NCL Workshop at Kansas State University

July 15-18, 2014
2002 Throckmorton Hall (map)
Agronomy Department, K-State
Manhattan, Kansas

This workshop being is hosted by the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Mitigation Project and NCAR/CISL.

To register for this workshop, fill out this 19-question registration form, which helps the instructors tailor the workshop for the students in the class.

Registration closes June 27, 2014.

Description

This workshop is an introduction on using NCL to read, analyze, and visualize earth sciences data. It is geared towards graduate students and postdocs in the geosciences that have scientific data they need to analyze.

Intermediate and experienced NCL users and/or faculty members who wish to sit in on the lectures are also welcome.

The workshop will consist of both lectures and intensive hands-on labs where students will use NCL to analyze and visualize their own datasets. The lectures are co-taught by Dennis Shea, an associate scientist in NCAR/NESL, and Mary Haley, the NCL project lead and a software engineer in NCAR/CISL. Rick Brownrigg, a software engineer at NCAR/CISL, will be providing support during the hands-on labs.

Students must bring their own laptops running UNIX (Linux, MacOSX, or Cygwin/X if a Windows system). See this section for information on installing NCL.

The lectures include introductions to:

The hands-on labs are where students really learn how to use NCL. See "How to get the most out of the workshop labs" for more information.

Schedule

[Note: schedule may change slightly to accommodate instructors' and/or students' schedules. We will update this schedule immediately if there are any changes.]

Tuesday, July 15, 2014
08:30-09:00 Pick up workshop materials
(Instructors will be on hand to help students with computer issues, if necessary.)
09:00-10:30 Lecture: NCL Language Basics
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:15 Lecture: NCL Language Basics (continued)
11:15-12:00 Lecture: NCL File Input/Output
12:00-13:00 Lunch on your own
13:00-13:45 Interactive demo
14:00-16:00 Hands-on lab
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
09:00-10:30 Lecture: NCL Graphics
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Lecture: NCL Graphics (continued) and demos
12:00-13:00 Lunch on your own
13:00-13:30 Hands-on lab
13:30-14:00 NCL website tour
14:00-16:00 Hands-on lab
Thursday, July 17, 2014
09:00-10:30 Lecture: NCL Data Analysis
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Lecture: NCL Data Analysis (continued)
12:00-13:00 Lunch on your own
13:00-16:00 Hands-on lab
Friday, July 18, 2014
9:00-12:00 Optional hands-on lab

How to get the most out of the workshop labs

The hands-on labs will be in the same room as the lectures.

The workshop labs are highly focused on helping students write NCL scripts that analyze and visualize datasets that they are already working with, rather than using canned datasets.

The instructors find that students get far more out of the labs if they have one or more datasets in mind that they'd like to analyze using NCL, and with a specific goal that they'd like to accomplish. For example:

  • "I want to use NCL to convert my CSV files to NetCDF."
  • "I need to learn NCL so I can modify existing scripts."
  • "I want to learn NCL so I can compare it with other analysis tools."
  • "I want to create visualizations that compare my data to observational data."
  • "I need to create some publication-quality graphics for my dissertation."
  • "I would like to learn how to interpolate my data to a different grid."

During the labs, the instructors will work with students one-on-one to help download the datasets to their machines (if necessary), and then to write new NCL scripts or modify existing ones that analyze their data.

It's okay if you don't have any datasets to work with or a specific goal to accomplish. We will provide canned datasets and sample scripts just in case.

Before the workshop, if any student wants to provide us with one or more sample datasets that they plan to work with during the labs, then we will try to incorporate them into the lectures and demos, if possible. You can use our ftp site to upload your data; please do this at least a week before the workshop starts. Email Mary and Dennis with the exact names of the files and tell us what you'd like to accomplish with them.

FTP instructions: 

    ftp ftp.cgd.ucar.edu
    <log in as "anonymous">
    <Use email address as password>
    cd incoming
    put file1
    put file2
    . . .
    quit

Installing NCL on your laptop

For the workshop, we recommend that you install NCL version 6.2.0 on your laptop. If you already have NCL version 6.1.2 on your system, this should be fine. If you are able to remotely logon to a system that has NCL installed, this is fine too.

Installing NCL on your laptop involves three steps:

  1. downloading a "pre-compiled" version of NCL from the web,
  2. running the UNIX "tar" command to extract the files in the installation directory of your choice,
  3. setting two UNIX environment variables so your system can find the NCL software.

To start the NCL installation process, go to the NCL download page and read the first three bullets about 1) getting an Earth System Grid account, 2) downloading the appropriate NCL "pre-compiled" binary, and 3) installing the NCL binary.

If you have questions or problems with installing NCL, email Mary Haley or send email to the ncl-install email list. She is also happy to help you install NCL during the hands-on lab sessions at the NCL workshop.

Prerequisites

Students attending this workshop will get more out of the workshop if they meet the following minimum requirements:

  • Have a basic knowledge of UNIX (MacOSX, Linux, or Cygwin/X), like how to list the directory contents, how to move or copy files from one directory to another, how to run programs from the UNIX command line, how to use ftp/sftp to upload/download files, and how to remotely login to other systems (via ssh, for example).

  • Know how to edit files using UNIX editors like vi/vim, emacs, or nedit.

  • Have written code using an interpreted (e.g. Python, IDL, MATLAB) or a non-interpreted (e.g. Fortran, C) computer language.

Students who don't have knowledge of UNIX or at least one computer language will likely find the NCL workshop too advanced.

Workshop organizers and supporters

The NCL workshop at K-State is being supported by the following staff at the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Climate Change Mitigation Project:

  • Dr. Amber Campbell Hibbs, program coordinator
  • Charles Rice, Director
  • Stacy Hutchinson, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Co-director
  • Arthur Selman, room setup and general IT support

Hotel near university

For people traveling from out-of-town, there's a suggested hotel 0.6 miles from Throckmorton Hall:

Holiday Inn Manhattan At The Campus
1641 Anderson Avenue
Manhattan, Kansas 66502
[map]