Posts

Screenshot of the Netcdf file not found error

A workaround for a common error on NDBC DODS

I've long touted the advantages of using NDBC data for introducing students to programming and data analysis, with an oceanographically focused dataset. In particular, their DODS Server makes it fairly easy to access decades of data from hundreds…
2 years of temperature and salinity data from 30m at Irminger Sea Flanking Mooring B showing the annual cycle.

My ooilab Python Toolbox

Data portals are great for navigating and finding useful datasets. But sometimes, the easiest way to access data is with a bit of code, especially when you want to make your own graphs or do a bit of custom processing (like the above example). For…
Profiles of temperature and salinity from an Argo float off Baja
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Introduction to Python – Argo Float Data

This summer, as part of our virtual REU workshop, we introduced students to the basics of using Python to analyze oceanographic data. When we frantically designed the course back in May (during the early even more frantic days of the pandemic),…
A graph showing the seasonal cycle of Sea Surface Temperature at NDBC Station 44025
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Introduction to Python – Data Analysis

Weather is something we all experience. Which is why you'll often find weather-related data used in data analysis courses. Of course, as oceanographers, weather data is far more relevant to our research goals, but it's also useful to start with…
A screenshot of a binder notebook, sowing a graph of a CTD profile.
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How to Share and Run Python Notebooks

Python notebooks are a wonderful tool for sharing and collaborating on code. Built on the open-source backbone of the Python programming language, JupyterLab notebooks (their formal name) allow you to include code, text, formulas and images…
Timeseries plot of ocean and air temperatures at NDBC Station 44025 off the coast of NJ.
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Introduction to Python – Part 1

We now live in an ocean of data. And of course, that is literally true for those of us who study the ocean. We've come a long way from the early days of oceanography, when scientists like Nansen, Ekman, and Bjerknes might collect a few…
Temperature profiles from 2 Pioneer Array Profilers, showing data from May 2019.

Data Labs Tutorial at WHOI

Today I had the opportunity to virtually present an introduction to the Ocean Data Labs project, along with a short tutorial on working with OOI Profiler data to the WHOI Ocean Informatics Working Group. We had over 40 participants attend, including…
Data Labs and RIOS virtual REU students hold signs saying We Love Research

June 2020 Community News

In this issue: Data Labs Summer Update Ready to Use Datasets for Educational Activities NSF Letter on Data Proposals Virtual OceanHackWeek 2020 Data Labs Summer Update It's been a while since our last note, but like all…
Axial Base Shallow Profiler Mooring - CTD

Identifying Dataset Sample Rates

Today's example is rather simple, but it answers a common question I've heard... What is the sample rate of my dataset? For many ocean observatory datasets, the rates are usually pretty well defined and constant in time. For example,…
CTD data from OOI Station Papa Flanking Mooring B

Merging Datasets For the Win (and export)

If you find yourself with multiple datasets that you need to analyze or plot together, you will probably need to merge them. A merged dataset is handy because all of the data points line up with the same index or timestamp, which allows…
Air and seawater temperatures along with salinity at the Pioneer Central Surface Mooring (CP01CNSM) for 2019 and early 2020.

Data requests the easy way with the OOI API

Welcome back to Python Tuesday! The OOI dataset is not exactly the easiest dataset to work with. But a significant reason for this is that the dataset contains over a thousand individual instruments in the system and 36 different instrument…
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Modeling Seasonal Data

Welcome to Python P-Tuesday! In this new series of posts, I hope to bring you a number of Python examples that can help you and your students learn some of the ins-and-outs of using Python for Oceanographic data analysis, especially when…