Table of Contents

Latest McIDAS Release Beefs Up the MCGUI

Version 7.8 of Unidata McIDAS-X is now freely available for download by educational institutions worldwide!

The latest Unidata McIDAS release contains all program updates available in the SSEC 7.80 -X and -XCD releases. In addition, it includes a new version of the Unidata McIDAS Graphical User Interface (MCGUI) which provides all of the functionality found in the Function Key Menu interface it replaces. It will be the focus for all McIDAS interface development in Unidata.

Figure 1. The MCGUI.

MCGUI Features

MCGUI provides Unidata-McIDAS users with a point-and-click interface to a large variety of local and remotely hosted datasets. (See Figure 1.) Users can easily configure their McIDAS Abstract Distributed Data Environment (ADDE) installations to serve local datasets populated by McIDAS-XCD, ldm-mcidas decoders, and LDM filing actions. A network of cooperating Unidata universities and research institutions is providing remote ADDE access to datasets containing data that may not be available locally or through the Internet Data Distribution (IDD). Some examples are: one server (UCAR) has all NEXRAD Level III products for all radars for the last 15 days; another (L'Université du Québec à Montréal) provides access to select METEOSAT imagery; and yet another Antarctic Meteorology Reseach Center/Space Science and Engineering Center (AMRC/SSEC) access to real-time Antarctic data.

Remote server access to a pre-specified list of datasets is built into the MCGUI interface. Succeeding upgrades will allow users to take advantage of new datasets being made available by an even greater range of server sites. Since it is relatively easy to configure McIDAS to serve data, our hope is that you will join the list of cooperating server sites and volunteer to provide access to your local holdings through ADDE. Lists of cooperating server sites and the datasets that they provide will be accessible from the network of machines that is forming the backbone of the emerging THREDDS (more details in next article) initiative now underway in Unidata.

Participants in the August 2001 Unidata McIDAS Training Workshop used the MCGUI in training sessions and provided valuable input regarding its functionality.

Since the MCGUI is new, we encourage all users to provide feedback on its capabilities, usability, and flexibility. Your suggestions will be considered for incorporation into new releases through the same addendum processes used for bug fixes.

Also new in 7.80 is a graphical interface to McIDAS startup, mcstart.gui. This interface, accessed by the user invoking McIDAS config, allows users to specify a number of attributes of their sessions: for example, the size and number of frames in their McIDAS sessions; the number of colors used for images and graphics; and the amount of memory to set aside for on-the-fly creation of new frames. While this graphical interface for starting McIDAS was included in 7.70, the 7.80 version is the first that allows users to save configuration settings in the McIDAS startup defaults file, .mcidasrc, thus eliminating the need to edit the file to activate changes.

Download Process

FTP access to Unidata software offerings still works, but it is being phased out. We encourage sites to download distributions through the web interfaces available for each software package.

First, to download McIDAS or any other Unidata software, users must join the Unidata community by registering. The registration process takes only a couple of minutes, so please sign up!

And while you're at it, please complete the Unidata Users Committee survey (survey no longer available).

For Unidata McIDAS, use the "Download Software" link on the Unidata McIDAS-X 7.80 home page.

Registered, educational institutions will receive immediate access to the distribution. Non-educational institutions may be entitled to it as well; determination will be made on a case-by-case basis. Examples of non-educational sites that will be allowed access include those currently holding a license for Unidata McIDAS and those licensed for SSEC McIDAS. Should your institution be refused access to this distribution, you will be instructed to contact support@unidata.ucar.edu as you proceed through the download process.

While we hope that your download proceeds smoothly, contact Unidata User Support, for assistance and additional information if you encounter problems.

Remember: support@unidata.ucar.edu is the contact.

THREDDS and McIDAS: Great Playmates

by Tom Yoksas, Unidata Program Center

In the Winter/Spring 2001 issue of the Unidata Newsletter, you learned of a new initiative developing at the UPC, THREDDS.

