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Docs update on Getting Started (#1392)
* Update Why Uxarray in Getting Started Overview * Update the rest of Overview file * Address one minor comment
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docs/getting-started/overview.rst

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============
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Why UXarray?
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============
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UXarray aims to address the geoscience community need for tools that enable standard
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data analysis techniques to operate directly on unstructured grids. It extends upon
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and inherits from the commonly used Xarray Python package to provide a powerful and
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familiar interface for working with unstructured grids in Python. UXarray provides
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Xarray styled functions to better read in and use unstructured grid datasets that
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follow standard conventions, including UGRID, MPAS, SCRIP, ICON, HEALPix, and Exodus formats.
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UXarray aims to address the geoscience community's need for tools that enable foundational
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data analysis techniques to operate directly on unstructured grids. It extends upon and
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inherits from the commonly used Xarray Python package to provide a powerful and familiar
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interface for working with unstructured grids in Python. UXarray provides Xarray-styled
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functions to better read in and use unstructured grid datasets from the most common model
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outputs, including MPAS, CAM-SE, ICON, ESMF, GEOS, and HEALPix, which follow the commonly
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used formats such as UGRID, SCRIP, and Exodus. Furthermore, UXarray provides basic support
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for generating unstructured grid topology from structured grid or point-cloud inputs to
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enable model intercomparison workflows.
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Unstructured Grids
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==================
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The "U" in UXarray stands for "Unstructured Grids". These types of grids differ from
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typical Structured Grids in terms of complexity, requiring additional overhead to
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store and represent their geometry and topology. However, these types of
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grids are extremely flexible and scalable.
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typical Structured Grids in terms of complexity, requiring explicit information to be
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stored to represent the geometry, e.g. cell to node connectivity. However, these types
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of grids are extremely flexible and scalable.
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UXarray uses the `UGRID <http://ugrid-conventions.github.io/ugrid-conventions/>`_
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conventions as a
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foundation to represent Unstructured Grids. These conventions
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conventions as a foundation to represent Unstructured Grids. These conventions
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are intended to describe how these grids should be stored within a NetCDF file, with
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a particular focus on environmental and geoscience applications. We chose to use a
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single convention for our grid representation instead of having separate ones for each
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grid format, meaning that we encode all supported unstructured grid formats in the
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UGRID conventions at the data loading step.
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Specifically, our core functionality is built around two-dimensional
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Unstructured Grids as defined by the 2D Flexible Mesh Topology in the
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UGRID conventions, which can contain a mix of triangles, quadrilaterals, or
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other geometric faces.
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Specifically, our core functionality is built around horizontally Unstructured Grids as
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defined by the 2D Flexible Mesh Topology in the UGRID conventions, which can contain
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a mix of triangles, quadrilaterals, or other geometric faces. These types of Unstructured
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Grids may have structured vertical levels.
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Core Data Structures
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====================
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UXarray’s core API revolves around three primary types, which extend Xarray for unstructured-grid workflows:
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UXarray’s core API revolves around three primary types, which extend Xarray for
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unstructured-grid workflows:
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.. list-table::
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:widths: 20 80
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- Similarly extends :py:class:`xarray.DataArray` and exposes a ``uxgrid`` accessor for grid-aware operations.
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Core Functionality
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==================
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* Visualization
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* Remapping
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* Subsetting
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* Cross-Sections
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* Cross-sections
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* Aggregations
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* Zonal Averaging
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* Zonal averaging
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* Vector calculus
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A more detailed overview of supported functionality can be found in our
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`API Reference <https://uxarray.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html>`_

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