MET Version 9.0

When applicable, release notes are followed by the GitHub issue number which describes the bugfix, enhancement, or new feature:
   https://github.com/NCAR/MET/issues

• Major Enhancements:
  • Python embedding: switch from Python 2 to 3, added to ASCII2NC and Stat-Analysis, support for multiple input files in Ensemble-Stat, Series-Analysis, and MTD, support for pandas, handle user's Python environment
  • Other: binned climatologies and new RPS and DMAP line types
• New Tools:
  • Grid-Diag
  • Point2Grid
  • TC-Gen
  • TC-RMW
  • RMW-Analysis
• Output Format Changes:
  • Add new ensemble Ranked Probability Score (RPS) line type to the output of Ensemble-Stat and Point-Stat (for HiRA) (#681).
  • Add MTD header columns for "FCST_CONV_TIME_BEG", "FCST_CONV_TIME_END", "OBS_CONV_TIME_BEG", and "OBS_CONV_TIME_END" (#1133).
  • Add MTD data column for a user-specified intensity percentile value INTENSITY_*, where * is the user-specified percentile (#1134).
• Configuration File Changes:
  • Climatology Settings
    • Add the "climo_stdev" and "climo_cdf" dictionaries for binned climatology logic (#1224).
  • Replace the "climo_mean" dictionary options for "match_day" and "time_step" with "day_interval" and "hour_interval" (#1138).
  • Replace the "climo_cdf_bins" integer option with the "climo_cdf" dictionary (#545).
• Ensemble-Stat
  • Add the "nbrhd_prob" and "nmep_smooth" dictionaries for computing neighborhood ensemble probability forecasts (#1089).
  • Add the "nep" and "nemp" entries to the "ensemble_flag" dictionary (#1089).
  • Add the "rps" entry to the "output_flag" dictionary (#681).
  • Add the "prob_cat_thresh" option to define probability thresholds for the RPS line type (#1262).
  • Add the "sid_inc" option to specify which stations should be included in the verification (#1235).
• Grid-Stat
  • Replace the "nc_pairs_var_str" option with the "nc_pairs_var_suffix" and add the "nc_pairs_var_name" option (#1271).
  • Add the "climo_cdf" entry to the "nc_pairs_flag" dictionary (#545).
  • Add the "distance_map" dictionary to control output for the DMAP line type (#600).
  • Add the "dmap" entry to the "output_flag" dictionary (#600).
  • Add the "distance_map" entry to the "nc_pairs_flag" dictionary (#600).
• Point-Stat
  • Add the "sid_inc" option to specify which stations should be included in the verification (#1235).
  • Add the "prob_cat_thresh" entry to the "hira" dictionary (#1262).
  • Add the "rps" entry to the "output_flag" dictionary (#681). 
• Series-Analysis
  • Add the "climo_stdev" dictionary to support CDP thresholds (#1138).
• MTD
  • Add the "conv_time_window" dictionary to the "fcst" and "obs" dictionaries to control the amount of temporal smoothing (#1084).
  • Add the "inten_perc_value" option to specify the desired intensity percentile to be reported (#1134).
• Point2Grid, GridDiag, TC-Gen, TC-RMW, RMW-Analysis
  • Add default configuration files for these new tools.
• Build Process Changes:
  • Transition MET source code and issue tracking from Subversion and Jira to GitHub (#805).
  • Enable the G2C library archive file name to be specified at configuration time by setting "GRIB2CLIB_NAME" (default is libgrib2c.a) (#1240).
  • Enable the BUFRLIB library archive file name to be specified at configuration time by setting "BUFRLIB_NAME" (default is libbufr.a) (#1185).
  • Update the copyright date to 2020 and switch to the Apache 2.0 license (#1230).
  • Integrate the Dockerfile into MET GitHub repository and automatically build the master_v8.1 branch, the develop branch, and all tagged releases on DockerHub (#1123).
  • Document the option to install MET into "exec" rather than "bin" (#1189).
  • Continued tracking and reduction of Fortify findings.
• Enhancements to Existing Tools:
  • Changes for all bugs fixed by met-8.1.1 and met-8.1.2.
    • https://github.com/NCAR/MET/milestone/61?closed=1
    • https://github.com/NCAR/MET/milestone/60?closed=1
  • Grid Library
    • Add definitions for 51 missing pre-defined NCEP grids (#893).
    • Fix bug in the handling of some pre-defined NCEP grids (#1253).
    • Fix inconsistencies for many of the pre-defined NCEP grids (#1254).
    • Fix segfault when passing as input a thinned lat/lon grid (#1252).
    • Fix for Lambert Conformal grids crossing the international date line (#1276).
  • Python Embedding
    • Switch Python embedding from Python 2 to Python 3 (#1080).
    • Enhance Python embedding to support multiple input data types (#1056).
    • Restructure the Python embedding logic to check for the "MET_PYTHON_EXE" environment variable and run the user-specified instance of Python to write a temporary pickle file (#1205).
    • Refine and simplify the Python embedding pickle logic by testing on NOAA machines, Hera and WCOSS (#1264).
