What’s New In Towerpy#

Summary – Release highlights#

Latest release: v1.1.0#

Towerpy v1.1.0#

::

Towerpy v1.1.0

Release Date: 13 Jan 2026

New features

  1. rhoHV_Calibration: Introduces a new function for correcting noise biases in rhoHV.

  2. Attn_Refl_Relation: Adds a rhoHV threshold to ensure that only rain echoes are used when computing the Z(A) relations.

  3. calib_phidp: offsetdetection_ppi: Adds a plotting option to illustrate the PhiDP offset computation.

  4. rad_interactive: Adds an interactive guide line showing the selected azimuth in PPI plots when using coord_sys=’rect’.

  5. georad: Introduces ppi_georef, a new function for generating georeferenced grids for PPI radar scans.

Minor corrections

  1. ml_detection: Improves the melting layer boundaries detection.

  2. zh_correction & zdr_correction & PhiDP_offsetdetection_vps & ZDR_offsetdetection_vps & lsinterference_filter: These functions no longer require rad_params during initialisation.

  3. zdr_correction: Fixes an issue in the computation of coefficient beta that could incorrectly treat np.nan as a valid value.

  4. ml_detectionvis: Resolves an error triggered when no melting layer is detected, ensuring stable plotting behaviour.

  5. ppi_ukmogeoref: Now uses ppi_georef for generating georeference grids, improving consistency across modules.

  6. datavis: Sets ‘polar’ as the default coord_sys across all visualisation functions.

Deprecations

  1. ppi_emptygeoref: Renamed to ppi_create_georef, where ppi_georef is used for generating georeference grids, improving consistency across modules.

Towerpy v1.0.9#

::

Towerpy v1.0.9

Release Date: 1 Sep 2025

New features

  1. attc_phidp_prepro: The melting layer can be used as input for processing PhiDP.

  2. plot_ppi: Adds a feature to plot contour lines.

Minor corrections

  1. zh_correction: Fix an issue when extending the PIA above the melting layer that may cause the use of np.nan as the last valid value.

  2. rad_display: Parameters required for some plots are now encapsulated in a single function to reduce repetition and shorten code.

  3. plot_ppi, plot_setppi, plot_mgrid, plot_cone_coverage, plot_radprofiles, plot_ppidiff, ppi_base, hti_base: Enables customisation of several plotting options.

Deprecations

  1. ALL MODULES: radar objects are no longer strictly required to initialise the modules.

Towerpy v1.0.8#

::

Towerpy v1.0.8

Release Date: 21 Jun 2025

New features

  1. attc.attc_zhzdr: The zh_correction function has a new argument (phidp0) that sets the PhiDP(0) value for the attenuation correction. This change allows users to use a fixed value for PhiDP(0) but also to estimate it from the data.

  2. datavis.rad_display.plot_ppi: The font_sizes argument was added to the plot_ppi function to allow users to set the font sizes of the plot.

Minor corrections

  1. datavis.rad_display and datavis.rad_interactive: Fix minor bugs and improve the documentation.

  2. eclass.nme.clutter_id: Standardise the outputs of the function.

  3. eclass.snr: Standardise the outputs of the function.

  4. ml.mlyr: Fix some minor bugs in this module to improve the detection of the melting layer height.

  5. polprofs.pol_qvps: Fix a bug in the pol_qvps function that was not allowing the function to run properly.

  6. radutilities.maf_radial: Fix a bug in the maf_radial function that was not allowing the function to run properly.

Towerpy v1.0.7#

::

Towerpy v1.0.7

Release Date: 23 Mar 2025

New features

  1. attc.attc_zhzdr: The tool to pre-process PhiDP for attenuation corrections is no longer an argument of the zh_correction function but a separate function (attc_phidp_prepro) instead. This change allows users to better visualise the steps of the attenuation correction.

