[IDV #TNW-894406]: IDV: Lightning data

Hi Dave,

You will also have to install the IDV lightning plugin.

I am having a bit of trouble getting lightning data on my local system, but I 
hope to give you a better response later.

-Julien

> Hi Dave,
> 
> re:
> > I recently started getting NLDN (lighting) data from SUNY-Albany, and am
> > trying to figure out how to view it using the IDV. I'm guessing that
> > some sort of decoder for the binary files we're receiving might be
> > needed, since I don't see any obvious choice on the IDV's list of data
> > formats that it can read.
> 
> A couple of comments are in order:
> 
> - we need to come up to speed on how to plot lightning data in the IDV
> as well.  I initiated a conversation on this with Don Murray yesterday
> and am hoping to understand/become adept in the process by sometime
> tomorrow (I am out of the office today)
> 
> - the NLDN feed from UAlbany (SUNY Albany is now known as the University
> of Albany) has not quite returned to operational status.  I turned on
> the feed Monday to test the procedure I wrote to get the data ingest,
> reformatting, and dissemination working, but there is still work to
> be done.  The fact that there is remaining work is the main reason
> that there has not been an announcement made to the IDD community
> about the return of the data.
> 
> Comments:
> 
> - are you aware that there are two sources of lightning data available
> to the Unidata community?  The two sources are Vaisala's NLDN data
> via UAlbany and USPLN data via WSI, Corp.  The Unidata data page
> for lightning gives an overview of the two different sets of data
> and instructions for how to get them:
> 
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/lightning_data_2.html
> 
> NLDN Lightning
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/lightning.html#nldn
> 
> USPLN Lightning
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/data/lightning.html#uspln
> 
> (As you can see, the information is currently located on a single
> web page; this will be split into two pages in the not too distant
> future.)
> 
> - In the near future, global USPLN lightning data will be made available
> to the Unidata university community free-of-charge.  We are currently
> testing this resource here in the UPC (to make sure that
> all applications can effectively display the data; that our decoders
> work correctly; etc.), and have found the data to be incredibly interesting.
> 
> You can get a flavor for what the global lightning data looks like
> in McIDAS in:
> 
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/tom/gifs/v3images/LIGHTNING/uspln_nldn_lig_20110216_0000_2225.gif
> 
> re:
> > Unidata's Web site says this:
> >
> > "Software that allows McIDAS, GEMPAK, and the IDV to use NLDN data is
> > available from Unidata. Contact address@hidden for further
> > information on how Unidata software may be used to analyze and display
> > lightning data."
> >
> > So, here I am!
> 
> As far as I can tell, you are the first one to notice the return of the
> NLDN data to the IDD.  I "flipped the switch" on Tuesday afternoon and
> have been having conversations with the folks at UAlbany (David Knight
> and Kevin Tyle) about the things that are needed on the data injection
> machine (striker2.atmos.albany.edu) before the system is declared to
> be "operational" once again.
> 
> We will get back to you with the procedure for how to display the lighting
> data in the IDV "soon" (as soon as we work through the process ourselves).
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Tom
> --
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: TNW-894406
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed