Release v2.1.x - SlideRule

2023-03-03

Version description of the v2.1.0 release of ICESat-2 SlideRule.

Major Changes¶

The biggest user-facing change is the reorganization of the Python client modules. With new missions being supported, code residing in the icesat2 module that is common to multiple missions has been moved to other modules. The original functions have remained and are implemented as wrappers for the new functions, accompanied by a deprecation warning. The following functions have been moved:
- sliderule.init provides a generic version of icesat2.init
- icesat2.toregion is now sliderule.toregion
- icesat2.get_version is now sliderule.get_version
- icesat2.cmr is now earthdata.cmr
- icesat2.set_max_resources is now earthdata.set_max_resources
- icesat2.h5 and icesat2.h5p are now h5.h5 and h5.h5p respectively
Additional fields are returned in the ATL03 extents (atl03s and atl03sp). Background counts (background_rate) and solar elevation (solar_elevation) is now returned with all ATL03 subsetting requests. When PhoREAL processing is enabled (via phoreal parameter), then snowcover and landcover flags are also returned with ATL03 subsetting requests.

GeoParquet output option fully supported, including user specified S3 bucket as a destination; #72 #171
Full raster sampling support for ArcticDEM Mosaic and Strips, and REMA; this includes Python client side updates needed to efficiently represent the returned sample data in the GeoDataFrames; #165
Raster sampling now supports time range filters t0 and t1, clostest time filters closest_time, and substring filters substr
Raster sampling now supports including additional flags with each sample via the with_flags option
Streamlined private cluster setup in the Python client; added sliderule.scaleout and updated behavior of sliderule.init function to transparently handle starting and scaling a cluster if desired; #126
Python client supports TIME8 fields from SlideRule
PhoREAL/atl08 endpoint added as a feature-preview
GEDI L4A subsetting endpoint added as a feature-preview

GitHub actions added to add all new issues to the SlideRule project; #98
HTTPS termination handled by HAProxy which provides faster startup times; #45
RecordObject posting code consolidated #164
The Python 3.8 pin was removed from the environment.yml file; #127
Reworked parameter handling on the server side and created/updated the Icesat2Parms, ArrowParms, and GeoParms classes

PhoREAL processing includes some known bugs - the median ground height uses the relative heights instead of absolute heights, and the canopy openness calculation is incorrect