# Getting Started




This page explains how to install and run the `halodrops` python package. The package includes functions to process the dropsonde data from raw files to datasets on uniform grids and including several derived meteorological variables.

To run `halodrops` on a set of dropsonde data, you first need to create a respective configuration file. An example and further infos are provided below. To run the `halodrops` pipeline, you need to provide the path to the config file:

```bash
 halodrops -c <config_file>
```

The processing from Level_0 to Level_1 (using [aspen](https://www.eol.ucar.edu/content/aspen)) is included in `halodrops`. It makes use of a docker image containing the ASPEN software. Before actually calling halodrops, you therefore need to install [docker](https://www.docker.com/) and start a docker daemon (dockerd) locally to be able to use the ASPEN docker image. The simplest way would be to install Docker Desktop (on MacOS also possible via `brew install --cask docker`) and open the application before executing halodrops. Further information can be found in the respective [aspenqc](https://github.com/atmdrops/aspenqc) repository.

```{toctree}
:caption: 'Contents:'


installation
configs
```