"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:

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:

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: 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.