Briefly, THREDDS' goal is to provide students, educators, and researchers with coherent access to a large collection of real-time and archived data sets from a variety of environmental data sources at a number of distributed server sites. (See figure. ) Ben Domenico led the successful proposal effort to the National Science Foundation's Education and Human Resources Directorate that gives THREDDS the resources to accomplish this goal in a two-year timeframe.

McIDAS ADDE already provides remote access to real-time atmospheric data as one of the initial THREDDS data access mechanisms. Although ADDE provides convenient access to rich data collections, it lacks the discovery facility that is at the heart of THREDDS. The THREDDS publishable inventories and catalogs are being developed in the UPC, and they will allow users to use client software on their own systems to analyze datasets residing on several remote servers. The McIDAS MCGUI interface will be instrumented to take advantage of THREDDS' discovery mechanisms.

Building a More Perfect Digital Library, Bit by Bit

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the UCAR Quarterly. We reproduce it here as a way of introducing the Unidata Community to NSDL. The Central Office for NSDL will be housed at UCAR and led by Dave Fulker (with his time spent 50-50 between Unidata and NSDL). In the next newsletter, we will elaborate on anticipated synergies between Unidata and NSDL. •JH

by Bob Henson, UCAR Communications

Countless science-oriented Web sites have blossomed on the open frontier of cyberspace. Many of those serving as outposts of science-education reform are being federated over the next few years as part of an unusually grand experiment. They will still operate as independent units but, like a United Sites of the Web, they will be linked in a fashion that multiplies their power and educational impact, creating the National Science Digital Library, or NSDL. (The “Science” in NSDL stands for Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education, or SMETE.)

Likely to be the largest and most heterogeneous science library ever attempted, NSDL—scheduled to debut in the fall of 2002—will offer high-quality materials to students, teachers, and professionals at all levels across the full range of SMETE disciplines. A varied group of public, private, and nonprofit sponsors is already at work on the NSDL. NSF’s Education and Human Resources Division is providing roughly $100 million in primary support over five years.

Nearly a decade of research, much of it sponsored by NSF and the U.S. Department of Education, has shown the potential power of on-line science libraries. In the past year, seed money from NSF has launched 40 NSDL-related projects at universities and other institutions around the country, with more to come. Now the program enters a critical phase as a digital-age analog of the Continental Congress finds common ground for cataloging and otherwise integrating the diverse resources of NSDL.

NSDL’s core integration effort will be headquartered at UCAR and overseen by David Fulker, long-time director of the Unidata program (which he’ll continue to lead on a half-time basis). The goal, according to Fulker, is to establish information flows and an organizational architecture that take NSDL beyond what one can now do with a Web-based search engine. “We think of NSDL as an education layer over the Web.”

The core integration effort involves three primary organizations and several additional collaborators:

• Cornell University, with Compaq Computer, will build the library’s primary portals and the electronic equivalent of a card catalog.
• Columbia University will create a management system for intellectual property rights and a business plan.
• The UCAR role, beyond building the NSDL Central Office, involves two other UCAR activities: the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), whose Program Center is led by Mary Marlino, and the Education and Outreach Program, led by Roberta Johnson. Additional institutions collaborating with UCAR on NSDL are Carleton College, Montana State University, the University of Massachusetts (UM), and the University of California campuses at Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Many of the research teams working on NSDL are multidisciplinary. Cornell’s team includes three faculty members in computer science, two librarians, several database management experts, and a digital media specialist.

An ambitious goal, set by NSF, is to have an operational NSDL by the end of 2002. To meet that deadline, the core integration team will capitalize on prior and ongoing work. For example, the assembly of catalog records from federated sources will employ protocols from the Open Archives Initiative (OAI). Content-based discovery will build on advanced search methods from UM-Amherst. Governance for NSDL is envisioned to resemble that for DLESE and Unidata, emphasizing the democratic ideal of community ownership.

