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ECMWF is updating the default versions of its software packages and libraries used across all user platforms at the centre as part of the regular update cycle.

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For those still using Python 2, note that this major version of Python reached its end of life on 1st January 2020, If you haven't done moved to Python 3.6 yet, please see Migration to Python 3 for some guidance on where to start. We are providing a the latest Python 2.7 for compatibility purposes only.

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ECMWF software improvements

ecCodes, the heart of GRIB and BUFR handling, brings performance improvements, latest WMO GRIB/BUFR tables, contributions from users and several smaller features/bug fixes.

Magics Improvements

Magics, ECMWF's plotting library, brings more improvements:

• New palettes have been imported from matplotlib and Colorbrewer (https://colorbrewer2.org/) The full list can be found at Predefined palettes in Magics.
• Improvements have been done on the tilted perspective (tpers) projection allowing now to create nice animations. 
• Memory leaks have been found and fixed. 

Metview improvements

Metview, ECMWF's interactive and batch software for manipulation and plotting of data, brings a number of fixes for performance and stability, including:

• fixed issue where the Hovmoeller module's 'expand' option did not work
• fixed issue that caused a crash when plotting a tephigram using the Stations module for location input
• performance optimisation in the lookup function - see Fieldset Functions
• added two new Gallery examples that answer commonly asked questions about setting up curve plotting
• built with the latest ecCodes and Magics, Metview will of course inherit their improvements, and the new Magics palettes will be available to browse in the Contouring icon's editor
• more - see the release notes!

Metview's Python interface version 1.6.0 brings new features, including:

See the blog posts for the latest two software releases to learn about what is new in some of our own software packages and libraries such as ecCodes, Magics or Metview.

• March 2021 software release
• January 2021 software release

Potentially disruptive changes in ecCodes

It is worth highligting a number of changes in ecCodes that could have an impact in specific user workflows:

• The GRIB2 representation of parameter 238 (Temperature of snow layer - tsn) has been modified. See the new encoding here: https://apps-test.ecmwf.int/codes/grib/param-db/?id=238
• The command codes_info -v no longer outputs a trailing space. Some user scripts may need to be modified.
• grib_get_data output is slightly modified: Words on the first line are now separated by spaces not commas.
• The tools now check that the output file is not the same as the input to avoid overwriting/corrupting the source.
• The MARS keys levtype and levelist have been removed from the GRIB2 templates 4.53 and 4.54.
• added png driver keyword arguments to setoutput('jupyter') to control output size in notebooks
• added write(filename) method for classes Fieldset, Geopoints, GeopointSet, Bufr and NetCDF
• added ability to construct a Fieldset from a list of Fieldsets, e.g. Fieldset([f1, f2, f3])

A lot of other bugfixes and improvements

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