AWIPS Build 4.1 D2D software release notes

• Support for local definition of multiload products is now included. This will allow each office to define new 4-panel displays and graphics families.
• Generated text products sent on the WAN are saved in a write-protected archive for 31 days. (Previously, files were saved informally, but were not protected.)
• Redesign of the notification server improves timeliness of product notifications while reducing the load the server places on the system.
• A sockets problem that caused occasional loss of text messages has been fixed.

New features

• Blinking of graphics and portions of images is now available. The former is effected through a pop-up menu from the legend, and includes blink toggle and blink rate. The latter uses a dialog similar to the image colors editor, also available via pop-up. Graphics will blink in the small panes, but image blinking is possible only in the large pane (and for 4-panel displays, only for 8-bit panels - generally, the "majority" color table). For both graphics and images, blinking is enabled only for static displays (i.e., not when looping). When you stop looping, however, whatever blinking you had set up will resume. Blink state is also carried in bundles.
  The blink rate is set via a pop-up menu option.
  Please note that this is an initial implementation, with somewhat limited capabilities. Deferred items include storing color tables with blinking segments and any keyboard accelerators associated with blinking.
• The MAPS surface assimilation system, MSAS, performs an hourly 40 km CONUS-wide analysis, based on reports from METARs, fixed buoys, and the NOAA Profiler Network, as well as any local mesonets ingested through the LDAD system. MSAS also supplies quality control information to the Quality Control and Monitoring System (QCMS). The analysis grids are available on the Surface menu and in the Volume Browser.
  QCMS is a partial implementation of the requirements for AWIPS quality control procedures. Hourly surface observations of sea-level pressure, temperature, winds, and humidity are currently processed. The QC checks include a validity check, which compares observations to specified tolerances, and a spatial consistency check, which compares observations to values estimated from neighboring data using MSAS. The QCMS also keeps statistics on the frequency and magnitude of the observational errors encountered for each station. The statistics are kept on an hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, and are available on the text workstation under PILs 0xxQC[H,D,W,M]<LLL>, where xx is 01, 02, etc., for each data source processed (001 is METARs, 002 buoys, 003 profilers); H,D,W,M are for hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly stats; and LLL is your local site ID.