    • For Python embedding, support the use of the "MET_PYTHON_INPUT_ARG" constant (#1260).
  • NetCDF and GRIB Libraries
    • Fix bug in processing CF Compliant NetCDF valid time stamps (#1238).
    • Update the vx_data2d_nccf library to support all documented variants of time units (#1245).
    • Fix bug to allow for negative values of unixtime, prior to 1/1/1970 (#1239).
    • Add "GRIB1_tri" configuration file option to filter GRIB1 records based on the time range indicator value (#1263).
    • Bugfix for reporting the units for GRIB2 probabilities as "%" (#1212).
  • Common Libraries 
    • Print a warning message when a user specifies a config file entry as the wrong type (#1225).
    • Fix bug in the parsing of file lists and make this logic consistent across Series-Analysis, Ensemble-Stat, MTD, and TC-RMW (#1226).
    • When the climo mean and/or standard deviation fields contain bad data, exclude that matched pair from the verification (#1204).
    • Break out the Gaussian algorithm into "GAUSSIAN" and "MAXGAUSS" where "GAUSSIAN" applies a Gaussian filter using the "gaussian_dx" and "gaussian_radius" options while "MAXGAUSS" computes the maximum over the neighborhood prior to applying the Gaussian filter (#1234).
    • Report AW_MEAN regridding width at 1, not NA (#1186).
    • Add support for climatological distribution percentile thresholds, such as >CDP50 (#1138).
    • Fix MET-TC bug in the computation of initialization hour and valid hour (#1227).
  • PB2NC
    • Add the derivation of PBL and ensure consistency with VSDB (#1199).
    • Remove non-printable characters that are included in the output of the "-index" command line option (#1241).
  • ASCII2NC
    • Enhance ascii2nc to read point observations via Python embedding with the new "-format python" command line option (#1122).
  • Point2Grid
    • Initial release of the new point to grid tool (#1078).
    • Enhance to process GOES16/17 smoke and dust data from ADP files (#1194).
    • Update quality control processing logic (#1168).
    • Derive AOD at 550nm from 440 and 675 (#1121).
  • Regrid-Data-Plane
    • Remove GOES16/17 data processing since it was reimplemented in the new
  •  Point2Grid tool (#1243).
    • Add support for Gaussian regridding method to support the definition of surrogate-severe forecasts (#1136).
  • PCP-Combine
    • Support multiple arguments for the "-pcpdir" command line option (#1191).
    • Fix bug in the handling of bad data for the "-subtract" command (#1255).
  • Point-Stat
    • Enhance the HiRA logic to support CDP threshold types (#1251).
    • Add new ensemble Ranked Probability Score (RPS) output line type for HiRA (#681).
  • Grid-Stat
    • Add an "nc_pairs_var_name" configuration file option to explicitly define the NetCDF matched pairs output variable names (#1271).
    • Add new distance map (DMAP) output line type (#600).
  • Ensemble-Stat
    • Enhance to support Python embedding with "MET_PYTHON_INPUT_ARG" (#1140).
    • Add the computation of neighborhood probability forecasts (#1089).
    • Apply binned climatology logic using the "climo_cdf" config file option to the computation of ECNT statistics (#1224).
    • Fix logic for computing the lead time of a time-lagged ensemble to use the minimum lead time of the ensemble members (#1244).
    • Fix bug for initializing output variables when the first field processed contains missing data (#1242).
    • Add new ensemble Ranked Probability Score (RPS) output line type (#681).
  • Point-Stat and Ensemble-Stat
    • Add the new "sid_inc" configuration option to explicitly specify which stations should be included in the verification (#1235).
  • Point-Stat, Grid-Stat, and Ensemble-Stat
    • When applying climatology bins, report the mean of statistics across the bins for SL1L2, SAL1L2, CNT, PSTD, and ECNT line types (#1138).
  • Stat-Analysis
    • Add support for evaluating point forecasts by reading matched pairs via Python embedding (#1143).
  • MODE
    • Fix bug in the computation of the aspect ratio of objects with an area of 1 (#1215).
  • MTD
    • Enhance to support Python embedding with "MET_PYTHON_INPUT_ARG" (#1140).
    • Make the amount of temporal smoothing a configurable option (#1084).
    • Add a user-specified object intensity percentile to the output (#1134).
    • Fix bug for the centroid longitude being reported in degrees west rather than degrees east (#1214).
  • Series-Analysis
    • Enhance to support Python embedding with "MET_PYTHON_INPUT_ARG" (#1140).
    • Fix the memory allocation logic to dramatically reduce memory usage by up to a factor of 30 (#1267).
  • Grid-Diag
    • Initial release of the new grid diagnostics tool (#1106).
    • Fix bug in the application of the masking regions (#1261).
  • TC-Gen
    • Initial release of the new TC genesis tool (#1127).
    • Fix bug when checking the "min_duration", update log messages, and refine configuration file options (#1127).
  • TC-RMW
    • Initial version of the Tropical Cyclone, Radius of Maximum Winds tool (#1085).
  • RMW-Analysis
    • Initial version of the Radius of Maximum Winds Analysis tool (#1178).