computer science

Metview

Metview is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Metview rather than just read about it. In short: Metview is a meteorological workstation and batch system developed at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). History Development began at ECMWF in 1990 in co-operation with the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil and Météo-France.

Key takeaways

Metview belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Metview to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Metview from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Metview is a meteorological workstation and batch system developed at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

History Development began at ECMWF in 1990 in co-operation with the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil and Météo-France.

Features

User interface

Metview has an icon based graphical user interface, where any aspect of a meteorological (graphical) product is expressed in an icon. Users can prototype a visualisation by dragging and dropping icons in the plot area. Metview offers also various tools to explore and display the content of meteorological file formats, such as GRIdded Binary or General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary form (GRIB), Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (BUFR), Network Common Data Form (NetCDF), and OpenDocument Database Front End Document Format (ODB).

Macro language for batch processing The Macro language is designed as a high-level programming language to allow analysts and scientists to concentrate on the work and processing flow being developed.

In 2017 a Python version of the macro language was developed.

File format support Metview supports the various meteorological data formats as input and output formats: GRIB (editions 1 and 2), BUFR, NetCDF, ODB (ECMWF Observation Database), Local databases and ASCII data files (comma-separated values, grids and scattered data)

Development All major developments are made at the Development Section at ECMWF. Most of the code is in C++ and the code is versioned in git. CMake is used as build system. Metview makes use of other software packages developed at ECMWF. Metview is an extended MARS client, and uses ecCodes for GRIB and BUFR handling and Magics for contouring and visualisation.

Distribution Metview is distributed mainly as a source code tar file, termed a tarball, under an Apache License version 2.0. There are plans to distribute the code on GitHub. Binary versions of Metview are available in conda (through the conda-forge channel), in Ubuntu and MacPorts. RPMs for major Linux distribution are provided on the Open Build Service.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Metview

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Metview claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Metview before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Metview ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Metview

In research: Metview appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Metview in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Metview is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Graphic software in meteorology, Science software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Metview outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Metview in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Metview means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Metview out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Metview in simple terms?

Metview is a meteorological workstation and batch system developed at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). History Development began at ECMWF in 1990 in co-operation with the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil and Météo-France.

Why does Metview matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Metview?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Metview.