[Wrf-users] IDV and VAPOR

[Bridgham Christopher J TSgt 36 OSS/OSW]

Hi Mark,

	I have used IDV before using WRF data and it is a great package.
The system is easy to install on either a Windows or Linux/Unix system
as it uses Java. However, this is also it's weakness as Java is very
demanding memory-wise on any system. While you can use IDV to generate
batch images, it can stall out the system or fail in mid batch. It can
generate GIS related information as well, in the form of KML files that
you can view in Google Earth or NASA World Wind. You can view the WRF
data directly after post-processing using the grib or netCDF files.
	I have not had experience with VAPOR, but as far as I understand
VAPOR wasn't just desinged for meteorolgical applications.
	Hope this helps somewhat, no doubt other users will be along to
expand on this information.

Respectfully,
Christopher J. Bridgham, TSgt, USAF
NCOIC Systems Element
Andersen AFB Weather Flight
Comm: 671-366-5230
DSN: 671-366-5230
Fax: *-3382

-----Original Message-----
From: wrf-users-bounces at ucar.edu [mailto:wrf-users-bounces at ucar.edu] On
Behalf Of Mark Stoelinga
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 4:40 AM
To: wrf-users at ucar.edu
Cc: 'Alan Norton'; 'Tom Baltzer'
Subject: [Wrf-users] IDV and VAPOR

I'm curious about IDV and VAPOR, two relatively new visualization and
analysis packages from UCAR (IDV from Unidata, first released in 2004,
and VAPOR from NCAR/CISL, first released in 2006).  I admit I haven't
tried either of them, but from the web pages, they both look like great
software packages, with much effort poured into them.  I have seen a
increasing discussion on the users' email list about both of these
packages recently.

My first question is from a policy perspective: Why is UCAR developing
two major visualization/analysis packages that, at first glance, seem to
have many of the same capabilities?

I'm also curious about WRF users' experiences with these two packages.
How seamless are each of these packages with ingesting native WRF system
data?
What are users' experiences with using these two packages for analyzing
and displaying WRF system data?  Has anyone used both, and has an
opinion on relative strenghts and weaknesses?

Mark

=====================================================================
|        Mark Stoelinga        |     University of Washington       |
| Research Assistant Professor | Department of Atmospheric Sciences |
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-----Original Message-----
From: wrf-news-bounces at ucar.edu [mailto:wrf-news-bounces at ucar.edu] On
Behalf Of Alan Norton
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 3:47 PM
To: wrf-news at ucar.edu
Subject: [Wrf-news] VAPOR 1.3 released


VAPOR 1.3 has been released (http://www.vapor.ucar.edu) with several new
capabilities useful in visualizing WRF-ARW datasets.
Includes:
     Image based flow visualization:  You can see and animate the wind
motion and direction in the probe, for interactive exploration of the
wind field.
     Isosurfaces can be colored by mapping another variable onto the
isosurface
     A new user preferences panel helps customize the app to individual
users and platforms.

For more information, see the release notes at
http://www.vapor.ucar.edu/doc/release-notes/index.shtml
For questions or problems, contact: vapor at ucar.edu

-Alan Norton, NCAR/CISL _______________________________________________
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