METplus Practical Session 9
In this session you will learn:
- What Python Embedding is
- How Python Embedding works for both point and gridded data with MET tools
- How to construct a Python script for Python Embedding
- How to use your Python script with MET tools
- How to use your Python script with METplus Wrappers
What is Python Embedding?
Put simply, Python Embedding is a way to allow users to write their own Python scripts which can be integrated into workflows that use MET tools and METplus Wrappers. The primary ways that Python Embedding is leveraged by MET users are reading data from a format that MET tools do not support, and deriving intermediate fields within a workflow that cannot be calculated by MET tools. A simplified workflow using the MET Grid-Stat tool with Python Embedding is shown below:
In this example, the user has a gridded analysis dataset in an HDF-5 file format ("HDF5 ANX") and a gridded forecast dataset in GRIB format ("GRIB FCST"). Grid-Stat has support to read the GRIB forecast data, but cannot read the HDF-5 data. Therefore, the user writes a Python script to open the HDF-5 file and prepare it for Grid-Stat. When Grid-Stat runs, the Python script is called and the data is handed off from the users' Python script directly to Grid-Stat in memory without writing a physical output file. There are cases when MET will write a physical file, which will be covered in the next chapter of this session along with other details of Python Embedding.