The Cornell team estimates that by 2006 there may be a million users choosing materials from 10 million resources at many thousands of independent sites. Effective characterization of these resources, i.e., metadata, will thus be essential. In addition, Fulker and colleagues will encourage users to customize the library for their own needs. For example, notes Fulker, “a teacher might combine certain design elements, tools, and collections into a portal appropriate for her eighth-grade astronomy unit.”

To exploit the immense flexibility of libraries that are digital, the NSDL will adopt a “one library, many portals” philosophy, with the independent portals built and supported through a repository of metadata. Principal investigator William Arms, from Cornell’s computer science department, draws an analogy to on-line newspapers, in which the same article from a wire service may have an entirely different look and feel from one site to the next. Likewise, high-school students, engineers, or mathematicians may find themselves using the same resources on NSDL after getting to them through widely different portals, each one customized to its audience. “We’re not going to change the collections,” says Arms. “Our basic approach is to centralize the discovery process.”

The NSDL core team is also looking closely at copyright and financial aspects of the library. Some parts of the collection will likely be open to all, while others will be restricted to paying users. The project expects to rely largely on institutional licenses, which will enable students and educators to use most or all of NSDL at no incremental cost. A round table held at Columbia last winter, led by co-principal investigator Jane Ginsburg (Columbia School of Law), provided insight into community needs and priorities. The bottom line, says Fulker, is to “ensure that users are assured of the authenticity of material in the collection and that author and producer are able to receive both credit and payment for use, as appropriate.”

With its expert-certified materials, powerful indexing, and multiple interfaces, NSDL stands to provide far more than the sum of the vast data holdings it will soon encompass. “In the long term, any science library worth its salt has to have data,” says Fulker, “but data sets in a modern library are useless without tools.”

On the Web: http://www.smete.org/

State of the Plaza "PlazaElectra" Update

by Joanne Graham and Scott Kehoe, Unidata Program Center

We introduced a new Unidata project code-named "PlazaElectra" in the last newsletter.

The fundamental purpose of this project is to enhance communication with and between our community while making significant improvements and advancements to our web-site. The "Plaza" will be a place where educators and researchers from many disciplines and backgrounds can come to interact with one another on-line, to share ideas, develop proposals, read pertinent news, access support, download software, and so on. Users can tailor the Plaza to meet their interests, so that they always have pertinent information and tools at their fingertips.

We've accomplished a great deal on this project since the last newsletter. We posted our new Participation Policy; we developed a user registration system with a database back-end; the Unidata Users Committee initiated an on-line survey; and most recently, on-line software licensing became a reality. (http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software). At the time of this article, almost 300 of you have registered, there have been more than 800 downloads, and almost 150 surveys have been completed. All of these accomplishments are part of the backbone that will help to bring the Plaza to life in the near future.

In August, a committee was formed (reporting to the Unidata Users Committee) to help Unidata staff assess priorities for the site. That group will meet for the first time at our October Users Committee meeting and will work closely with Unidata and the community to understand its needs and desires. In the meantime, if you'd like to share a favorite interactive site or collaborative tool with us, feel free to send a URL (or two) to plaza@unidata.ucar.edu. Tell us why you like the site or tool, and how you see it fitting into the research and education realm.

In the near future you will see a few new tools on-line: bulletin boards, news-feeds, and forums for example. You will also begin to see evidence that we are revamping our entire web site for greater accessibility and ease of navigation. Unidata will have a booth at the AMS this year, and PlazaElectra will be one of its featured attractions. Stop by, say hello, play awhile, and let us know what you think! Your input is always valued.

And speaking of input: since PlazaElectra is but a code name, we're thinking that we'd like to consider others before this one becomes too entrenched. Would "My Unidata" or "The Unidata Community Portal" work? We'd love to have some feedback on this one. Please send any plaza-related comments, questions, and suggestions to: plaza@unidata.ucar.edu.

