glider-playground 0.2.18

A fast, web-based NetCDF explorer for glider data.

Glider Playground

A fast, web-based NetCDF explorer for glider data. Load your .nc files and instantly explore, plot, and QC your data — no scripting required.

Live demo: glider-playground.co.uk (running on a Raspberry Pi — may be slow)

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Install & Run

pip install glider-playground
glider-playground

This opens the app in your browser. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop it.

Virtual environment recommended. If you use one, activate it before running.

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/Orlando-PB/glider-playground.git
cd glider-playground
pip install .

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Loading Data

Click the file button (top-left) to open the file panel. From there you can:

• Add files — pick individual .nc files
• Add folder — load an entire folder of .nc files at once
• Download demo data — grab two example files to try immediately

Files are processed in the background. Once ready, click one to load it.

Sample data is available from the BODC Deployment Catalogue.

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Exploring Data

Plot

Pick your X, Y, and optionally a Colour variable from the dropbdowns. The plot updates automatically.

Use the View menu for built-in presets: Thermal Structure, T-S Diagram, Salinity, Density, Chlorophyll, Oxygen, Backscatter.

Zoom & Inspect

• Box zoom — click and drag on the plot
• Axis sliders — trim the X, Y, or colour range precisely
• Click a point — see exact values in the sidebar and the glider's GPS position on the map
• Reset Lims — return to the full view

Profiles

If your file contains dive profiles, a profile selector appears in the toolbar. Step through individual profiles or view them all at once.

3D View & Map

The right sidebar shows:

• 3D View — an interactive 3D track with bathymetry
• Map — glider GPS track; updates to the clicked position when using the inspector

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Quality Control

Toggle	What it does
Apply QC	Hides points whose _QC flag isn't in the allowed list (default: 0,1,2,5,8)
Highlight	Shows bad-QC points in red instead of hiding them
Interpolate	Fills NaN gaps in PRES/TEMP/CNDC by time (filled points flagged QC=5)
Clean	Flags zero fill-values, auto-scales CNDC units, cross-flags 5σ CNDC outliers
MLD	Overlays Mixed Layer Depth (ΔT = 0.2 °C threshold)

Edit the QC flags field to customise which flags count as good.

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Other Features

• Plot All — disables the 200k-point cap to render every sample
• Download — saves the current plot as a PNG
• Jelly — an AI assistant (bottom-right bubble); paste your OpenAI key to enable it. The key is saved locally and never leaves your machine.

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Uninstall

pip uninstall glider-playground

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Acknowledgements

Developed by Orlando Prugel-Bennett at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC).

© 2026 National Oceanography Centre. Released under the MIT License.