  2. datavis.rad_display and datavis.rad_interactive: Add a new argument (cbticks) to set the colorbar ticks in different plots.

  3. eclass.nme: The _lsinterference_filter_ function was moved to this module and improved to generate similar outputs as other functions in this module.

  4. qpe.qpe_algs: There is a new rainfall estimator _ah_kdp_to_r_ that uses the KDP and AH variables to estimate rainfall rates.

Minor corrections

  1. attc.attc_zhzdr: Fix an error in the zdr_correction argument, _rparams,_ that was not being used properly.

  2. calib.calib_phidp: Improve the readability of the documentation.

  3. datavis.tpy_colors: The rad_model colormap was moved to the radar related colormaps.

  4. ml.mlyr: Fix some minor bugs in this module to improve the detection of the melting layer height.

Deprecations

  1. attc.attc_zhzdr argument: phidp_prepro is now a separate function.

  2. radutilities: The lsinterference_filter function is now part of the eclass.nme module.

Towerpy v1.0.6#

::

Towerpy v1.0.6

Release Date: 5 Jan., 2025

New features

  1. PhiDP_Calibration: This version adds new functions to estimate PhiDP(0).

  2. plot_ppidiff: Adds a function to plot the difference between a radar variable from different dicts.

  3. radutilities: Adds a function to filter linear signatures and speckles.

Minor corrections

  1. Fix an error in the pre-process PhiDP (zh_correction) module when changing the window size.

  2. rad_display and rad_interactive: Adds location to legends.

Deprecations

  1. None

Towerpy v1.0.5#

::

Towerpy v1.0.5

Release Date: 26 Aug., 2024

New features

  1. AttenuationCorrection: This version adds a new function to pre-process PhiDP for the attenuation correction in the zh_correction module.

  2. MeltingLayer: A new function (ml_ppidelimitation) was added to delimit the melting layer within the PPI.

  3. RadarQPE: adp_to_r, ah_to_r, and z_ah_to_r now take temperature as input to interpolate the estimator coefficients.

Minor corrections

  1. Fix minor errors in the datavis module.

  2. Attn_Refl_Relation: The default temperature is set to 20C

Deprecations

  1. Printing the running time of the functions is now disabled.

Towerpy v1.0.4#

::

Towerpy v1.0.4

Release Date: May. 5, 2024

New features

  1. Add [mm] as a unit in the datavis module so rainfall accumulations can be used.

  2. rad_display: the plot_ppi function can now plot a list of points and the melting layer.

  3. Attn_Refl_Relation: There is new module to compute the Z(A) relation.

  4. Users can define the ML as a list or array to use non-isotropic melting layer heights in different modules.

Minor corrections

  1. The units of rainfall intensity are now mm/h instead of mm/hr.

  2. attc_zhzdr module: The PIA is used to propagate the ZDR attenuation correction beyond the ML.

  3. The notebooks were updated to use similar date and times for the 90, 9 and 0.5 deg scans to improve the understanding of the examples.

Deprecations

Towerpy v1.0.3#

::

Towerpy v1.0.3

Release Date: Dic. 4, 2023

New features

  1. Adds this section! :D

  2. Adds the datavis/colormaps gallery.

  3. rad_display: the plot_ppi function can now plot a list of points. The proj_suffix, rd_maxrange, and pixel_midp are now possible arguments to be modified by users.

  4. qpe_algs: Adds the R(ADP) estimator.

Minor corrections

  1. Corrects a bug in radchain_ukmo_QVP_hti.ipynb where the VPs and QVPs could not be read.

  2. calib_zdr: The max_h argument in the offsetdetection_qvps function is set to 3 as specified in the reference paper.

  3. rad_display: the proj argument is now named coord_sys.

  4. rad_interactive: The HTI plot and consequent RadioButtons function show the correct active button.

Deprecations

  1. The xgrid/ygrid are now named grid_rectx and grid_rectx, respectively. This change enables setting different projections.