[netcdfgroup] netCDF Operators NCO version 5.3.2 hit the streets

• To: NCO Announce Mail List <nco-announce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, netCDF Mail List <netcdfgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: [netcdfgroup] netCDF Operators NCO version 5.3.2 hit the streets
• From: Charlie Zender <zender@xxxxxxx>
• Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2025 19:48:01 -0800

netCDF Operators NCO version 5.3.2 hit the streets

http://nco.sf.net (Homepage, Mailing lists, Help)
http://github.com/nco/nco (Source Code, Issues, Releases)

What's new?
Version 5.3.2 mainly adds features and fixes to ncremap and
quantization. Support for vertical interpolation of ECMWF
IFS, and CAMS-format hybrid sigma-pressure vertical coordinate
datasets has been improved. And the output is more CF-compliant.
All arithmetic operators are once again able to use NCO quantization
algorithms on variables in non-root groups.
Skip this release if these changes do not interest you.

Work on 5.3.3 is underway and includes improved NC_STRING
autoconversion support for other NCO operators.

Enjoy,
Charlie

NEW FEATURES (full details always in ChangeLog):

A. ncremap will vertically interpolate a broader array of ECMWF
IFS and CAMS-format hybrid sigma-pressure vertical coordinate
datasets. Recent NCO versions required the log of the surface
pressure to be in the template vertical coordinate file, rather
than in the main dataset. Now the (log of) surface pressure can
be either in the source dataset or the vertical grid file.
Previous versions requires the lnsp variable to contain a dimension
named lev_2 (as in IFS data). Now the regridder also accomodates
CAMS-format data that does not contain the lev_2 dimension.
Thanks to Erik Koene (LLNL) for persistently reporting this :)

ncremap --ps_nm=lnsp --vrt_fl=era5.nc cams_in.nc cams_out.nc

http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#ifs
http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#vrt

B. ncremap's vertical interpolator now attaches CF metadata
(standard_name), units, and long_name attributes to output files
stored on hybrid sigma-pressure vertical coordinate grids, e.g.,
  double P0 ;
      P0:long_name = "Reference pressure" ;

      P0:units = "Pa" ;
    double hybm(nhym) ;
      hybm:long_name = "hybrid B coefficient at layer midpoints" ;
      hybm:units = "1" ;
      hybm:standard_name = "atmosphere_hybrid_sigma_pressure_coordinate" ;

C. ncremap and ncclimo previously prevented refused to overwrite
input files with the same name as output files. However, this safety
feature failed to detect when input and output filenames were symbolic
links to the same file. Now ncremap and ncclimo refuse to overwrite
input files that are the same inode/device as output files.
Thanks to Juan Tolento (UCI) for reporting this.

D. ncremap and ncclimo previously defaulted to using PBS "mpi_run -n
nd_nbr" to manage MPI-mode climatologies and regridding. Now
ncremap and ncclimo previously default to using SLURM "srun -n
nd_nbr". This make supporting MPI-mode on unknown (not in the internal
database of ncremap/ncclimo) machines more likely to work on SLURM,
which has become increasingly popular (at least at DOE).
Thanks to Jason Boutte (LLNL) for suggesting this.
http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#mpi

BUG FIXES:

A. Previous versions of NCO would sometimes fail to store
quantization metadata for variables in non-root groups. Now
quantization metadata works on variables in non-root groups.

ncks -O --qnt=btr --ppc dfl=6 -g g1 in_grp.nc out.nc

Thanks to Matt Thompson (GSFC) for reporting this.
http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#qnt

Full release statement at http://nco.sf.net/ANNOUNCE
--
Charlie Zender, Dept. of Earth System Science
University of California, Irvine 949-891-2429