Getting Started

Basic Installation

To install Profiler, you’ll need Python 3.7 or later. The package can be installed using pip:

pip install profiler

Dependencies will be automatically installed, including:

numpy
gsw-python
pymatreader
pandas
xarray

Basic Usage

Loading Data

The most common way to load data is using the from_binned_file method:

from profiler import gliderdata

# Load a Spray glider dataset
spray = gliderdata.SprayData.from_binned_file(
    'data.mat',
    'my_dataset',
    in_field=True
)

# Print basic information about the dataset
print(spray)

Working with Profiles

Profile data is organized in arrays indexed by profile number and depth:

# Access temperature data
temperatures = spray.t  # Shape: (n_profiles, n_depths)

# Access metadata
times = spray.time
lats = spray.lat
lons = spray.lon

Processing Data

Common processing tasks include:

# Calculate geographic distances
spray.calc_dist()

# Bin data to standard depth levels
from profiler import binning
binned_data = binning.bin_profilerdata(
    spray,
    pmin=10,
    pstep=10,
    pmax=200
)

Pairing Profiles

For analyzing spatial and temporal correlations:

from profiler import profilepairs

# Create pairs of profiles within time/distance constraints
pairs = profilepairs.ProfilerPairs(
    [spray],
    max_time=10,  # hours
    max_dist=100  # km
)

# Calculate statistics on the pairs
pairs.calc_delta(0, ['dT'])
pairs.calc_Sn('dTdTdT')

Working with Different Instruments

The same interface works across different instrument types:

from profiler import floatdata, vmpdata

# Load an EM-APEX float
emapex = floatdata.EMApexData.from_binned_file(
    'emapex.mat',
    'my_dataset'
)

# Load a VMP
vmp = vmpdata.VMPData.from_binned_file(
    'vmp.nc',
    'my_dataset'
)

Next Steps

Review the Basic Usage guide for more detailed examples
Check the api/core documentation for complete API reference
See Data Formats for information about supported file formats