Wishing everyone a very happy World Meteorological Day!
On this occasion, we are delighted to announce the release of OSCAR/Surface 1.6.0, that includes the "Station templates" forms and the launch of a new tool, a web-client for OSCAR/Surface, both are planned to be available from 3:00 pm UTC today.
The main goal with these new releases is to make it easier for Members to register new stations on OSCAR/Surface and to update existing stations metadata.
In addition to the station templates, the release of OSCAR/Surface 1.6.0 mainly includes a new schedules interface, the removal of constraint on uniqueness of station names, as well as fixing of bugs identified in the previous versions.
The new functionality of station templates is a significant change which provides an additional and easier way for registered users of OSCAR/Surface (National/Programme Focal Points and metadata editors) to register a new station by choosing a station template form for a specific station type.
The station templates will only show relevant fields for a specific station type to be registered, which will simplify the form of registering new stations. There are four template forms on this release, that is, template for "SYNOP stations", template for Automatic Weather Station (AWS), template for radiosonde stations and template for pilot-balloon stations.
The other tool that is also released today to support Members in maintaining their stations metadata, is called OSCAR/Surface web-client. It is intended to facilitate OSCAR/Surface registered users to register new stations or to update stations metadata through a web-based spreadsheet. It also allows changing the WIGOS station identifiers, updating observing schedules and affiliating stations with networks/programmes. A huge thank you to all of you who have tested the prototype of this new tool and provided significant input during its development.
We always look forward to receiving your feedback.
Thank you all for your contributions, and have a great #WorldMetDay.
The WIGOS team