Snakes on a Spaceship—An Overview of Python in Heliophysics

Burrell, Angeline G.; Halford, A.; Klenzing, J.; Stoneback, R. A.; Morley, Steven K.; Annex, A. M.; Laundal, K. M.; Kellerman, A. C.; Stansby, D.; Ma, J.

doi:10.1029/2018JA025877

Title: Snakes on a Spaceship—An Overview of Python in Heliophysics

Journal Article · 15 November 2018 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025877 · OSTI ID:1542831

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U.S. Naval Research Lab, Washington, D.C. (United States); The Univ. of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX (United States)
The Aerospace Corp., Chantilly, VA (United States)
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
The Univ. of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Univ. in Bergen, Bergen (Norway)
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom)
U.S. Naval Research Lab, Washington, D.C. (United States); Facebook AI Research, Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Computational analysis has become ubiquitous within the heliophysics community. However, community standards for peer review of codes and analysis have lagged behind these developments. This absence has contributed to the reproducibility crisis, where inadequate analysis descriptions and loss of scientific data have made scientific studies difficult or impossible to replicate. The heliophysics community has responded to this challenge by expressing a desire for a more open, collaborative set of analysis tools. Here, this article summarizes the current state of these efforts and presents an overview of many of the existing Python heliophysics tools. It also outlines the challenges facing community members who are working toward the goal of an open, collaborative, Python heliophysics toolkit and presents guidelines that can ease the transition from individualistic data analysis practices to an accountable, communalistic environment.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: NASA; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1542831

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--18-26537

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Space Physics Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 123; ISSN 2169-9380

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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reproducible science
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