The max winds and tropopause parts, TRPA, TRPC, MXWA, MXWC, are now decoded and stored. In addition, the significant winds below and above 100mb, PPAA and PPCC, respectively, are now stored as separate parts.

Currently, only the program SNLIST can list the tropopause and max wind data. NMAP and the other display programs will be modified in the future to handle these data types.

The raw text, (undecoded data) is now stored. It can be listed in the program SNLIST by setting SNPARM to TEXT.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.D

A new parameter, BND, specifies the the bounded region name, and the fill attributes, such as color, fill pattern, etc. See the GEMPAK help for BND for additional details. Geographic regions that can be filled are the bounds files located in $GEMTBL/bounds. These regions are:


Bounds file	Map alias
U.S. States	STATE_BNDS
Counties	CNTY_BNDS
Low Resolution World	WORLD_BNDS
Great Lakes	GREAT_LAKES
North American Lakes	LAKES
CWAs	CWA_BNDS

Multiple file access requires an explicit template for SFFILE or an alias specified in the table $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl.

    The following list hot keys for Nmap/Nmap2 display functions:

        -       Step backward / Halt loop
        =       Step forward / Halt loop
        l       Loop forward / Halt loop
        1       Loop rock / Halt loop

        f       Reset the fade on the current look-up table and restores the
                current look-up table

        h       Turns all background data on/off by toggling the hide/show loop
                button

        i       Turns an image "on/off" by toggling the fade between black
                and the default brightness setting

        w       Toggle the data window up or down
                (Same as mouse button 3)

    The numeric key pad arrow keys (2, 4, 6, 8) roam in the direction of the
    respective arrow when in the roam mode.  (Note that this function is
    currently not supported on IRIX5/IRIX6 platforms.)

    The following list hot keys for Nmap/Nmap2 product generation functions:

        u       Undo
        r       Redo

    The following hot keys display different loops for Nmap2:

        F1      View loop 1
        F2      View loop 2
        F3      View loop 3
        F4      View loop 4
        F5      View loop 5
        F6      View loop 6
        F7      View loop 7
        F8      View loop 8

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.E.1

                1. Data set name(s) and path(s)
                2. Dominant data set
                3. Skip factor
                4. Number of frames
                5. Roam factor
                6. Auto-Update on/off
                7. Pre-defined area name
                8. Graphics area and map projection
                9. Map on/off, lat/lon lines on/off, map overlay name(s)

Unidata specific updates

STNPLT
text color/text attributes | marker attributes | stnfile#stntbl_column

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.F

Unidata specific updates

	GPS	^suoHWV
	PIPE	-close	decoders/dcsuomi
	-d data/gempak/logs/dcsuomi.log
	-e GEMTBL=/home/gempak/NAWIPS/gempak/tables
	data/gempak/gps/YYYYMMDD_suomi.gem

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.H

BND = zone_bnds|COZ039/2/////5

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.I

• dcrdf - Regional Digital Forecast Decoder
• dcidft - Sea Ice Drift Decoder
• dccsig - Convective SIGMET Decoder
• dctaf - TAF (terminal aerodrome forecast) Decoder
• dcwstm - Winter Weather Watch, Warning and Advisory Decoder

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.J

• dcwou - decodes watch outline update reports
• dcwcn - decodes watch county notification reports

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.K

PNG image format is displayable by most browsers, files are highly compact, and the distribution of PNG format images is not restricted in use by pattent holders.

Two new programs for displaying NEXRAD Level II radar imagery have been created. The programs are designed for use with the CRAFT IDD data feed which provides data in ARCHIVE2 format. The Level II data is distributed with all levels and parameters in a single file.

GPNEXR2 provides display of Level II data in a plan projection. This program is similar to GPMAP with the additional parameters to specify the TILT and RADPARM.

NEXR2RHI displays an RHI (vertical cross section) of radar data from tilts found in the Level II file.

Level II radar data can be displayed in other programs which support RAD projection displays (current defaults assume the lowest tilt reflectivity data) if TILT and RADPARM are not provided by the program.

The CRAFT data does not have the station ID in the data at this time. If you use the CAPS decoder (nexradII), you need to name file files like:
$RAD/craft/KILN/KILN_YYYYMMDD_HHNN
This file naming will match the template I have in the datatype.tbl file for NEXRADII where %SITE% is used so that the programs know which station the file represents.

I have wrapped a decoder dcnexr2 which uses a command line argument from the LDM to store the 4 character station ID in the data file in unused bytes 21-24 of the data file, so if you use that pqact.conf decoder entry:

	CRAFT	^L2-BZIP2/(....)/([0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9])([0-2][0-9][0-5][0-9])([0-9][0-9])
		PIPE		decoders/dcnexr2 -s \1 -d /dev/null data/craft/\1/\1_\2_\3

	

you don't have to be as strict with the file naming.

Nex2img creates a radar composite image (currently GIF is the only output format). Eventual combining of this program with nex2gini and other output formats (such as Geotif) will allow users to combine GIS tasks.

New capabilities have been added to GEMPAK grid programs in support of accessing large grids including the National Digital Forecast Data Base (NDFD) 5 KM grids.

The maximum grid size that can be stored in a GEMPAK file may now be larger than the maximum number of grid points used for calculation and display purposes (LLMXGD). A new parameter, LLMXTG, specifies the maximum number of grid points that can be stored.

To access grid files with grids larger than LLMXGD grid points, the grid must be subset to not exceed LLMXGD grid points. The subset can be specified using an area (GAREA) or by specifying points using a new GEMPAK parameter IJSKIP.

