RAOBget

This repository contains scripts to download RAOBS from the University of Wyoming Radiosonde Archive by building URLs like:

• for accessing TEXT:LIST data:

http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=naconf&TYPE=TEXT%3ALIST&YEAR=2019&MONTH=05&FROM=2812&TO=2812&STNM=72672

• for accessing GIF:SKEWT images:

http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/images/2019052812.72672.skewt.parc.gif

Usage

To run on windows 10:

- open an xterm
> conda activate (to get the base environment where libraries have been installed)
> python RAOBget.py <-h> ...

or create a shortcut to windows10/RAOBget.bat and move it to the desktop and just click on it

To run on a mac:

- open an xterm
> python3 RAOBget.py <-h> ...

For EOL staff, to run on mercury (RHEL8) or relampago (CentOS8-stream):

(Note: You can run on barolo using /bin/python3, but as CentOS 7 reaches end-of-life June 2024, please try one of the other machines before then.)

> python3 /opt/local/RAOBget/src/RAOBget <-h>

The -h option lists and identifies the parameters you can pass to the code, like requested station id and dates. So for example, python3 RAOBget.py --raobtype TEXT:LIST --now --stnm DNR will download the latest 12-hour sounding from Denver/Stapleton.

For use with the NCAR/EOL field catalog, use the command:

> cd src
> python3 RAOBget.py --config config/catalog.yml [--stnm <station number> or --rsl <station_list_file>] [--freq <[3,6,12]>]

(or edit the sample config file, config/catalog.yml, and add stnm or rsl keywords)

For use with the NCAR/EOL MTP, use the GUI to set all the needed metadata:

python3 RAOBget.py --gui

Set Mode = MTP; Freq = 12; Data Format = TEXT:LIST; create or load an RSF file; select dates. You can then save your configuration for future runs:

python3 RAOBget.py --config <configfile>

If you need help reading skewT plots, a good reference is the COMET MetEd module: https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_module.php?id=225#.XXrMpZNKiwQ

Dependencies

 * python3
 * pyqt5
 * PyYAML
 * metpy

Installation

Note re. cartopy: This software does NOT require Cartopy. It does require Metpy. Metpy 0.10.# inadvertently developed a hard dependency on Cartopy. If you get an error that Metpy can't find Cartopy, switch to a version of Metpy that does not have this dependency.

Install on CentOS7/8

Make sure you have python3 installed
> python3 -m pip install PyQt5
> python3 -m pip install pyyaml
> python3 -m pip install metpy

To install on a MAC

> brew upgrade python (to 3.7.x)
unset PYTHONPATH
> python3 -m pip install PyQt5
> pip3 install pyyaml
> pip3 install metpy

To install on Windows

Use miniconda to install all needed packages:

• https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html
  • download win 64 bit installer for python3.7 and install
• (Optional) Add Miniconda3 and Miniconda3\condabin to your path
  • Windows search -> type "env" -> click "Edit the system environment variables"
  • In lower "System variables" window, click the "Path" row and click edit
  • Click "New" and add the new paths, e.g.
    • C:\Users\lroot\Miniconda3
    • C:\Users\lroot\Miniconda3\condabin
• Activate a conda environment (I used the default base environment) - see - https://conda.io/activation

   > conda activate

• Update conda if warned following instructions
• Install packages

   > conda install -c conda-forge metpy
     - Drags in pyqt5 and cartopy. If it doesn't...
   > conda install -c conda-forge pyqt
   > conda install -c conda-forge pyyaml

If the packages are not available via the conda-forge channel, you can search for alternative channels at https://anaconda.org

Then install Git (if not already there) and download RAOBget:

• https://git-scm.com/ -> Download latest per automatic OS detection. Run .exe file to install. I used default settings as suggested by installer, except that I asked to install a desktop icon for “Git Bash”
• Launch “Git Bash”
• At the prompt

    git clone http://github.com/NCAR/RAOBget

Copy Windows10 bat file from RAOBget/windows10 to desktop

cp RAOBget/windows10/RAOBget.bat /c/Users/lroot/Desktop/.

Developer Notes

For complete documentation on each class/method, useful if you need to modify the code, use pydoc to extract embedded documentation from each file:

> cd src
> python3 -m pydoc <filename>

e.g. python3 -m pydoc lib/rwget.py

To manually run all unittests:

> cd src
> python3 -m unittest discover -s ../test -v

A linter can be another useful tool. I used flake8

> python3 -m pip install flake8
> flake8 <path/to/code> or <path/to/file.py>

e.g

> flake8 .

References

This code uses the SkewT plot function from metpy to display downloaded TEXT:LIST-formatted data for visual QC:

May, R. M., Arms, S. C., Marsh, P., Bruning, E. and Leeman, J. R., 2017: MetPy: A Python Package for Meteorological Data. Unidata, Accessed 31 March 2017. [Available online at https://github.com/Unidata/MetPy.] doi:10.5065/D6WW7G29.

Citation

Aquino, J. (2020). RAOBget [Software]. UCAR/NCAR - Earth Observing Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.26023/5SMY-QP26

Other resources

If this tool doesn't provide what you need, here are a list of other potential resources:

• The Unidata Siphon Python utility collection can be used to write a simple Python script to download Wyoming Upper Air data into a PANDAS data frame. https://unidata.github.io/siphon/latest/examples/upperair/Wyoming_Request.html#sphx-glr-examples-upperair-wyoming-request-py

• Software Component Diagram