Improvements

• The direction of time-height sections can now be selected from the menu, rather than the former alternate-direction fixed settings.
• Radar items:
  • A new color table has been added for 3-bit (8-level) radar velocity. This product is now also available at 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 deg elevations.
  • CS and CSC products now have entries for each elevation angle.
  • Hybrid Scan Reflectivity (HSR) is now available on the radar menus, and in the dial-out and RPS list editor applications. A new color table is added for this product.
  • Another change in the RPS/OTR menus is the removal of the Layer Composite Turbulence Average (LTA) and Maximum (LTM) products, and the addition of Layer Composite Reflectivity Max with Anomalous Propagation Removal (APR). (Note: These NEXRAD Build 10 changes are not in the pre-release 4.1 for Denver, but are in the 4.1 release to NWS/PRC.)
  • The RPS list editor application now allows user lists to be deleted.
  • Tabular radar graphics now include a paging function when necessary. This is implemented as a sequence of graphics overlays that you can toggle off and on as needed.
  • You can now make requests to more than one dial-out RPG and the request will get sent out. In the previous builds, the request was refused since the port was occupied.
  • The current RPS list will remain inviolate if the radar acquisition software goes down. If the RPS list is changed at the workstation, it will get overwritten only when the weather mode changes.
  • You will be informed if you attempt to add to an already-full RPS list. Limits are based on line speed of the RPG connection.
  • The time-matching algorithms for building and updating radar mosaics has been improved.
  • The list of categories in the Alert Request application have been updated. Max Hail Size replaces Hail Index, Prob Hail and Prob Svr Hail are added, and Max Storm Vel and Storm Volume are removed.
• A routine announcement is logged when any application is started, and a significant (blinking) announcement is made when one exits. (In the future, we wish to use a routine announcement for normal exit and an urgent (red-box) announcement for a crash, but this is deemed a reasonable compromise for now.)
• The start-up process is changed to include an auto-start after 60 seconds (providing an opportunity to cancel a restart), and providing access to alternate localizations, if any have been set up.
• The volume browser menu now includes a 1000-700 hPa layer.
• The File>Procedures menu now includes a "Copy Out Current Bundle" selector, which puts the current bundle in any open procedure.
  The accelerator for this function is Control-B. Click here to see a table of all keyboard accelerators.
• The color table editor Save As... dialog has been modified to be more standard. Also, you are now prevented from saving to a reserved table name. (Previously, it was possible to have a user table with the same name as a default system table.)
• It's now possible to set up local default color tables. (This is really a System Manager's Manual item, but I don't have anywhere to put such things at present. The file in question is localColorMaps.nc.)
• The items at the top of the WarnGen dialog (above the Product Type box) have been reorganized for easier use. There is no functional change.
• When you use the WarnGen line-of-storms feature, the default line now includs a "Drag line to storms" prompt to make it more obvious what needs to be done. You need to move the whole line (drag when the pointer is in the + shape) in order to get a track. If you drag any (or all) of the vertices, you'll get a box and track, but the track won't likely make sense until you drag the whole line. (As before, select "Redo Box" at the top of the menu to update the box.)
• The pointer is now made invisible while dragging an editable element (point, baseline, etc.). This makes it easier to see where you're going in many cases.
• A water vapor color table developed at SLC is added to the menu.
• The skew-T menu now includes YUM, DVN, APG, RIC, and SHV. Several unused RAOB sites have been removed from the RAOB stations map.
• Lifted-parcel parameters LFC, CCL, LCL, and equil level now show pressure level.
• From the interactive skew-T program, you now can save and restore soundings. Also, an undo capability is added to back out edits.
  Also in the skew-T, you can choose to plot storm inflow, helicity contours, and the wet-bulb temperature trace.
• The inventory speed for soundings is improved. This means that loading a RAOB skew-T is faster than it used to be.
• Two changes have been made in the inventory dialogs. First, if there is only one item in the inventory (or one forecast time available), it's automatically selected and loaded. Second, you can double-click on an inventory item to select it, rather than the previous select and "OK" process.
• If you have selected Slot or Inventory load mode, you no longer can attempt to load a time-height section or time series from the Volume Browser.
• A new Lakes map background is available.
• The NGM snow depth grid is now available through the Volume Browser.
• You now can specify a contour interval in the Product Maker. However, binary operators r0**r1 and r1**r0, and functions ln and log have been disabled.
• (Another System Manager's Manual item...) If one runs mainScript.csh with no arguments, a help file is printed.

Bug fixes

• Displaying the Interstate highways map at max density no longer crashes the IGC.
• Image combo and loop toggle accelerators are now indicated on the menu.
• A bug in HSV interpolation on the image colors editor has been fixed.
• Forced load mode is now disabled when it should be.
• Previously, if "SM" were omitted from a METAR obs, and the visibility included a fraction (e.g. 1 1/2), the decoder would interpret the fraction as the T/Td group. This is no longer the case - the decoder now finds the 2-digits T/Td group.
• If you picked time selection in the One-Time Request application, then Cancel, you got an error dialog telling you that your selected time can't extend into the future. This is now fixed.
• While using the image colors editor, you can adjust the image brightness or swap without affecting your work.
• The sample read-out for the WV/IR product now correctly shows ">-35" in areas that are warmer than -35C.
• It's now possible to print SPC watch graphics.
• Line width and texture settings now carry over to the printer. (Previously, all lines printed solid and the same width.)
• BLDU obs on METARs now plot correctly. Previously, what plotted was the letters BL followed by the ice crystals symbol.
• By using a different grid, the height readout on radar images has been improved.
• Previously, if you were to load any image product and then combo-load any radar mosaic, no data from the mosaic would appear no matter what fade setting you selected. This is now fixed.
• Point time series for wind data no longer cause the system to hang.
• Samples more accurately represent data at the tip of the arrow pointer.
• Some weather strings were interpreted improperly on METAR plots. For example, -RASN BR failed to plot the fog. This is now fixed.
• The VR shear algorithm has been modified to match the PUP version. It now displays both speed difference and shear.
• WarnGen behavior is better when run stand-alone (i.e., without any underlying products displayed).
• When you change scales, the inventory times on the satellite menus now change to reflect the new scale.
• Previously, flash flood guidance plots included only data from the state of origin of the text product. Now CWA counties in adjacent states are also included in the plot.
• Problems with lifted parcels on skew-Ts have been fixed. In one case, the different lifting options did not affect the LI in the interactive skew-T. In another, parcel dew point and displayed parcel track did not agree.

