Web pages and documentation for GEMPAK 5.6 have been updated.
The GEMPAK training workshop is tentatively scheduled for July 30 through August 1, 2001.
We are planning on using the new UCAR corporate training facilities in the Pearl St.
complex for the Unidata workshops this summer. This facility should accomodate
a greater number of attendees than is possible in the Unidata conference room.
GEMPAK version
5.6.A was released to the Unidata community Dec. 19, 2000.
This release incorporates additional development
as well as bug fixes since the release of GEMPAK 5.6.
New features of GEMPAK 5.6.A include:
Unidata Fall application workshops were held as follows:
The GEMPAK workshop covered the new GEMPAK 5.6 release. 15 attendees were present.
Unidata has released GEMPAK 5.6 (NCEP's current distribution).
This release was used for the Fall user training workshops.
A demonstration of the new GEMPAK release was provided to the March Unidata Usercomm
meeting.
New features of GEMPAK 5.6 are:
GEMPAK 5.6 supports building with the GNU g77/gcc environment.
Display and anotation of CIMSS derived satellite products (added to the IDD data stream
this summer) was added to the current GEMPAK 5.4 release (patch level 17). In addition
to new enhancement tables, the colorbar is now capable of displaying the units and
scale contained within the CIMSS products. The CIMSS products are OZONE, Precipitable Water,
Lifted Index, Cloud Top Pressure, Cape, and Sea Surface Temperature.
In November,
I added GPRCM for the display of Radar Coded Message products. GPRCM allows
the display and compositing of RCM messages, along with annotations of
cell movement, TVS and meso cyclone signatures, and other included
remarks. The user may also overlay these products on other GEMPAK products
including satellite and NIDS imagery. For examples of products, see:
RCM examples.
Garp 2.1 is now available to Unidata sites.
This latest version of Garp contains several Y2K updates as well as
updates to the FDF processing.
Several patches to the Unidata distribution of GEMPAK were made
in order to assure Y2K compatibility. Most changes necessary
were provided in the patch 12 distribution made available
in July, 1999. Along with Garp 2.1, a few remaining updates
were made in December with patch 14. The current GEMPAK distribution
available from Unidata contains all of these patches.
ACARS data from FSL is available to Unidata sites via the LDM by direct
connection from FSL to universities.
The ACARS data files are distributed in NetCDF format. A general
ACARS/NetCDF decoder "dcacars" will decode the acars point observations
into a standard GEMPAK ship format file. The surface-ship format file
is used to accommodate the transient nature of aircraft report locations.
Standard surface programs will display and list the individual ACARS
observations from GEMPAK files. To display the ACARS data in the form
of a vertical profile (Skew-T/Stuve/Log/linear) plot, a version of SNPROF
called ACARSPROF is available. ACARSPROF will allow the user to
plot a sounding profile from a single plane, or to aggregate the observations
in the area of a selected location and plot a composite sounding.
NSHARP is an interactive Skew-T/Hodograph program for GEMPAK. The program is capable of
plotting soundings from radiosonde data, model data, ASCII files, and ACARS
observations. NSHARP is based on a port of the well known SHARP software with
additions for Unidata data streams including ACARS data, and an interactive data
selection interface. Printing capability is provided with a postscript interface.
The GEMPAK package workshop was held July 28-30, 1999 and included 15 participants.
The course was taught using Gempak 5.4 patch level 12 on 8 Pentium machines running
Solaris X86 operating system.
During December, Unidata transitioned the IDD from FOS to the
new NOAAport data streams. Prior to the transition, Unidata
tested the proposed data stream for compatibility with existing
applications. The available GEMPAK decoders were evaluated
for suitability with NOAAport. Due to the configuration
of the current ingestion system which makes the NOAAport
data products look like the previous FOS products, sites
were able to continue to use their packages without
upgrades or reconfiguration. In addition to providing
most products previously available on FOS, the NOAAport
data stream provides additional model data sets, as well
as some new forecast products. The design of GEMPAK
permits the use of the new model data sets without
requiring any additional configuration, and thus the
transition has been very smooth. I have provided updated
information via the GEMPAK web pages for LDM pqact.conf
entries which can be used to route the additional data
products for GEMPAK use. NWS product headers continue to change,
independent of the FOS->NOAAport transition. Maintaining
up to date information for NWX has required the most
effort, since the current LDM routing based on WMO headers is
less stable than the AFOS identifiers included within the
forecast bulletins.
