SounderPy v3.0.3 | Minor bug fixes to v3.0.2

The Scoop:

Additions

1. Add gitignore, remove binary stuff from repo by @akrherz in https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/pull/21

Changed

1. None.

Bug Fixes

1. Plot failure when plotting custom storm motions with ACARS profiles without enough data to calculate Bunkers Storm motions. Fixed, changed a parameter to sm_u instead of rm_u.
2. Hodograph plot mixed-layer variable set to most-unstable variables. Fixed, switched MU variables to ML variables.

Removed

None

New Contributors

• @akrherz made their first contribution in https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/pull/21

Full Changelog: https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/compare/v3.0.2...v3.0.3

SounderPy v3.0.2 | "The Parcel Update"

The Scoop:

Additions

1. ecape-parcel-py specialized parcel calculation and plotting logic
2. Relative humidity w/ height annotations on 'full' sounding plot
3. 6-9km kinematic parameters added to the 'kinematics' parameter print-out box on 'full' sounding and hodograph plots
4. User-defined and custom storm motion support using the kwarg storm_motion
5. Accept Matplotlib colormaps for composite-sounding plots using the cmap kwarg
6. VAD hodograph plot function and data retrieval function added, but dependency issues exist -- full release of these features will be delayed.

Changed

1. Composite-sounding plots now default to matplotlib colormap 'viridis' instead of a hard-coded list of colors. Users can still use the color_to_use kwarg or the new cmap kwarg to override the colors used.
2. The thermodynamics section of the 'full' sounding plot was rearranged. 'SR-ECAPE' (SB, MU & ML) replaced the 'NCAPE' section.
3. Storm motion logic was reworked in the .calc module to use 'sm_u'/'sm_v' instead of 'rm_u'/'rm_v' so that all calculations and plotting responds to user-defined storm motion.
4. Some aspects of the skew-t plot layout were adjusted for improved readability. DGZ, HGZ, Max-lapse rate, and EIL annotations are now located on the left of the plot.

Bug Fixes

1. Band-aid-ed missing BUFKIT dewpoints so parcel calculations stop failing on BUFKIT forecast model data
2. Fixed ERA5 data parsing issue

Removed

None

Introducing SounderPy v3.0.1

A primarily bug-fix release for v3.0.0 with a few additions for improved functionality of existing tools.

The Scoop:

Additions

1. First implementation of VAD Hodograph plot function that plots NEXRAD VWP VAD data on a hodograph: build_vad_hodograph(). Currently still in development. This tool will not yet be fully included in v3.0.1, but likely will be in the next release.
2. Ability to target specific RAP-RUC datasets when using get_model_data() using the dataset kwarg.
3. Ability to determine a 'box average' size when using get_model_data() using the box_avg_size kwarg. See the Changed section for more info.

Changed

1. Model reanalysis data now uses an 'area-average' or 'box-sounding' approach to build a vertical profile of reanalysis data. I.e., by default, a user must pass a lat/lon point to get_model_data(), SounderPy will extract data for a 0.1x0.1 degree box and average the data together to build an averaged-point profile. Users may declare a desired box size using the box_avg_size kwarg.

Bug Fixes

1. Corrected EIL-SRH plot on hodographs
2. Corrected 0-1km Streamwise Vorticity value on sounding and hodograph plots
3. Improved Freezing-Point calculation using interpolation scheme.
4. Corrected last-forecast-hour BUFKIT data retrieval issue and created an error message for when an invalid forecast hour is requested.
5. Corrected RAOB site ID issue -- users can now request data using a WMO ID or ICAO ID.

Removed

None

Looking ahead to the future

1. IN THE WORKS: New ECAPE operations, allowing for the plotting of different ECAPE parcel traces and user-specified parcel-types
2. VAD VWP Hodograph plots.

Introducing SounderPy v3.0.0

Summary

Version 3.0.0 of SounderPy brings exciting to features and improvements to existing functionality. This release will provide users with enhanced plotting capabilities, an improved user interface, improved parameter calculations via Sharppy utilities, and cleaner code overall.

Some major upgrades include... a number of new and improved plotting tools that create one-of-a-kind sounding and hodograph plots, new parameter calculations utilizing Sharrpy functionality and a new documentation site.

The Scoop:

Additions

1. New plot creation abilities using the new build_sounding() and build_hodograph() functions.
2. Composite sounding plots using the new build_composite() function. This will allow users to analyze several profiles at once.
3. A 'Dark Mode' setting for sounding, hodograph, and composite plots.
4. A color-blind friendly setting for sounding plots that turns the green dewpoint trace to blue.
5. Redesigned package structure, including the base sounderpy.py module, a calc.py module, and a plot.py module.
6. A new stand-alone documentation site that offers clear, easy-to-find documentation for SounderPy's funtionality. Available, under construction, here.
7. A print out of general thermodynamic and kinematic parameters of a given profile to the console when data is retrieved by SounderPy.

