Educational Resources

Here at NSF Unidata, we want to provide as many resources as possible to make our tools and applications easy to use. For AWIPS we currently have a new eLearning course that is specific to CAVE. We also have a suite of Jupyter Notebooks that are meant to provide a detailed overview of many capabilities of python-awips.

CAVE eLearning Course

Learn AWIPS CAVE is our online educational course for those interested in learning about CAVE.

Learn AWIPS CAVE Banner

Access

Please create an account on our eLearning site, then self-enroll in Learn AWIPS CAVE.

Content

Learn AWIPS CAVE is specifically tailored to content regarding CAVE -- the local graphical application used to view weather data. The following topics and capabilities are covered throughout the course:

  • Launching CAVE
  • Navigating the interface
  • Modifying product appearances
  • Understanding the time match basis
  • Creating publication-quality graphics
  • Exploring various CAVE layouts
  • Saving and loading procedures and displays
  • Using radar displays
  • Using baselines and points
  • Creating time series displays
  • Creating vertical cross section displays
  • Using the NSHARP editor for soundings
  • Viewing model soundings

Prerequisites

Required:

Recommended:

  • A keyboard with a numpad and mouse with a scrollwheel
  • Second monitor

Design

Learn AWIPS CAVE is designed for those new to AWIPS or for those seeking to learn best practices. The course is organized into modular sections with supporting lessons, allowing for spaced learning or completion in multiple class or lab sessions. Each section concludes with a quiz to assess learning, and results can be requested by instructors or supervisors for their classes/teams. Below is a snapshot taken from the course.

Learn AWIPS CAVE screenshot

  • Lessons are tied to relevant learning objectives.
  • Lessons are scaffolded such that each skill builds upon the next.
  • Tutorials, challenges, and assessments are designed to support higher-order thinking skills and learning retention.

Support

If you experience any technical issues with our online course, please contact us at: support-elearning@unidata.ucar.edu

Python-AWIPS eLearning Course

Learn Python-AWIPS is our online educational course for those interested in learning about Python-AWIPS.

Learn Python-AWIPS Banner

Access

Please create an account on our eLearning site, then self-enroll in Learn Python-AWIPS.

Content

Learn Python-AWIPS is designed for new users of Python-AWIPS who have some background in both Python and CAVE. Through tutorials, challenges, and demonstrations, you will learn the basics for working with EDEX resources through Python. The following topics and capabilities are covered throughout the course:

  • Programmatically explore the resources available on an EDEX server
  • Make a request to an EDEX for data
  • See examples of data manipulation
  • Plot requested data

Prerequisites

Required:

Support

If you experience any technical issues with our online course, please contact us at: support-elearning@unidata.ucar.edu

Python-AWIPS Example Notebooks

In addition to CAVE, AWIPS also has a Python package called python-awips which allows access to all data on an EDEX server. We have created a suite of Jupyter Notebooks as examples for how to use various functions of python-awips.

Access

All of our Notebooks can be downloaded and accessed locally by following the source code installation instructions found on our python-awips website.

GOES CIRA Notebook Example

Additionally, non-interactive webpage renderings of each of the Notebooks are also available for quick and easy references.

GOES CIRA Notebook Webpage Example

Content

Our python-awips Notebooks span a wide range of topics, but generally cover the following:

  • Investigating what data is available on an EDEX server
  • Accessing and filtering desired data based on time and location
  • Plotting and analyzing datasets
  • Specific examples for various data types: satellite imagery, model data, soundings, surface obs, and more

YouTube logo

YouTube Channel and Playlist

NSF Unidata has a YouTube channel where we publish videos about all of our software pacakges. Specifically we also have a playlist dedicated to AWIPS videos.

Access

All NSF Unidata vidoes can be accessed here on our channel.

All AWIPS vidoes can be found on the AWIPS Playlist.

Content

Our AWIPS videos cover a wide range of topics, but include some of the following themes:

  • AWIPS topic overviews
  • Instructional videos (ex. how to install CAVE)
  • In-depth walkthroughs on CAVE functionality
  • Python-AWIPS notebook examples

AWIPS Tips logo

AWIPS Tips Blog Series

AWIPS Tips is a bi-weekly (every two weeks) blog series that is posted on our NSF Unidata blogs page. Entries in the series cover topics relating to CAVE, python-awips, EDEX, and more.

Access

View all of the AWIPS Tips blogs here, and easily search for them using the awips-tips tag.

Please join our mailing list (awips2-users) to get the notifications of new AWIPS Tips when they come out!

Content

A full list of all released blogs can be found below:

General

CAVE

Python-AWIPS

EDEX