SHARPpy: An Open Source Sounding Analysis Toolkit for the Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

ith a variety of programming languages and data formats available, widespread adoption of computing standards by the atmospheric science community is often difficult to achieve. SHARPpy, or the Sounding and Hodograph Analysis and Research Program in Python, is an open source, cross-platform, upper-air sounding analysis and visualization package. SHARPpy is based on the NOAA Storm Prediction Center?s (SPC) in-house analysis package, SHARP, and is the result of a collaborative effort between forecasters at the SPC and students at the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology. The major aim of SHARPpy is to provide a consistent framework for sounding analysis that is available to all. Nearly all routines are written to be as consistent as possible with the methods researched, tested, and developed in the SPC, which sets this package apart from other sounding analysis tools.SHARPpy was initially demonstrated and released to the atmospheric community at the AMS Annual Meeting in 2012, and an updated and greatly expanded version was released at the AMS Annual Meeting in 2015. Since this release, SHARPpy has been adopted by a variety of operational and research meteorologists across the world. In addition, the open source nature enables collaborations between other developers, resulting in major additions to the program.