The IJSKIP parameter specifies the number of points to skip in each direction and/or the beginning and ending grid point number in each direction. In addition, if the parameter is set to "YES", then it will automatically calculate the optimum skip factors to display the maximum number of grid points for the geographic region defined by the GAREA parameter. See the GEMPAK help on IJSKIP for additional details.

A new option has been added to NSHARP to generate sounding profiles from reading a location saved from a NMAP/NMAP2 cursor point file (CPF).

The NMAP cursor position is saved to a CPF by using the Seek function. Click the "Save CPF" button to save the most recently written cursor position to the CPF. Any of the methods available in the Seek function can be used to write and subsequently save the cursor position to the CPF. For example, to save a cursor selected location to a CPF, click the "Click Point" button. Then move the cursor to the desired location and click the left mouse button. Click the "Save CPF" button to save this location to the CPF. The function automatically creates the CPF (called nmap2.cpf) in the local directory. The CPF contains one latitude and longitude that is overwritten each time the "Save CPF" button is clicked.

The CPF is automatically read by the NSHARP program each time a data set is selected. Its location is plotted as a yellow x in the map window for observed, PFC and ACARS data types. Click on the yellow x marker to plot the sounding corresponding to the location in the CPF. For the model sounding data type, click the "CPF" radio button to use the location from the CPF to generate the sounding.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.L and L.1

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.6.M

DCISIG has also been modified to decode tropical cyclones (WCP) from PGUM and PHFO. Again non-standard WCP SIGMETs may not be decoded.

DCISIG has also been modified to decode the phenomena CB for SIGMETS issued by the U.S.

• INT (S) - Converts the grid point value to an integer.
• NINT (S) - Rounds the grid point value to the nearest integer.

The Fosberg index (FOSB) may be used in SFPARM in the surface data programs. FOSB is computed from the surface temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and gives an index for the Flame Length and Fuel Drying.

There are 3 Haines Indices: LHAN, MHAN and HHAN. These stability indices are used in the GEMPAK parameter STNDEX in the upper air data programs. The Haines indices are simple measures of the chance that an existing fire will become a dangerous, erratic fire. LHAN is for the low level Haines index and is a layer between 950-850 mb. MHAN is the mid level index value and is for the layer 850-700 mb. Finally, HHAN is the high level index for 700-500 mb.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.7.1

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.7.2

Click the "Range/Int" button on the "Data Selection Window" GUI to invoke the "Range/Interval Input" GUI. The "Range/Interval Input" GUI allows the user to enter interval and range in days, hours and minutes. Blank entries are equivalent to entering a 0 for the range and interval entries.

For example, say the dominant data type is radar data and the user desires to see radar imagery once per hour for a day. Enter "1" under the "DAY" column in the "Range:" row and "1" under the "HR" column for the "Interval:" row. After clicking the "Accept" button the time line will include frames starting at the most recent hour going back one day in time assuming the data are available in the database for the entire period.

A reference time may also be selected. For observed data, the reference time is the last time that appears on the right of the time line. For forecast data, the reference time is the first time that appears on the left of the time line. If the reference time is blank, the last marker for observed data is the time associated with the most recent data. When the reference time is blank and forecast data is dominant, the first marker is the first forecast time in the data set, usually F000.

For more information, see the "What's New" section in the NMAP help panel.

A preliminary GUI for the NAWIPS implementation of the AODT has been developed for this release. In this release the GUI provides the required AODT widgets, however, most of the AODT functionality will be delivered in the next release. When fully implemented, the GUI will allow the user to run the AODT code as contributed by CIMSS at the University of Wisconsin. These capabilities include deterministic Dvorak scene type and classification as well as AODT history file management.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.7.2p2

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.7.3

The timeline now retains its selections when changing restore files for models or station models for surface and upper-air data. The reference time in the "Range/Interval Input" GUI is now saved in Stored Procedure Files (SPFs) for forecast data sets.

The "Set Time" functionality that appeared in the timeline in previous versions has been replaced by the Reference Time in the "Range/Interval Input" GUI. The Reference Time allows the user to specify the end time for the timeline, for observational data, or the start time, for forecast data. The calendar window used by the Set Time function has been moved to the "Range/Interval Input" GUI. Therefore, the user may type a date/time string or use the calendar interface to select a Reference Time.

The "Current Time" below the timeline has been changed to a push button. The "Current Time" button updates the tick mark selection outline. For observed data, the Reference Time is erased and the tick marks for the latest data are selected. For forecast data, the Reference Time is erased and the tick marks for the earlier forecasts (the left side of the timeline) are selected. The other attributes of the timeline are unaffected, i.e., range, interval, number of frames, etc.

The AODT GUI in NMAP has been completed and is ready for TPC operational testing, evaluation and use. The NMAP GUI uses the AODT version 6.3 library in collaboration with the CIMSS at the University of Wisconsin. The GUI includes the calculation of deterministic Dvorak scene type and classification as well as AODT history file management.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.7.4

Modified gribkeys.tbl to store files by model name under $MODEL in order to reduce files in a single directory, improve scouring by model type and grid, and allow for storage of model forecast times in separate files (useful where storing all times in a single file would create very large files).

# Quikscat BUFR
HRS	^ISXX(..) KNES ([0-3][0-9])([0-2][0-9])([0-6][0-9])
	FILE	data/gempak/qsct/(\2:yyyy)(\2:mm)\2\3.bufr

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.8.1

Work has begun on updating the grid programs to use the new functions in the DG and GD libraries. In this release, the following programs contain calls to the new functions:

GDCNTR, GDLIST, GDMAP, GDPLOT, GDSTREAM, GDWIND GDCROSS, GDPROF GDTHGT, GDTSER

The remaining grid programs will be updated in future releases.

NAWIPS now has the ability to remap grid data as part of the diagnostic calculations. Previous versions required that all grids involved in a calculation be on the same projection and area. With this release, any grid on any navigation can be used in the same diagnostic calculation.

For example, a difference can be computed between the 500 mb height field from the ETA and GFS models. Multiple grid files may be listed in the GDFILE parameter. The first grid file in the list defines the internal navigation used for the computation of the diagnostic. So, an entry of "GDFILE = eta + gfs" is remapped to the eta navigation, while "gfs + eta" is remapped to the gfs.

This functionality is available in those programs which have completed the upgrade to new grid functions as listed in the previous section

A new GEMPAK parameter, MSCALE, has been added for use by GEMPAK programs that display maps. Specifically, gdcntr, gdmap, gdplot, gdplot2, gdstream, gdwind, gpltln, gpmap, sfmap and snmap can now display a distance scale legend anywhere within the view region of a map using any "true" latitude. The distances can be displayed in nautical miles, kilometers, or statute miles. The user can specify the text attributes, including font, size and style. The exact distance values to be displayed can be specified and need not be whole numbers or equally spaced. For more details on the available options and the precise syntax, see the help file: "phelp mscale" or $GEMHLP/hlx/mscale.hl2.

The distance scale can also be plotted in NMAP. A "Scale" check box has been added to the "Map Selection" GUI to control the plotting and attributes of the legend. Click the "Scale" check box to plot the distance scale. Click the "Scale" button to invoke the "Scale Attribute" GUI to specify scale legend attributes including position, true latitude, units, distance values, text attributes and color.

The distance scale plotting and attributes can be specified for each display loop like other map attributes and can be applied or inherited from other loops using the "Apply Settings" and "Get Settings" buttons, respectively. Distance scale plotting and attributes can also be saved and restored from Stored Procedure Files (SPFs).

The default legend attributes for NMAP are specified in the table $GEMTBL/nmap/mapovl.nmap. Default attributes include an on/off flag, color, distance units, screen position, true latitude and distance values. See this table for additional details.

The tilda '~' can now be used to specify file path names in N-AWIPS tables, e.g., $GEMTBL/nmap/vgf.nmap. A file pathname can either be a full pathname (/dir/sdir1/sdir2), or include the use of an environmental variable ($HOME/sdir1/sdir2), or include the use of tilda (~/sdir1/sdir2).

The line width can now be controlled when outlining winter storm warnings, watches, and advisories in GPMAP. The new parameter line for WSTM is:

End time|WN;WT;AD clrs|Tm|Lb|Outline/WN;WT;AD lwidth

The line widths follow the / after the Outline flag. If any line width value is missing or less than 1 or greater than 10, a default line width of 3 is used. See $GEMHLP/hlx/wstm.hl2 for additional details.

The line width can now be controlled in NMAP2 displays of winter weather advisories, watches and warnings (WSTM). Click the "Line" button in the "WSTM Attributes" GUI to specify the desired line width using a slider bar. The width is applied if the "Outline" check box is on. The default line width is specified in the table $GEMTBL/config/miscset.tbl. See this table for additional details. Since miscset.tbl has been modified, old SPF files using WSTM data should be recreated to use the new attribute.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.8.2a

Time binning of observational data has been added to NMAP2. Time binning allows observations to be combined from different times into NMAP frames for display. This capability is especially useful for observations that are not concentrated at nominal observation times.

For more information, see the "What's New" section in the NMAP help panel.

GEMPAK 5.8.2 adds ensemble creation using sets of grid files. This release adds the ability to specify sets of grid files to be processed in ensemble calculations. Currently, ensemble means are computed. Additional ensemble functions will be added in future releases. Ensemble calculations can use grids on different navigations, expanding the functionality of the general grid library rewrite first introduced in version 5.8.1.

For examples, see the "What's New" section in the NMAP help panel as well as the on line help for GDFILE and GPARM.

Watch Outline Update (WOU) and Watch County Notification (WCN) displays now support county fill in addition to outline. Status update displays have been enhanced to allow the option of only displaying the most recent status line via the WTCH attributes.

Plotting options for the Watch Status Line have been enhanced for NMAP2 and GPMAP. Options are to plot the most recent status line, the watch time for the watch box and/or watch status line, and the watch number for either the watch box and/or watch status line. The "WTCH Attributes" GUI has been modified with additional check boxes to control these attributes.

A stand-alone GRIB2 decoder NAGRIB2 has been added to the core development. The ability to pack and store data in GRIB2 format within GEMPAK grid files will be added in a future release.

The following programs now include calls to the new functions:

• GDPLOT2
• NMAP2
• GDDIAG
• GDOMEG
• GDGSFC

• Added new product ids for aviation product handling in decoders.
• Updated pqact decoder entries for dcncon, dccsig, dcairm, dcisig for header changes.
• Updated pqact NWX entries for airmets, sigmets, convective sigmets, international sigments.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.8.3a

The ensemble cyclone tracks generated by various forecast models (GFS, NAM, UKMET, NCEP Ensemble, ...) can now be decoded and displayed (in NMAP2 and GPMAP) as a new miscellaneous data type. In many respects, these data sets are similar to the ATCF forecast track data which is decoded "on the fly" and displayed as miscellaneous data type ATCF in NMAP2 and as parameter ATCF in GPMAP. Ensemble tracks can be found on the NCEP/EMCweb pages.

