GEMPAK/NAWIPS

Status Report: September 2014

Michael James

Strategic Focus Areas

GEMPAK supports the following goals described in Unidata Strategic Plan:

  1. Enable widespread, efficient access to geoscience data
    GEMPAK remains widely used among academics, researchers and students as a way to visualize meteorological data in a package used by a number of operational forecasters. New data formats continue to be added and support for existing formats continues to improve.
  2. Develop and provide open-source tools for effective use of geoscience data
    GEMPAK is and always will be open-source.
  3. Build, support, and advocate for the diverse geoscience community
    GEMPAK continues to support new data formats, and Unidata continues to focus on training and documentation to bring in more of the university and research community. Scatterometer data visualization, for example, is being improved to prepared for use by marine forecasters.

Activities Since the Last Status Report

  • Major release 7.1.
  • Binary builds for three Linux platforms and OS X Darwin, with rpmbuild spec files hosted on Github.
  • Added a fix for NEXRAD compositing functionality for Enhanced Echo Tops (EET), which use dual linear parameter scales to transmit echo height and topped status, which previously resulted in incorrect values over radar dish antennea locations.
  • GEMPAK GINI product generation was updated to conform to standards used in McIDAS for radar values of "missing", "no data", "unknown", etc.
  • Still producing / testing new precipiation accumulation composites OHA, DPA, DAA, etc.
  • Extended FNEXRAD compositing functionality to ensure exact data equivalence in gridded and GINI satellite composite products.
  • Scatterometer data investigation (Action Item): OSCAT data from NESDIS no longer available due to instrument failure. ASCAT_HI and Jason data pulling from CPTEC/INPE via LDM.
  • GEMPAK tabes have been updated to support more international grids
  • Added live product generation via LDM on our in-house gempak data server.
  • Working on full HRRR support in anticipation of upcoming NOAAport changes.