More recent NOAAport developments at UPC underway allow for all 4 NOAAport
data channels to be ingested into the LDM. The additional data channels
include both GOES-E and GOES-W satellite products in GINI format. Gempak
is fully capable of displaying the satellite data directly from NOAAport
in GINI format.
The first release of GEMPAK for PC operating systems consisted of binary
only distributions. The reason for the binary method of distributing
GEMPAK for Linux and Solaris X86 was initially based on changes needed
to build the distribution made since the original release of GEMPAK 5.4.
Moreover, the requirement for Linux users to obtain MOTIF libraries
as well as utilize the f2c Fortran conversion interface provided
certain barriers for easy installation. Since the original release,
I have incorporated the necessary modifications into the GEMPAK source
distribution as well as updated all of the Makefiles used during the
building process to support the "make" program provided with
Linux, which does not have many of the features used by all of
the other supported UPC platforms. As a result, the current
patch level 8 distribution can now be built by users which
desire a full source distribution.
DCSHEF is a new decoder for hydrologic and meteorological data distributed
over FOS and NOAAPORT in the SHEF (Standard Hydrologic Exchange Format) data format.
This data provides many cooperative observations for meteorological data
as well as river and dam information such as stream flow, discharge rates, water
temperature, and flood information, as well as forest service, agriculture,
and USGS measurements such as snowpack and evaporation potential.
Unidata has pursued a relationship with NCEP and the USWRP to provide greater access
to model data now available via the IDD CONDUIT effort. I have updated the capabilities
of DCGRIB to handle additional grib data that may be obtained through the IDD as
a result of this effort. NCEP is currently sending MRF, AVN, ETA, RUC2, and
Ensemble data sets which consist of additional levels, forecast times,
parameters, and provide greater temporal and/or spatial resolution
that the counterparts available via FOS/NOAAport.
COMET case studies are compatible with the GEMPAK/NAWIPS
environment, and are being made available via the CODIAC system.
All the handouts/displays for the GEMPAK workshop are been made available through
the GEMPAK web page 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 will be updated for GEMPAK 6.0 when released.
The GEMPAK tutorial can be found at:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/gempak/tutorial
Upcoming Additions/Changes for GEMPAK 5.6.B
Users that are still using GDPLOT in scripts will want to begin
transitioning to GDPLOT2 which encompasses all the features of
GDPLOT. GDPLOT2 supports all of the functionality of GDPLOT and can
therefore be substituted. The difference between GDPLOT2 and GDPLOT is
the addition of two new variables to GDPLOT2 that combine scalar and
vector operations to make GDPLOT2 much more robust than GDPLOT. First,
GDPLOT2 replaces the GFUNC and GVECT variables with GDPFUN to specify
scalar and vector grid functions. Second, GDPLOT2 uses the variable
TYPE instead of CTYPE to specify the desired contour and vector
type. GDPLOT2 also has several capabilities that are not included in
GDPLOT. These include the ability to plot streamlines, plot the grid
value at the grid point, and plot scalars as directional arrows. See
the GEMPAK help on these programs and variables for additional
information and examples. In future releases, GDPLOT will become
obsolete.
GEMPAK Training Workshops
GEMPAK 5.6.A Released
Unidata application workshops hosted
GEMPAK 5.6 Development
Features include:
CIMSS product display
SFCNTR
In response to requests from the
Users Committee,
I have developed a self-contained
version of SFMAP which allows the user to plot the data values and contour the data in one
application. This programs performs all necessary objective analysis on the data
internally, which eliminates the need to create a barnes analysis gridded data set first.
Radar Coded Message display
GARP 2.1
GEMPAK and Y2K
GEMPAK and ACARS
NSHARP
GEMPAK summer package workshop
GEMPAK and the Unidata NOAAport transition
GEMPAK distribution now supports building under Linux/X86
DCSHEF
NCEP grid access (CONDUIT)
Ongoing Additions
COMET case studies available via CODIAC
GEMPAK workshop and tutorial online