A new decoder, DCWCP, decodes the WCP text messages created by the WOU- update program. The decoded message is in an ASCII format, similar to the decoded watches. Please see $GEMHLP/hlp/dcwcp.hlp for more information on the DCWCP decoder and its output format.

new parameter (WCP) has been added to GPMAP for displaying the decoded WCP data. The watch lines in the decoded WCP file have the option to be color coded to the watch number. Otherwise, by default, they are color coded as severe thunderstorms (cyan) and tornadoes (red). The capability to display WCPs in NMAP2 is also available. The data source is found under the "MISC" data source category.

The marine surface decoder DCMSFC has been modified to decode five new section 5 ("national practice") buoy/CMAN parameters - highest one-minute mean wind speed in m/s (PKWS), direction of one-minute peak wind in degrees (PKWD), time of one-minute peak wind as hhmm (PKWT), lowest one-minute average pressure in millibars (PMN1), and time of lowest one-minute average pressure as hhmm (PMNT). New computed parameters PKWK (highest one- minute mean wind speed in knots) and BRPK (wind barb in knots for highest peak 1-minute wind) were added. Tables were modified to allow for display in NMAP2 and the GEMPAK SF programs.

GEMPAK gridded data diagnostic functionality has been enhanced to allow for computations over layers containing multiple levels of the vertical coordinate. This functionality allows for a new set of LYR_ functions to be entered in GFUNC or GDPFUN to calculate layer quantities. The general form of the user input is

	LYR_X ( arg1 & arg2 & ... & argN & argout | levels )

where X is the name of the function (currently only SWTM exists), arg1-argN are input arguments, argout identifies a particular output if the function can produce more than one output, and levels is an optional input specifying the levels to be used. If levels is not specified, the level information is taken from the GLEVEL input.

The infrastructure for the LYR_ capability has been created for this release along with one function. This single function is LYR_SWTM, which calculates a weighted layer average of its single input argument. This argument can be any valid diagnostic function string. Additional layer diagnostics will be added in future releases.

Three new ensemble diagnostics have been added in this release. They are:

1. ENS_SSPRD ( scalar_input_arg ) -- Computes the spread (sample standard deviation) over the members of an ensemble.
2. ENS_VAVG ( vector_input_arg ) -- Computes the average of a vector over the members of an ensemble. The result is a vector field.
3. ENS_VSPRD ( vector_input_arg ) -- Computes the spread (sample standard deviation) of a vector over the members of an ensemble. The result is a scalar field: SQRT{ [1/(N-1)]*SUM[(V-Vavg)*(V-Vavg)] }, where N is number of members, V is vector for a given member, Vavg is the ensemble average vector, and * represents a vector dot product.

The XW driver has been modified to allow the user to "take a picture" of the current frame. There is a new GEMPAK command, GSAVE, that takes the output file name as an argument and saves the frame to the file in the GIF format. This command operates from any GEMPAK text-interface program that draws data to an X Window. Type help from any GEMPAK program to get additional information on this command.

The export GIF functionality was also added to NMAP2. From the File menu, select "Export to GIF". A popup window appears and allows the user to enter the output file name. When OK is selected, the current frame is saved to the output file. If the output file exists, a file name is constructed that adds a three digit number to the file name. For example, if the file gempak.gif exists and the user attempts to save a new frame to the same name, then the output file will be gempak_001.gif. The next time the same file name is used, the output file will be gempak_002.gif, etc.

If the user has set the roam factor to larger than the default, then the entire pixmap is saved to the output file, not just the portion that is in view in the window.

The objective analysis (OA) programs OABSFC and OABSND have a new parameter OABND. OABND specifies the bounds file(s) to use for 'blocking', that is masking out geographical areas based on bounded areas. Observations within the bounded area are not considered nor are observations whose line-of- sight to an analysis point is 'blocked' by a bounded area. Multiple bound areas may be specified; the default is NULL - no bounds blocking specified. See $GEMHLP/hlx/oabnd.hl2 or type 'phelp oabnd' for additional information.

A new GEMPAK parameter, GUESFUN, has been added to the objective analysis (OA) programs, OABSFC and OABSND. The new parameter allows the user to specify a different field as a first guess than the analyzed field. For example the 10 meter temperature from a model can now be used as a first guess for the 2 meter temperature analyzed field.

***** IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE: *****

The previous practice of specifying the forecast hour (time) along with the filename in the GUESS parameter is replaced with this capability. The forecast hour of the model grid MUST now be placed in-line in the new GUESFUN parameter. Therefore, any scripts specifying the forecast time in the GUESS parameter MUST be modified. An example of specifying the forecast hour with the new GUESFUN parameter is :

	GUESFUN = hght@10%HGHT^f012

See the GEMPAK help on GUESFUN for additional details.

Raw sounding reports, e.g., TTAA, TTBB, etc., can now be displayed in NWX. To view raw sounding reports, select "Observed Data", then select "Sounding Data". The tables $GEMTBL/nwx/master.tbl and guidata.tbl have been modified accordingly.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.8.4

On September 13, 2005, the NWS added extended-range MOS guidance based on the global forecast system (GFS) for the 12Z cycle. The extended range GFS MOS decoder DCXMOS has been modified to process 12Z as well as 00Z data.

The members of an ensemble listed between curly brackets ({}) in GDFILE input may be assigned weights. If no weights are assigned, the members are equally weighted. The weight values range from 0 to 100 and must sum to 100. The weight is prefixed to the name of the member and followed by a "%" which acts as a delimiter between the weight value and the name. If the member name refers to a collection of individual members (e.g., SREF), then the weight value is divided equally among those individual members. These weights can be used in computing ensemble scalar and vector means (ENS_SAVG and ENS_VAVG) and the ensemble percentile funcion (ENS_PRCNTL, see description below), but not spreads. The help for GDFILE provides more information.

A new ensemble function, ENS_PRCNTL, has been added to compute the value of a function associated with a given percentile of occurrence within a weighted ensemble. The percentile may be specified as a constant or as a parameter or function that is valued between 0 and 100. For example if the value of 50 is specified, then the median of a diagnostic over ensemble members can be computed. The help for GPARM has more information on ENS_PRCNTL.

A new ensemble function, ENS_MODE, is now available to estimate the mode, the most frequently occurring value, in a weighted ensemble. This function will usually find the dominant mode closest to the mean. Secondary modes are ignored. An iterative trisection algorithm is used that takes into account the weights of the members.

New ensemble functions to calculate the maximum, minimum and range for a scalar diagnostic field over the range of ensembles have been developed. These functions are ENS_SMAX, ENS_SMIN and ENS_SRNG, respectively. See the GPARM help for additional details.

GDATTIM may now be used to override the default values provided by DATTIM; GFUNC may now be used to override PARMS; GLEVEL and GVCORD may now be used to override '0' and 'SFC', respectively. See the help file for OABSFC for more information and restrictions.

**** Important Please Note ****

Existing scripts may be inadvertently affected by this change. Specifically, the values for GDATTIM, GFUNC, GLEVEL, and GVCORD set by other scripts will now affect the output of OABSFC. Therefore, these parameters MUST be set to blank in existing scripts to ensure that OABSFC continues to operate as before this release.

New sounding diagnostics have been added to NSHARP. This development was done in collaboration with the OPC.

The current modifications include three main changes: 1) Page 2 of the diagnostic panel is now the new "OPC Low Level Stability" page, 2) this page details three measures of atmospheric stability with calculations and relevant layer data, and 3) the mixing heights from the various OPC calculations are now shown graphically on the SKEWT display.

The new OPC diagnostics are measures of low level atmospheric stability. The simplest of these is the temperature gradient between the 975 hPa level and the surface, which is negative under mixed conditions. A basic measure of the surface mixing height is the height of the lowest temperature inversion; this level is drawn on the SKEWT display as a solid yellow line. Two alternate measures of the mixing height are calculated using either a layer-based or surface-based lapse rate. The threshold criterion for the mixing level is 85% of the dry adiabatic lapse rate (as in BUFKIT). The layer-based calculated height is shown as a dotted cyan line on the SKEWT graph, and the surface-based height is shown as a dashed magenta line.

The new mixing height lines are fully dynamic and will automatically be redrawn when looping or manually altering the data profile.

GDTSER plots time series of the grid data. In previous releases, if a data gap exceeds twice the minimum data interval, the plotting function did not connect the segments between the points even though the data exists. This posed problems for grid data such as GFS when forecast hours change from 3h to 12h after F180. The connecting segments abruptly stopped at the temporal discontinuity point. This release removes the data gap checking mechanism so grid fields are connected at each data point as long as the data exist.

The zone table $GEMTBL/stns/zones.tbl has been updated in accordance with NWS changes distributed in May and June, 2005.

The spcwatch.tbl has been updated according to the October 25, 2005 implementation of new anchor points.

Sfmetar_sa.tbl has many additions for US and Canadian stations as needed to keep pace with datastream changes.

The N-AWIPS directory topology has been modified by to conform to the UNIX paradigm for operating system (os) specific programs, includes, and object libraries. In other words, the bin, include and lib directories for a specific os will have a COMMON root path. This change makes the inclusion of external libraries and packages more straight forward by allowing the use of supplied configure scripts rather than individual package tree configurations.

The Gemenviron and Gemenviron.profile configurations have been modified to conform to the new tree structure. Specifically, $GEMEXE is redefined from $NAWIPS/bin/$NA_OS to $NAWIPS/os/$NA_OS/bin, while platform independent scripts and utilities will be found under $NAWIPS/bin.

All external libraries needed by N-AWIPS have been moved to sub-directories under $NAWIPS/extlibs. The sub-directories include:

• AODT, CREWSS, GAMET, GPC, JasPer, melBUFR, NDFD, netCDF, PNG, xml2, xslt, zlib, rsl, and BZIP2.

**** Important Please Note ****

Sites which develop local applications and utilities may need to check any path names used for executable and build environments especially if the Gemenviron and Makeinc.common files are not used.

The speedpatch modification developed by SUNY-Albany has been rolled in to the Unidata distribution. No further changes are necessary.

A new program nmap_kiosk has been added to facilitate the use of NMAP2 in a kiosk setting. NMAP2 provides up to 16 loop frames, and has autoupdate features for loops containing imagery as a dominant source. Typically, switching between loops is done either through the selection widget, or the keyboard hot "F" keys.

To enable the loops to be cycled at specified intervals, the nmap_kiosk program is provided to provide the keyboard hotkey input. A script $NAWIPS/bin/run_kiosk.csh is provided to facilitate use.

User defined parameters in the script are the first loop frame and last loop frame to iterate through, and the sleep time in between each loop change. The script calls the X11 utility xwininfo to allow the user to click on the desired NMAP2 invocation to run in kiosk mode.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.9.1

Previously, NMAP had restrictions on the number of models, groups and products that could be accessed by the "Data Source" GUI. These limits have been removed.

