validate is a python package used to produce visulizations and summary statistics of climate model ouput, and its comparison to observations. A set of desired plots and analyses is specified in a simple configuration file. When run validate produces a set of image files, a merged PDF file of all images (fully indexed), as well as a file of summary statistics and a log for reproducibility. Validate is designed to use data in the netCDF file format, specifically as used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP).
Standard available plots include various maps projections, 2D sections, 1D time-series or line plots, scatter plots and Taylor diagrams. "Comparison" plots compute and display the anomaly between a model run and a specified set of observations. Options such as colorbars, axis limits are assigned by default, but can be easily customized by the user. Currently, validate will compute climatologies and trends over user-specified periods. Validate can be extended to perform any advanced analysis through specification of a user defined external function, which may be written in any language (as long as netCDF is returned).
At the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma), validate is used in batch mode to automatically produce a large set of standard summary diagnostic plots at the conclusion of each model run.
Documentation is included in the docs/ directory and rendered at http://validate-climate-model-validation.readthedocs.org/en/latest
David Fallis: [email protected]
Neil Swart : [email protected]
See the LICENSE.txt file in the validate package. validate is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2, and the Open Government License - Canada (http://data.gc.ca/eng/open-government-licence-canada)