kpindex

Very simple package for obtaining the planetary Kp index data (see https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/kp-index/ for more information)

Installation

This package depends on the following:

• numpy
• RecarrayTools
• PyFileIO

which are all available on PyPI.

Installation is simple and can be done in one of four ways:

Method 1

This method simply uses the Python pip3 command to download this module and its dependencies:

pip3 install kpindex --user

Method 2

This method uses the Python wheel on the "releases" page of this repository. Download the wheel, then isntall using pip3:

pip3 install kpindex-0.0.1-py3-none-any.whl --user

Method 3

Don't trust my prepackaged stuff? OK, clone this repository and build your own:

git clone https://github.com/mattkjames7/kpindex.git
cd kpindex
python3 setup.py bdist_wheel
pip3 install dist/kpindex-0.0.1-py3-none-any.whl --user

Method 4

So you don't like wheels? Fine. Clone the repository and just move the "kpindex" folder to your $PYTHONPATH.

Post-Install

In order for the module to be able to download the Kp index data from the FTP site, you will need to point it in the direction of a directory where you have read and write access using the $KPDATA_PATH environment variable. This can be done either by running the following in the terminal before starting Python, or inserting it into your ~/.bashrc file:

export KPDATA_PATH=/path/to/the/data

Usage

Using this module is very simple: the first time you run it you will need to update the database (also when you think the database is out of date) e.g.

import kpindex
kpindex.UpdateLocalData()

It may take a couple of minutes to download the data and convert it, then you are ready to read the data:

data = kpindex.GetKp(Date)

where Date could be None, in which case ALL of the Kp indices ever will be returned; Date could be a single date in the format yyyymmdd, in which case only Kp indices fromt hat date will be returned; finally it could be a two element array/list/tuple containing two dates, in this case it will return all the indices from the start to the end date.

Enjoy!