Modifications were made to the DCMETR decoder to handle changes to the WMO code form effective Nov. 2, 2005: allow "NDV" (no directional variation) to be appended to the 4-digit visibility value; allow "NCD" (no clouds detected) to be used for sky cover for automated systems; allow "COR" immediately preceding the station id to denote a correction.

The number of METAR special reports which can be stored per hour (as text strings) in the GEMPAK file created by DCMETR has been increased from a maximum of 6 to a maximum of 30. Anywhere from 15 specials (at between 81 and 160 characters each) to 30 specials (at less than or equal to 80 characters each) can now be stored for a station for a given hour. The actual number stored depends on the aggregate report length of all the specials for the station at the time. The specials may be viewed with SFLIST (SFPARM=SPCL) or NWX (Observed Data/Surface Hourlies).

A new program, GDGRIB2, is available that converts GEMPAK grids to GRIB edition 2 format. GDGRIB2 converts an existing GEMPAK grid or writes out any grid diagnostic to the GRIB2 file. In addition, a horizontal interpolation is invoked, when necessary, to store the GRIB2 formatted data points on any user specified grid. For information on available parameters and example usage, type "help gdgrib2" in any GEMPAK program.

A new set of logical grid diagnostics have been developed to support the new ensemble probability function (ENS_PROB). A set of arithmetic logical functions has been added to provide for multivariate relative frequency (probability) estimations from ensembles. One-sided inequalities LT, LE, GT, and GE have two arguments, S1 and S2, and evaluate, respectively, S1S2, and S1>=S2. A true evaluation is assigned the value 1.0, a false evaluation is assigned 0. Two-sided inequalities GTLT, GELT, GTLE, and GELE have three arguments, S1, S2, and S3, and evaluate, respectively, S2 A new set of functions (AND, OR, EOR) allows for logical combinations of arithmetic logical evaluations. These functions take two or more operators. The AND evaluates to 1 (true) if all of its arguments are nonzero; OR evaluates to 1 (true) if at least one of its arguments is nonzero; and EOR evaluates to 1 (true) if exactly one of it arguments is nonzero and all the others are zero. These functions return 0 if the evaluation is false.

Three additional logical functions are added: EQ (S1,S2,S3) evaluates |S1-S2| <= S3, NE (S1,S2,S3) evaluates |S1-S2| > S3, and NOT (S) evaluates S==0. If the evaluation is true the function assigns 1; otherwise 0.

See help on GPARM for additional details.

A new ensemble function, ENS_PROB, is provided to perform weighted relative frequency of occurrence calculations using the new suite of logical functions (AND, OR, EOR, NOT, LT, LE, GT, GE, GTLT, GELT, GTLE, GELE, EQ, NE). This function performs a weighted average of the 1 or 0 valued outputs of the logical evaluation for each ensemble member. The resulting value lies on the interval [0,1] and can be taken as an estimate of probability. For example to compute the ensemble probability of the wind speed exceeding 10 m/s AND the temperature less than 0 C enter the following:

ENS_PROB(AND(GT(MAG(WND),10),LT(TMPC,0))).

See help on GPARM for additional details.

Four new grid diagnostic functions have been added: 1) IGPT - computes I grid index values with respect to the reference grid (determined by the first GDFILE entry or GDOUTF); 2) JGPT - computes the J grid index values with respect to the reference grid; 3) SGMX (S) - computes the maximum of scalar argument S and returns a grid with this value at every point; 4) SGMN (S) - like SGMX, except that it computes the minimum.

NTRANS now has the ability to save procedures in NTRANS similar to NMAP2. This functionality allows the user to save settings for models, groups and panel location for multi panel display. A new drop down menu (Procedures) has been added to the NTRANS top menu bar with the options to restore or save a procedure file.

The NTRANS Procedure File (NPF) stores the number of rows and columns that are displayed for a multi-panel display. It also contains information about each panel. This information includes the metafile source name with the model cycle date and time replaced with a [cycle_date] and [cycle_hour], respectively. The column and row location of the panel, the group name, and whether the source was used to set the valid time for the animation are also saved within the file.

When a user loads a .npf file, the text strings [cycle_date] and [cycle_hour] within the source name are replaced with the latest available cycle date and hour for that model source. The model used to set the valid time (if done at all) is loaded first with the remaining models loading at the matching times and time intervals.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.9.2

A new panel has been added to the "Save To SPF File" GUI titled "Save Source Timestamp As:'. To save the loaded cycle time to the SPF, click the "Constant" radio button. The "Latest" radio button which is the default saves the cycle time as a template as in previous releases. Thus, if this button is selected, the current cycle is selected upon restoring the SPF.

The plotting of ensemble cyclone tracks in NMAP2 and GPMAP has been enhanced to allow the user to color-code the tracks according to the maximum surface wind in knots at each forecast point.

The number of characters in FILE TEMPLATE field of the table $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl was increased from 25 to 48 in order to allow the ability to read data files with long names (for example, grid files from the high resolution WRF sectors).

The GWFS (Gaussian weighted filter) diagnostic function has been changed to specify a larger footprint for the weighted averaging, allowing for reductions at wavelengths up to 200 delta grid units.

A new program, GDPLOT3, has been added to incorporate the functionality from GPTEXT, GPBOX, GPANOT into GDPLOT2. The program is linked with various drivers including TIFF. This program was developed to support efficient WAFS graphics generation on the CCS.

Three new public library routines have been added to the cgemlib/xml library. These provide some basic query functionality that can be applied generically to xml documents. Additional use of XML use within GEMPAK is being developed for future releases.

The RSL library package used for Level II plotting has been upgraded to version 1.34 which adds several VCPs in addition to changes necessary for new ORDA deployment.

