In our operational setup we have automated the process of visualisation so that new images are created to be made available online every 15 minutes. In order to do this we have produced a python python script that automatically looks to see what data files are available every 15 mins. From these files a list of commands is produced, these commands are stored in a text file which can then be checked in future timesteps to make sure that there is no duplication where the exact same command isn't run twice. Once any duplicates are removed the list of plotting commands is then run spread between multiple threads. The parallelisation of the plotting routines greatly speeds up the production of images and therefore helps to reduce the latency between valid time and image availability.
For each of the python plotting scripts there are a number of argument options. For the nwcpy.py plotting script (that plots the large majority of NWCSAF-GEO PGEs) these are detailed below. This should allow you to find the products that you might want to plot and try to plot them yourself. Eve those that we have not touched on in this tutorial.
Usage: python nwcpy.py <path/file.nc> <variable1> <width> <height>This script accepts an extra argument (variable1). There are a great number of variables are available to plot, the variable and the file being input have to match otherwise the script will fail.
The list below details the variables (in square brackets) that are associated with different input file types.
Automatic Satellite Image Interpretation ASIIGravity waves ASII-GW['asii_turb_wave_prob']Tropopause folding ASII-TF['asii_turb_trop_prob']Cloudmask CMA ['cma','cma_cloudsnow','cma_dust','cma_volcanic']Convective initiation CI['ci_prob30','ci_prob60','ci_prob90']Cloudtop microphysics CMIC['cmic_cot','cmic_iwp','cmic_lwp','cmic_phase','cmic_reff']Cloud type CT['ct']Cloudtop temperature and height CTTH['ctth_alti','ctth_effectiv','ctth_pres','ctth_tempe']Extrapolated imagery EXIM['cma','crr_intensity','crrph_intensity','ct','ctth_alti','ctth_pres','pc','pcph']imaging Satellite Humidity And Instability iSHAI['IR_band','ishai_bl','ishai_diffbl','ishai_diffhl','ishai_diffki','ishai_diffli','ishai_diffml','ishai_diffshw','ishai_diffskt','ishai_difftoz','ishai_difftpw','ishai_hl','ishai_ki','ishai_li','ishai_ml','ishai_residual','ishai_shw','ishai_skt','ishai_toz','ishai_tpw']Chance of precipitation PC['pc']Chance of precipitation - cloud physical properties PC-Ph['pcph']Convective rainfall rate CRR['crr','crr_intensity','crr_accum']Convective rainfall rate - cloud physical properties CRR-Ph['crrph_intensity','crrph_accum','crrph_iqf']