An Update on the IDD

by Jeff Weber, Unidata Program Center

The Internet Data Distribution (IDD) system is the primary vehicle for transmitting meteorological data products throughout the Unidata community. The IDD uses the Local Data Manager (LDM) to receive, process, and relay data via the Internet. The IDD currently uses a four-node upper-level redundant loop. These four nodes are: motherlode.ucar.edu, sunshine.ssec.wisc.edu, frost.wunderground.com, and sirocco.srcc.lsu.edu. They feed one another most feed types to minimize data loss. The four nodes supply data to other facilities residing near the top of the distribution tree.

Bandwidth, connectivity, and system administration resources dictate where on the tree an institution will reside. An upstream host must receive all data requested by its downstream hosts, which is why bandwidth and connectivity are important at the upper levels of the topology. Nodes that do not relay data to other nodes are called “leaf nodes.” Participation in the IDD brings with it shared responsibilities. The UPC maintains routing information and performance statistics, provides user support, and maintains support e-mail lists to allow its community to respond and help each other. Cooperation among sites and a willingness to help others when networks or relays are unavailable make the IDD work as well as it does.

While encouraging community members (about 93 educational institutions at this time) to participate in the IDD, the UPC also permits LDM use by organizations outside the community to manage and control their network data distribution. The NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) in Boulder is an example, and National Weather Service (NWS) continues to investigate using the IDD/LDM to transmit and archive Level II radar data. The list continues to grow as new members begin participating every month.

New data feeds can require new routing topologies for data distribution. Level III (NEXRAD) radar data began flowing freely early in 2001, and to accommodate this new data stream the UPC created an additional topology for the NEXRAD radar products. One intent behind this topology was to limit the number of levels, so it would be easier to coordinate and adapt to changing user needs. The NEXRAD topology has only two node levels. First level sites carry all available NOAAPort NEXRAD products, so downstream sites can choose any subset of locations and products. Initially, we asked NEXRAD users to limit their requests for all radar products to approximately three sites until we could judge the impact of the new data volumes on IDD performance. The UPC also distributes a “floater” radar feed consisting of up to five radar sites that have weather of interest.

The SuomiNet project has also created the need for another topology for data transfer. This field project consists of a GPS array of approximately 100 sites, that will be sending raw GPS data back to a central collection site for processing, then re-ingested as a water vapor and/or total electron content product in near-real time for model initialization and research efforts.

As additional bandwidth becomes available, (e.g. Abilene) the IDD should be able to accommodate more growth as more institutions are able to take advantage of this data delivery method. Eventually it may be possible to begin sharing data across the oceans and the equator for use in global geophysical research.

The benefits of community involvement and participation in the IDD have made more data available more quickly to more institutions than would be possible if each participant competed to get the data. This is a true community effort.

Unidata Users Survey

by Linda Miller, Unidata Program Center

Unidata needs data. Unidata needs data about you, our community. To that end, the Users Committee developed a community survey to collect important information about you. The survey was not deployed in time to catch people before the summer break and vacation season was in full swing, but it is still active and waiting for those of you who missed the opportunity to provide feedback. The committee meets in October to analyze the results and decide how to synthesize the information into Unidata's planning process.

The survey is coupled with the new on-line Unidata registration that must be completed for access to licensing and new versions of software.

Your opinion counts!

(The process will probably take you about 10-15 minutes.)

Note: The survey is no longer available.

Case Studies? Change is Good!

by Linda Miller, Unidata Program Center

If you’re a user of the COMET case studies, available through the CODIAC system, be aware: changes are afoot. Thirty-eight COMET case studies are now available for downloading, browsing, or complete case study ordering via CODIAC’s Web interface. The library consists of hydro-meteorological cases that have been created to enhance training for NWS forecasters; but the university community and other interested scientists and educators have benefited by this project as well. The project is funded by the NWS with UCAR collaborators (Unidata, COMET, and JOSS). The Web site also offers data from past field projects and campaigns coordinated by UCAR.