A new program GDCSV has been created to create a comma separated output of data values at grid and lat/lon point locations. This program can be used to output location of maximas found using the HIGH and LOWS functions, as well as all other functions.

Added the ability to display revised NetCDF formats for 2-D and 3-D radar mosaics which will be available from NSSL in the near future.

The capability to change the time matching rules for each dominant data source type has been added to NMAP2. A time matching field has been added as the tenth column in $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl. The time matching rules are as follows:
1. exact only
2. closest before or equal
3. closest after or equal
4. closest before or after

The Flash Flood and Areal Flood watches are now displayable using NMAP2 and GPMAP in the same manner as winter storm watches. The option is available to display the watch time, the watch county/zone name, the immediate cause of the flood, and whether to display the outline of the watch county/zone.

The display of tropical storm location and radial wind forecasts has been enhanced in NMAP2 and GPMAP for datatype MIS C/HRCN. The storm forecasts can now be plotted every six hours from 00 to 96, and at 120 hours. The data plotted at 00, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, and120 hours are decoded from the Tropical Cyclone Forecast Advisory. The storm locations at all other forecast hours are calcula ted using a linear interpolation from the previous and subsequent decoded forecast hour, and the wind radii ranges are assigned the values from the previous decoded forecast hour. In addition, the valid time is now plotted at every sto rm forecast displayed, when the Time flag is set.

The Layer Max/Min function computes the maximum or minimum of a scalar quantity over the specified levels. The functio n can also compute the value of an output grid where the max or min of the input grid occurs. The syntax for the function is:

        LYR_MXMN ( ARGIN & FLDOUT [ & ARGOUT ] [ | LEVELS ] )

FLDOUT controls what grid values are returned to the user. If FLDOUT is MXVAL or MNVAL, then the values are the maxim um or minimum values of grid specified by ARGIN. If FLDOUT is MXOUT or MNOUT, then values are from the grid specifie d by ARGOUT at the same level as the maximum or minimum of ARGIN. LEVELS is a list of individual levels or a range. S ee the help for GFUNC for examples.

The Layer Value on an Isosurface function computes the value of a function on a specified isosurface of a second funct ion. The function finds the isosurface by either searching the levels from the bottom or from the top. It will also re turn values associated with the Nth isosurface. The syntax for the function is:

        LYR_FVONISFC ( FVALU & FISFC & VISFC & N & GRADFLAG [ | LEVELS ] )

FVALU is the grid that is interpolated to the isosurface. FISFC is the grid that represents the isosurface. VISFC is t he threshold applied to FISFC. This can be a grid or a constant value. N is the occurrence number of the isosurfaces. If N is positive, the search is conducted starting at the bottom. A negative N starts the search at the top level. GR ADFLAG is a function to specify whether the data is increasing or decreasing across the threshold during the search. L EVELS is a list of individual levels or a range. See the help for GFUNC for examples.

Dcgrib2 decoding of GRIB2 format products has been modified to use the native product packing for storage in GEMPAK grid files. This change allows the decoder to work more efficiently by not having to unpack and then repack the data using GRIB1 bit packing, and the resulant GEMPAK grid files are smaller. GRIB1 format messages will be decoded into GEMPAK grid files as before. All user programs which intend to read the GRIB2 decoded products written by v5.9.3 dcgrib2 should be updated to the new library version when the decoder is installed.

The NAM grid files are now expected to be located in the directory named $MODEL/nam as configured in $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl. The supplied $GEMTBL/grid/gribkey.tbl file used by dcgrib2 (through the the LDM pqact actions provided with this release) has been updated to coincide with this location. User programs which use the NAM data set templates will be unaffected. A legacy copy of datatype.tbl using $MODEL/eta directory names is available as $GEMTBL/config/datatype.tbl.eta.

Satellite platform numbers have been added for the NESDIS products to be added to NOAAPORT.

The grid diagnostic libraries and associated INCLUDE files have been converted from FORTRAN to the _C_ programming language. These libraries are DG, DF, DV, DL, DE, PD and the INCLUDE file _DGCMN.CMN_. This implementation is part of a larger effort to eliminate current grid size limitations within GEMPAK grid applications. In N-AWIPS 5.9.4, the grid limit will be raised to 750K points. Future efforts will target the goal of eliminating ALL grid size limitations within ALL GEMPAK applications and libraries.

The overall functionality of grid diagnostic libraries has not changed. Users of GEMPAK programs that employ these libraries (such as GDPLOT2) should not see any calculation differences between the new code (v5.9.4) and previous versions. In addition, the performance of these libraries has not changed. The N-AWIPS team has conducted an extensive set of regression tests for the converted libraries in our development environment to ensure the integrity and performance of the system.

*GEMPAK DEVELOPERS, IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE:*

As part of this conversion, we have eliminated several dg library routines that have not been used by the operational baseline applications for over a year. These routines will no longer be supported in version 5.9.4. If you have your own applications that use the dg library, please see the migration document that lists the eliminated dg routines and describes how to replace them with the supported routines. In addition, the gd library has been modified for more efficient management of grid files. If your applications require modifications, they can be made with the 5.9.3 baseline.

Note: An example program illustrating grid access is available here: newgrid_example.tar.gz.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.9.4

The capability to assign different text sizes to data plotted around a station model has been added to program SFMAP. The text sizes are presented to the program by including them in the SFPARM parameter. The text size and line width for plotting a data type are appended to the data type parameter separated by colons. For mor information, see the help SFPARM.

