Python at KlimaCampus

This page shall be a central help for ZMAW/KlimaCampus users of Python. Contact LarsKaleschke for permission to edit this page. Please help to fill this page with useful information about Python for climate research and data analysis.

Lectures

Documentation

Modules for Scientific Computing and Visualization

SciPy/NumPy

pylab

To enable Basemap (on ZMAW Linux ia32/x64 and solaris10) you have to type before starting Python2.4.4: 

module load Python/2.4.4

or to start Python2.6.2 (recommended): 

module load R/2.7.0
module load Python/2.6.2

In Python you can import the Basemap module by 

from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap

GDAL

To enable GDAL use 

module load gdal

from osgeo import gdal

PyNGL PyNio

To enable PyNGL (on ZMAW Linux ia32/x64 and solaris10) you have to type 

module load PyNGL/1.2.0

Please note, that Nio should be on the top of the list, e.g. 

import Nio
from osgeo import gdal
import pylab as pl

Python Interface to GrADS

RPy

F2PY: Fortran to Python interface generator

Calling Fortran code from python is easy! Create a file hello.f: 

C File hello.f
      subroutine foo (a)
      integer a
      print*, "Hello from Fortran!"
      print*, "a=",a
      end

Run f2py -c -m hello hello.f

Now in IPython try: 

In [1]: import hello
In [2]: hello.foo(4)
 Hello from Fortran!
 a=           4

Example taken from

Topical Modules

More topical software can be found at http://scipy.org/Topical_Software

Installation in the home directory

The seawater module is installed on the ZMAW machines for Python 2.6. Use 

module load Python/2.6.2

to set up the environment. In the following it is explained how to install the module for the case if it would be not available or if a different version of python has to be used.

Installation of module seawater in directory ~/modules 

python setup.py install --prefix=~/modules/

Usage 

import sys,os
home=os.getenv('HOME')
genpath=home+'/modules/lib/python2.4/site-packages/'
if not sys.path.__contains__(genpath):
    sys.path.append(genpath)
from seawater import *

Download

A basic system for scientific computing consists of Python, ipython, numpy/scipy, pylab, and an editor of your choice

The python(x,y) distribution contains all that above.