During the coming year additional data will be included in the case study library, such as rapid scan satellite data, along with annotated graphics, detailed explanations of the events, and improved documentation. Web-based instruction will feature experts on the case study. Also, CD format will become available, as a gradual transition will take place from the 8mm tapes that have been used. The future is even brighter as we explore the option of DVD’s storage capacity, capable of storing an entire robust case study.

AMS 2002

by Linda Miller, Unidata Program Center

Though it may seem early, the AMS Annual Meeting (in Orlando this year) planning activities are well underway. Many Unidata site representatives and staff will be presenting papers during the conference in January 2002. One of the sessions you might consider attending is the IIPS-sponsored session entitled, “Internet Applications for Education and Research,” which was suggested by Unidata. If you’ve been curious about AWIPS, the AMS and National Weather Association are sponsing a special symposium on AWIPS during the meeting.

Check out the Unidata booth in the Exhibit area, featuring some of the newly developed MetApps Java applications, PlazaElectra Web project, THREDDS,and all of the new capabilities related to GEMPAK, McIDAS, DODS, case studies—the list goes on and on. In fact, you’ll be able to talk with several Unidata staff members and see some great demos.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Committee Column

by Jo Hansen, Unidata Program Center

Policy Committee

Chuck Wash is a new and not-so-new member of the Policy Committee. By way of explanation: Chuck was Users Committee Chair and was a member on the Policy Committee. He is a member of UCAR’s University Relations Committee. In his present position at the Naval Postgraduate School, he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Meteorology.

His research interests are in weather forecasting, synoptic meteorology, marine meteorology, and satellite meteorology

Users Committee

The Users Committee welcomes two new members: Mark Laufersweiler and Rajul Pandya, and greets a returning member, Jim Steenburgh, who accepted an appointment to a second term.

Mark Laufersweiler, Coordinator of Computing Systems in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, brings hands-on experience with Unidata software to the Users Committee. A specific responsibility that makes Mark particularly well-suited for the Users Committee is that he is responsible for getting Unidata software up and running and into the hands of faculty and students. Mark has introduced the MetApps to undergraduate Synoptic Meteorology courses and plans to set up the MetApps in a new stu-dent laboratory which is under construction.

Rajul Pandya, Department of Geology and Astronomy, West Chester University is the Users Committee’s second new member. Raj studied physics at the University of Illinois as an undergraduate, and completed his graduate work at the University of Washington. For two years, he was an NCAR post-doc in the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology division.

Dr. Pandya’s specific research interests are in organized mesoscale convection and its influence on the surrounding environment. His research also includes using student-constructed visualization of authentic data effectively in the entry-level geoscience classroom. Raj’s teaching involves (among others) undergraduate students in geology, and in general education, and secondary education students who will be teaching earth and space science in secondary schools.

Staffing Changes

New Staff Member

Unidata welcomes John Stokes (photo on right), student assistant in the Systems Administration group. He is a welcome sight to sys admin staff who have been short-handed for several months. John, a student in computer science at Front Range Community College, will be a sophomore when he transfers to the University of Colorado spring semester 2002.

John is a lifelong Boulder county resident. And, as such, his work experience is interesting and well, eclectic, ranging from sales to nursing home service. He seems to have found his niche, however, in computer science, because in addition to snowboarding, he claims computers as a hobby.Despite a busy class schedule, John is frequently seen ambling up and down the UPC hallways cheerfully offering assistance and advice.

Long-term Visitor

The UPC welcomes Stefano Nativi from the University of Florence. Stefano will be working with Ben Domenico on the THREDDS project during his several months’ residence in Boulder. His family—wife and four-year-old daughter—have joined him for the duration of the visit.

Return from Sabbatical

Dave Fulker is back. He resumed leadership of the UPC at the end of July this year. Dave’s time will be split 50-50 between NSDL and Unidata, and although Ben Domenico has stepped down from the Acting Director position, he will continue to play a key role on the Unidata management team.