PyFa-tool

Python wrapper on Rfa using Xarray. The goal of this package is to import FA files into Xarray and provide basic and user friendly commands for inspecting FA files.

Required software and install

This package is developed for Linux distributions with a Python3 installation. In addition, R should be installed and the Rfa library as well.

For the most stable versions use the github main, or use the version on PyPI. Install this with:

pip install PyFa-tool --upgrade

Setup

There are two ways to use the PyFa package:

• Use this as a python package to convert FA to Xarray, and make your own analysis
• Use this as backand for shell commands to make some basic visualisations.

Python package usage

To use PyFa as a package, import it and try the available functions:

import pyfa_tool as pyfa

# Get available fields
fielddf = pyfa.get_fields(fa_filepath=path_to_fa_file)
print(fielddf) #Note that not all rows are printed (default pandas settings).


# convert to an Xarray.DataArray
dxr = pyfa.FA_to_Xarray(fa_filepath=path_to_fa_file,
                 fieldname='SURFTEMPERATURE',
                 target_crs='EPSG:4326')
# info and plotting:
print(dxr) #Don' panic if you see Nan's in the data, this is often so for the corners because of reprojecting.
dxr.plot() #Matplotlib backend

Setup the shell commands

To use this package as a shell command, execute following python code only once:

import pyfa_tool as pyfa
pyfa.setup_shell_command()

Restart a terminal, and you are ready to go. This file will add the pyfa alias to your ~\.bashrc file, and will propagate arguments to the python package.

Shell Usage

The FA file, and some settings are given throug arguments ex.:

pyfa FA_file --print_fields --proj=EPSG:4326 --save

To see all possible arguements run pyfa -h. (Don't forget to setup the shell commands first)