In case you missed it — here's a recap of news from the Unidata Program Center for the month of January, 2014.
EGU 2014 Abstract Submission Deadline Approaching
Visualization is an increasingly important activity for understanding complex geoscience data, and for communicating results to a variety of audiences. As a result, the European Geoscience Union (EGU) conference has, in recent years, begun holding sessions dedicated to scientific visualization. For the 2014 EGU conference, to be held in Vienna, Austria from 27 April - 2 May 2014, these offerings are included in the sub-programme titled Visualization for scientific discovery and communication.
2014 DeSouza Award Nominations
Do you know someone in the Unidata community who has been actively involved and helpful to you and other Unidata members? Perhaps this is someone who volunteers to assist others, contributes software, or makes suggestions that are generally useful for the community.
The Unidata Users Committee invites you to submit nominations for the Russell L. DeSouza Award for Outstanding Community Service. This Community Service Award honors individuals whose energy, expertise, and active involvement enable the Unidata Program to better serve the geosciences. Honorees personify Unidata's ideal of a community that shares ideas, data, and software through computing and networking technologies.
Reminder: AMS Short Course on IDV, WRF, and Other Model Output
Unidata is hosting a Short Course on Integrating WRF and Other Model Output with Remote and In-situ Observational Datasets using Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) on 2nd February 2014, preceding the 94th AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Preliminary programs, registration, hotel, and general information are posted on the AMS Annual Meeting Web site. To register for the Short Course from the meeting site, select Registration from the site menu, then Online Registration. You'll have to log in to register for the course, so have your AMS login information handy.
NetCDF operators (NCO) version 4.4.0
Version 4.4.0 of the netCDF Operators (NCO) has been released. NCO is an Open Source package that consists of a dozen standalone, command-line programs that take netCDF files as input, then operate (e.g., derive new data, average, print, hyperslab, manipulate metadata) and output the results to screen or files in text, binary, or netCDF formats.
Unidata Staff at AMS 2014 Meeting
Members of the Unidata Program Center staff will be attending the 94th annual American Meteorology Society meeting, February 2-6 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. Unidata will be in Booth 228 in the exhibit hall (map); feel free to stop by to talk with us. The booth will feature live, hands-on demonstrations of Unidata software and services, including a look at the current state of the AWIPS II environment. Come and talk with the developers about what's coming up and what you'd like to see.
Call for Proposals: Unidata 2014 Community Equipment Awards
The Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the opening of the 2014 Unidata Community Equipment Awards solicitation. Created under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, Unidata equipment awards are intended to encourage new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the geosciences to join the Unidata community, and to encourage existing members to continue their active participation, enhancing the community process. For 2013, a total of $100,000 is available for awards; proposals for amounts up to $20,000 will be considered.
NOVA's "Killer Typhoon" airs on PBS
It was the strongest cyclone to hit land in recorded history. On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, whipping the low-lying and densely-populated islands with 200 mph winds and sending a two-story-high storm surge flooding into homes, schools, and hospitals. It wiped villages off the map and devastated cities, including the hard-hit provincial capital Tacloban. Estimates count more than 5,000 dead and millions homeless.
The Unidata Program Center's Jeff Weber is one of the scientists who looks into what made Typhoon Haiyan so destructive in the NOVA documentary Killer Typhoon, which aired on PBS Wednesday, January 22, 2104. Weber uses the Unidata Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) to look at the storm.
Unidata Program Center Welcomes Christian Ward-Garrison
Christian Ward-Garrison joined the Unidata Program Center software development staff on December 2, 2013 — just in time to join in the UPC staff's annual white elephant gift exchange and holiday celebration.
Christian earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematical and Computer Sciences from the Colorado School of Mines, and comes to Unidata from the U.S. Geological Survey in Lakewood, Colorado. There, he used Unidata products extensively to assist in modeling of watershed systems.
NetCDF operators (NCO) version 4.4.1
Version 4.4.1 of the netCDF Operators (NCO) has been released. NCO is an Open Source package that consists of a dozen standalone, command-line programs that take netCDF files as input, then operate (e.g., derive new data, average, print, hyperslab, manipulate metadata) and output the results to screen or files in text, binary, or netCDF formats.
IDV Events at the AMS 2014 Meeting
Unidata's IDV will be featured in a number of events at this year's annual American Meteorological Society meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
On the Developer's Blog
Unidata Program Center developers write regularly on technical topics on the Unidata Developer's Blog. Recent articles touch on using GEMPAK to create a region of interest mask, dimension scales in netCDF 4, and accessing netCDF data via coordinate systems.
Governing Committee News
Unidata's Users Committee met October 3-4, 2013. The meeting summary is available here.
Unidata's Strategic Advisory Committee (formerly the Policy Committee) met October 10-11, 2013. The meeting summary is available here.