Remaining bugs

• The default load mode (Valid Time Sequence or Latest Model Run) is restored after a swap, instead of whatever mode you had set when that information was in the large pane.
• 4-panel charts can't be printed. A dialog informs you of this sad fact.
• Once you're in 4-panel mode, you stay there until explicitly Clearing the screen. If you select products on a different scale, you'll get the same thing loaded in each panel.
• Samples on skewT charts include a degree sign in front of K.
• You can't individually magnify the VR shear overlay (from the pop-up menu). (It will magnify if you do a global magnification from the menu.)
• If you turn lat/lon readout on, then bring up a skewT and sample it, you'll get lat/lon info for the previously displayed map (in addition to the chart information that you want). The pop-up correctly does not include the lat/lon toggle button, so you can't turn it off.
• Although you can request the CFC product from an 88D, there's no way to display it.

New bugs

• Sounding plots are computing bad wet-bulb zero heights near the surface when there should be no wet-bulb zero crossing.
• Torn off menus can't be pushed behind the main display.

New features

• Three TAF/TWB programs are added to the Tools... menu. These include Create TAF/TWB Templates, Transmit TAF, and Transmit TWB.

Improvements

• The startup process now includes an option to use an alternate localization, for site back-up support.
• The Browser now includes a complete set of products, using the AFOS Master PIL supplied by OM.

Bug fixes

• The problem with multiple entries in the alarm/alert list has been fixed. The UI will inform you if you attempt to modify one of the site-wide entries.
• A new mechanism for inserting the WMO header (TTAA00 Kxxx) when creating text products ensures use of the correct header.
• After a paste operation in the editor, word wrap is checked, so that the problem of long lines getting truncated is eliminated.
• Previously, omitting the colon from a previous-version request (e.g. "-2TOPMTRICT") would cause the reader to hang. Now fixed.
• The SS.NNN command now works correctly. Previously, it returned only every other station from the database.
• The algorithm to produce WRKSLS county lists has been improved to work reliably.

New or remaining bugs

• The WarnGen window occasionally doesn't pop up automatically. Workaround: Request WRKWGx from any window. (The warning expiration reminder won't work in this case.)
• The text subsystem still uses 3-character station IDs. As a result, the Help function in the browser and the button-2 popup station ID info on METAR messages have some problems. In the former, the trailing three characters are used, and some lower-48 sites are identified as Alaskan, and vice versa. In the latter, 4 characters are used only for Kxxx sites. Others use just the first 3, so Pxxx IDs are not found or are incorrect.
• Torn-away menus don't respond to changes in the edit state.
• The text database distinguishes products by length. "Long" products (> 2000 bytes) are stored in a separate part of the database, and must be defined as such; if a product exceeds the limit, but is not specified on the list of long categories, it will be truncated. Your AWIPS Focal Point can move products to the long-products storage area.
• A:HH CCCNNN still does not work properly, though A: does. A:HH gives you data from HH hours ago, rather than from hour HH.
• Like many other products, pilot reports come in a collective and are stored under the site id instead of your local CCC. Thus, a pilot report referenced to DHN would be stored as BHMPIRDHN. They can be called up by state using "ss.PIR". Some PiReps erroneously get stored by 2-letter state ID, e.g., PIRAK.
• When you Cancel an eLog entry, the eLog window fails to close. You have to double-click the control box at upper left to get it to go away.

This page is maintained by Joe Wakefield.

Last modified: 17 Aug 98