Changed

1. Functions build_sounding() and build_hodograph() replace metpy_sounding() and metpy_hodograph()
2. get_model_data() keyword argument method changed to model
3. Some warnings were changed to exceptions and other warnings were made more concise to address specific issues and improve the code's user-interface.
4. Computed thermodynamic and kinematic properties of a profile were changed to the widely accepted Sharppy calculation methods. This allows for increased reliability in functioning calculations and for more parameters that can be included in plots. SounderPy now directly uses the Sharrpy package for calculations of profile properties.

Bug Fixes

1. Minor bugs were addressed throughout the code. Some of these include...
   • The NWS-hosted METAR site list was removed from its online location a couple months ago. SounderPy now has its only METAR site list for finding METAR lat/lon sites.
   • Some data retrieval functions would only like station ID's in upper-case ('APX'), this bug was fixed so lines like the following will be accepted: spy.get_obs_data('apx', '2022', '05', '20', '18')

Removed

1. The parse_data() function is depreciated. Its functionality was simply added to the get_model_data() function.

---

Examples of new plots available with SounderPy functionality:

New Full Sounding Plot:

New Composite Sounding Plot using 'Dark Mode'

New Hodograph Plot in 'Dark Mode'

Full Changelog: https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/compare/v3.0.0...v3.0.0

SounderPy v2.0.6 will feature a few bug fixes to the plotting functions from v2.0.5.

Fixed

• Erroneous dewpoint data from the NCEP-FNL and BUFKIT archived forecasts have been removed. I.e., bad data (considered less than -130C in this case) are set to nans to improve calculations. This is considered a 'test' and may be slightly modified in later updates.
• MetPy CAPE/CIN calculations were changed from MetPy's surface_based_cape_cin() to MetPy's cape_cin() which seems to both perform better and handle possibly erroneous data better. This was done for SB, ML & MU CAPE/CIN.
• An improved way to set the temperature axis bounds was created to ensure that the profile plots somewhat in the 'middle' of the skew-t for the best possible readability.

An example of the dewpoint corrections with correct MetPy CAPE/CIN calculations:

CHANGELOG:

New Features

• Access to Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) vertical profile data with acars_data()
  • Listing recent profiles for a given date and time: acars_data(year, month, day, hour).list_profiles()
  • Getting a profile after using .list_profiles: acars_data(year, month, day, hour).get_profile(profile)
• NCEP FNL 0.25deg Gridded Reanalysis Dataset using the get_model_data() function by setting the method kwarg to 'ncep'.
• Ability to output SounderPy data to a SHARPPY input file.

Changed

• Finding station lat-lon data is now condensed into a single function: get_latlon(station_type, station_id) where station_type can be buoy, raob, igra, metar, or bufkit.
  • This change depreciates the following functions: buoy_latlon(), metar_latlon(), raob_latlon(), igra_latlon(), metar_latlon() and bufkit_latlon().
• Outputting data to a file is now condensed into a single function: to_file(file_type, filename), where file_type can be csv, cm1, or sharppy.
  • This change depreciates the following functions: to_csv() and to_cm1.
• MetPy sounding and hodograph plots are now more advanced.

Fixed

• Improved Docs
• Corrected Bufkit data output lat-lon data

EXAMPLE PLOTS:

Release number 2 of SounderPy!

• NOTE: this version of SounderPy is 2.0.4

New Features

• IGRAv2 Archive Access via get_obs_data() -- just specify an IRGA station ID for the kwarg station!
• Most-recent RAP analysis data access via get_model_data() -- specify the method kwarg as 'rap-now'
• Most-recent & archive BUFKIT data access via get_bufkit_data() -- GFS, NAM, NAMNEST, RAP, HRRR, SREF, & HIRESW data
• Ability to find a lat/lon pair of a US buoy/CMAN site -- buoy_latlon('site-id')
• Ability to find a lot/lon pair for a IGRA site -- igra_latlon('site-id')
• Ability to save plots to a file -- metpy_sounding(clean_data, 'save')
• Ability to save parsed data as a csv -- to_csv(clean_data)
• Ability to save parsed data to CM1 input file -- to_cm1(clean_data)
• Ability to plot profile data on a MetPy Hodograph! metpy_hodograph(clean_data, 'show')
• GitHub Wiki Documentation

Changed

• metpy_sounding() function now offers two rendering options, a user can specify kwarg method as 'show' to display the plot inline, or as 'save' to save the plot as a .png image. If 'save' is chosen, the kwarg filename can be set to a user-specified file location and name.
  • Example: metpy_sounding(clean_data, 'save', '/your-file-path/your-file-name')
• all clean_data dicts now include the key site-info which include site information, model/data information and time information.

Fixed

• Improved Docs
• Made minor corrections to get_docs() function
• Added CHANGLOG.md
• fixed requirements.txt, thus allowing dependencies to automatically load upon installing SounderPy

SounderPy is finally here!

Start using this package by using pip install sounderpy.

Check out the documentation at: https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/blob/main/DOCUMENTATION.md

Full Changelog: https://github.com/kylejgillett/sounderpy/commits/v1.0.0