Users of SFMAP are now able to take a single data type culled by the filter and plot their values in columns along the edge of a chart. The columns (up to 4) consist of the station ID followed by the data value. Edge plotting is controlled by the new LSTPRM parameter string that specifies the data type, the location of the column origin, and a list of plotting specifications that is identical in order and function to the parameter string for TEXT.

• Added %ens% ensemble member template for GRIB2 file output.

  In order to provide flexibility in decoded output. The following environment variables may be used to configure the decoder:

  • ENSEXT : Environmental variable for adding ensemble extensions to parameter nam If ENSEXT is not set, use of PDSEXT parameter name extensions defaults to yes for grib1 and no for grib2. If ENSEXT is set, and equal to 1, then the extension will be added to parameter names. If ENSEXT is set, and not equal to 1, the PDS extension will not be added to parameter names.

  • MDMETH : Environmental variable for backward compatibility when decoding GRIB2 Default storage method uses GRIB2 packing (MDGRB2) for grib2 data, which is not backward compatible with older GEMPAK distributions. If environmental variable MDMETH=MDGDEC, use backward compatibility - which will be much slower for GRIB2 decoding, and result in output files which may be much larger. See release notes with 5.9.3 regarding GRIB2 data packing by dcgrib2.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.10.1

BUFR sounding files posted on the NCEP ftp server are blocked on a big endian (byte order) machine. To use these files with NAMSND on a little endian OS, the files must be unblocked and reblocked. Information on this utility is available here.

To use the utility to unblock and reblock the data for little endian machines:

1. Unblock the the BUFR file. Select "unblk", enter the existing BUFR file, and provide a name for the unblocked BUFR file.
2. Reblock the BUFR file. Select "block", enter the unblocked BUFR file, and provide a name for the reblocked BUFR file.

A test script $NAWIPS/unidata/programs/cwordsh/reblock.csh in the source distribution to unblock and reblock as sample data file, and then convert to GEMPAK format using NAMSND.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.10.2

NMAP2 now supports multiple, simultaneous locator displays. For example, the latitude/longitude, county and NEXRAD identifier can be displayed simultaneously as the cursor is moved. The GUI has a new widget that specifies the position. When the mouse is in the main drawing area, the second, third,... readouts will appear if they are ON; when the mouse leaves the drawing area, those readouts (except the first one) will disappear.

The latest version of the UW-CIMSS's Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) v7.2 has been incorporated into NMAP2 and standalone utility program aodt. NMAP2 AODT pulldown "Operational" refers to version 6.4 and "Experimental" indicates version 7.2. For more information about AODT, see Weather and Forecasting, vol 22, number 2 pp 287-298.

A new feature has been added to GEMPAK contour drawing routines that enables users to specify the number of digits that appear in the integer portion of contour labels. This option is invoked by supplying a fourth substring in the CINT parameter string that controls the length of the label. Nothing to right of the decimal point, whether in normal or scientific notation, is affected by this option.

Unidata specific updates

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.10.3

An option has been added to allow the NMAP2 time line reference time to be saved to Stored Procedure Files (SPFs) for later access such as case studies. A new button called "Save Reference Time" has been added to the "Save To SPF File". If this button is clicked, then the reference time is saved to the SPF. When the SPF is restored, the reference time will be used to set the time line for the dominant data type, accordingly.

A new feature has been added to NMAP2 grid data selection that allows models to be grouped under user-defined categories. No database changes, or changes to the $GEMTBL/nmap/mod_res.tbl are required. A new table, $GEMTBL/nmap/grid_cat.tbl specifies the mapping between user defined grid category names and models. The table has two columns. The first specifies the user specified grid category name and the second column specifies the models that will appear under that category in the NMAP "Data Source", " GRID" entry. For example, say the table includes two categories, Global, and Regional, with gfs; ecwf; ukmet, and nam;ruc;ngm entries, respectively. When "GRID" is selected in the "Data Source" GUI, Global and Regional appear as entries in the scroll window under GRID. If Global is selected, then the gfs, ecwf and ukmet appear in the scroll window under Global. If Regional is selected, then the nam, ruc and ngm entries appear in the scroll window. Note that a third category under the GRID called "Others" is automatically generated to include all other models in mod_res table that were not specified as entries in the grid_cat.tbl. If the grid_cat.tbl does not exist or all of its entries are commented out, then NMAP model selection using the "Data Source" GUI remains the same as previous versions of NMAP2.

Unidata specific updates

The $NAWIPS/ldm/etc/templates/pqact.gempak_images pattern actions for LDM have been updated to replace the PIPE actions, which relied on the LDM-MCIDAS decoder pnga2area, with FILE actions. Alternate PIPE actions are provided in the $NAWIPS/ldm/etc/templates/pqact.gempak_images.old file. Since older versions of GEMPAK display programs will not be able to read the AREA files compressed for Unidata's IDD transmission, sites should upgrade all workstations before changing to the new patterns.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.10.4

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.11.1

More information can be found in the release notes here under the NMAP2 Help "What's New" section.

Notification to retire 5 legacy programs with 5.11.2 in February, 2008

NCEP developers have provided notification for retirement of five legacy GEMPAK GD programs. They are: GDCNTR, GDSTREAM, GDWIND, GDMAP and GDPLOT. The functionality of each of these programs is fully incorporated into GDPLOT2. In addition, GDPLOT2 provides additional capabilities beyond the capabilities provided by these individual programs. Minimal changes are needed to go from the legacy program parameter settings to GDPLOT2 parameter settings.

The plan is to retire these five programs one year from February, 2007. That is, they will not be included with 5.11.2 in February, 2008.

Additional features of GEMPAK 5.11.4