currently looking into these. We are
recommending that sites not upgrade to 5.11.1 unless they
are using the super resolution Level II data.
GEMPAK 5.10.4 release
Additional improvements to programs have been made to improve use with
large grids by removing grid limitations from several programs and librariy routines.
Additions to 5.10.4 include:
- Decode and Display Warnings by Polygon
- Added decoder for COSMIC GPS sounding data (Unidata distribution)
- Enhancements to the Ensemble Cyclone track display
- TAF decoder now stores files based on cycle time
- Time binning for satellite scatterometer winds
Departure of Steve Chiswell
Steve Chiswell (Chiz) left Unidata in mid-January to return to his
scientific roots. Since his departure, Don Murray, Tom Yoksas and
Jeff Weber have been covering the GEMPAK support inquiries as best
as possible. Highest priority has been given to academic institutions
per Unidata participation policy. Most of the inquiries have been
from government or commercial entities.
A nationwide search was conducted for a new support person, but the
position remains unfilled at this time. Unidata is exploring other
options to cover the GEMPAK support and upcoming transition of
NAWIPS to AWIPS2. In the mean time, Don, Tom and Jeff W will
continue to cover the GEMPAK support questions.
NAWIPS to AWIPS2 transition
At the 2008 AMS meeting in New Orleans, a
presentation was given by Scott Jacobs from NCEP about the transition
of NAWIPS/GEMPAK to the AWIPS2 environment. A couple of key points
were brought up in this talk:
- Active development of the current NAWIPS/GEMPAK system will cease
at the end of FY08. From that point on, only routine maintenance
(bug fixes, table/map updates as necessary) will occur.
- Existing and new NAWIPS development resources will be moved to
the AWIPS2 migration.
- Deployment of NAWIPS functionality in AWIPS2 will be completed
in FY11
After that presentation, several UPC staff met with NCEP and Raytheon
representatives to discuss how Unidata can be involved in this
migration. The best route is to work with NCEP. To that end,
the UPC is gaining access to the AWIPS2 codebase and NCEP is
paying for 2 UPC staff to attend AWIPS2 developer training
in May. The UPC has also been invited to attend NCEP's
monthly NAWIPS transition planning teleconferences.
Ongoing Additions
GEMPAK workshop and tutorial
online
All the documentation for the GEMPAK workshop is made
available through the GEMPAK tutorial. Included in the
presentation are numerous sample exercises and output samples. This
format of presentation allows workshop participants to be able to
review or utilize any of the material at their home institution.
The tutorial is updated as new features dictate.
