What's new in the current release

Version 5.0.0 - 6 November 2007

• Open source!
• New tool for checking validity of SCRIP input grid files
• New functions
• New functionality
• New resources
• Performance enhancements
• Bug fixes

This is our first official open source release for NCL.

This release also includes full source code and binaries for NCAR Graphics, so you no longer have to install the two packages separately.

A new tool called "scrip_check_input" tests whether the coordinates of all cells in a SCRIP input grid file are entered in counterclockwise order and also tests whether the cell centers are in the interior or on the boundary of the cells.

generate_unique_indices

Generate unique, random integer subscripts.

Suite of color conversion functions

hlsrgb - Converts HLS color values to RGB.

hsvrgb - Converts HSV color values to RGB.

rgbhls - Converts RGB color values to HLS.

rgbhsv - Converts RGB color values to HSV.

rgbyiq - Converts RGB color values to YIQ.

yiqrgb - Converts YIQ color values to RGB.

maximize_output

This is not a new function, but one that hadn't been documented. It allows you to maximize the size of plots that have been drawn in a single frame.

status_exit

A new version of the exit procedure that allows the user to pass an exit status code to the operating system.

vintp2p_ecmwf

Interpolates data at multidimensional pressure levels to constant pressure coordinates and uses an ECMWF formulation to extrapolate values below ground.

stat2, stat4, stat_medrng, stat_trim, dim_stat4

These functions were updated so that if a subsection of the input is all missing, a fatal error is no longer issued. Rather, all missing values will be returned in the appropriate locations in the output array.

system

This function was updated to allow the user to turn off paging of output from this command, if desired.

cnLabelBarEndStyle

This resource allows you to select from among three styles for the ends of contour plot labelbar. The cnLabelBarEndLabelsOn resource is now deprecated and replaced with this one.

• The GRIB code was improved to eliminate unnecessary memory usage when reading a variable that contains "missing" records. (Missing records occur when a GRIB file does not have records corresponding to all the elements of its dimensions as defined by NCL.) Formerly NCL created an array filled with missing values for each missing record. Now it only creates a single such array for each distinct grid in the file and shares this array among all the missing records of each variable that shares the grid.

• Along with the above change, the ncl_convert2nc script was modified to copy very large variables in multiple chunks using loops and subscripting. Given large enough variables (greater than 250 MB), this can dramatically reduce memory requirements on the system without adversely affecting execution time.

• wmstnm - correction to the wind barb directions when station model data is displayed over a map.

• v5d_write - fixed a bug whereby input values for the number of timesteps and the number of variables were tested improperly. Documentation has been updated to reflect this fix, and the proper calling sequence for this function.

• The NCL object table code was reworked to remove a limit of 2^31 - 1 on the total number of objects that could be created. The table was also reconfigured to improve performance for complex scripts where very large numbers of objects are created.

• The exit procedure now ensures that graphics and data files are properly closed before NCL's execution ends.