ECMWF’s meteorological workstation application, Metview, was the focus of a new training module at ECMWF from 9 to 13 March. The redesigned “Data Analysis and Visualisation using Metview” module introduces users to Metview’s tools for accessing, processing and visualising meteorological data. It is part of ECMWF’s “Use of Computing Facilities” training course.
Participants from across Europe with a range of scientific and technical backgrounds learned how to use Metview's high-level concepts and interactive analysis tools. They also learned how to run their Metview macros remotely in batch on ecgate, a Linux cluster available exclusively to registered users from Member and Co-operating States. The training module follows the workflow from the prototyping of data and graphical products to routinely generating them in a scheduling system. Participants studied many practical examples from the day-to-day work of analysts and researchers at ECMWF and saw first-hand how the analyst on duty works. This practical approach enabled many participants to develop solutions for their work in their home institutions. Preparations for the course resulted in a large amount of new documentation and tutorials for Metview becoming available online.
Metview brings together various software technologies developed at ECMWF to provide a complete working environment for both the operational and research meteorologist. Through a single, unified interface it provides access to the MARS archive, allows users to examine and manipulate data formats such as GRIB, BUFR and ODB, and can overlay data to produce high-quality meteorological plots.
ECMWF’s extensive education and training programme supports Member and Co-operating States in training scientists in numerical weather forecasting and in using the ECMWF forecast products and computer facilities. ECMWF training courses are freely available to Member and Co-operating States.