Pysteps

* Fix duplicate link in the README
* Fix imports of optional dependencies in `pysteps.blending.utils`
* Skip tests if missing optional dependency

What's Changed

New features
* New STEPS blending module by RubenImhoff cvelascof ladc wdewettin in 233 (including 231, 232, 236, 255)
* New linear blending module by wdewettin in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/229
* New SAL verification module by EsmailGhaemi in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/248

Docs and others
* Update contributing guide by aperezhortal in 241
* Use new theme for docs by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/259
* Replace miniconda by micromamba in CI by aperezhortal in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/257
* Apply black new stable release (22.1.0) by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/261
* Set minimum python version to 3.7 by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/253

Breaking changes
* Remove deprecated plotting options by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/266


New Contributors
* EsmailGhaemi made his first contribution in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/248
* wdewettin made his first contribution in 229 and 233
* ladc made her first contribution in 233

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/compare/v1.5.1...v1.6.0

This release includes minor fixes and documentation updates.

What's Changed
* Update contributing guide by aperezhortal in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/241
* document tdating by feldmann-m in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/245
* Fix compatibility with matplotlib>=3.5 by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/246
* Add project_urls by dnerini in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/247

New Contributors
* feldmann-m made their first contribution in https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/pull/245

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/compare/v1.5.0...v1.5.1

Pysteps v1.5.0 is now available with some exciting new features! We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this release.

Key updates
- Add new ensemble nowcast model: Lagrangian INtegro-Difference equation model with Autoregression (LINDA) by Pulkkinen et al. (2021). [221, [gallery](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/auto_examples/linda_nowcasts.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-linda-nowcasts-py)]
- Implement the local Lagrangian approach for probabilistic nowcasting by Germann and Zawadzki (2004). [207, [gallery](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/auto_examples/probability_forecast.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-probability-forecast-py)]
- Refactor the `utils.interpolate` module. The `rbfinterp2d` method now wraps the scipy's Rbf class, while the old version is renamed to `idwinterp2d` (inverse distance interpolation). [210]
- Implement the `max_num_features` keyword argument for all methods in the `pysteps.feature` module. With this argument, the user can specify the maximum number of detected features. [225]

Bug fixes
- Fix a bug in `utils.spectral.rapsd` function causing negative frequency for evenly-sized images. [211]
- Fix coordinates of the bounding box in `io.importers.import_mrms_grib`. [222]

Installation
You can upgrade to the latest release using `pip install pysteps --upgrade` or `conda update pysteps -c conda-forge`. It is also possible to build from source following [these instructions](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/v1.5.1/user_guide/install_pysteps.html#install-from-source).

Important note
This release represents our last feature release for pysteps v1, while our efforts will now focus on the upcoming v2! See 216 to learn more about this.

Contributors
Thanks to the following developers for their contributions in this release (alphabetical order):
aperezhortal, dnerini, loforest, pulkkins, RubenImhoff

Summary
---------
- Major refactoring of the `pysteps.visualization` module to improve the code quality, documentation, and coverage. As a consequence, there have been few changes in the interfaces to the plotting functionalities that will produce new deprecation warnings for v1.6 [199]
- Fix incompatibility that appeared with scipy>=1.6 causing `pysteps.nowcasts.steps.forecast` to fail with argument `vel_pert_method="bps"` and a zero velocity field [203]
- Fix bug introduced in v1.4.0 concerning the usage of the netcdf exporter in `pysteps.nowcasts.steps.forecast` [200]
- Fix bug in `pysteps.utils.cleansing.decluster` [194]

For a more comprehensive list of all changes please have a look at the [release v1.4.1 Milestone](https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/milestone/6?closed=1).

Contributors
----------------
aperezhortal dnerini pulkkins

Summary
------------
- Introducing the **thunderstorm detection and tracking** (DATing) modules [[example](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/auto_examples/thunderstorm_detection_and_tracking.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-thunderstorm-detection-and-tracking-py)] [[doc1](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/pysteps_reference/feature.html#pysteps-feature-tstorm)] [[doc2](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/pysteps_reference/tracking.html#pysteps-tracking-tdating)] [178]
- Introducing the RainFARM ([Rebora et al. 2006](
https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM517.1)) module for **downscaling precipitation** fields [[example](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/auto_examples/rainfarm_downscale.html#sphx-glr-auto-examples-rainfarm-downscale-py)] [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/pysteps_reference/downscaling.html#pysteps-downscaling-rainfarm)] [173]
- Introducing the pysteps **importers plugins** [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/developer_guide/importer_plugins.html)] [#174]
- Improving the **semi-lagrangian extrapolation** method [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/generated/pysteps.extrapolation.semilagrangian.extrapolate.html#pysteps.extrapolation.semilagrangian.extrapolate)] [176] [191]
- Improving pysteps **netCDF exporter** [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/pysteps_reference/io.html#pysteps-io-exporters)] [175]
- Implementing a more general **importer for [ODIM](https://www.eumetnet.eu/glossary/odim/)**-compliant data sources [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/generated/pysteps.io.importers.import_odim_hdf5.html#pysteps.io.importers.import_odim_hdf5)] [171] [172]
- Improving plotting of basemaps [[doc](https://pysteps.readthedocs.io/en/latest/pysteps_reference/visualization.html#pysteps-visualization-basemaps)] [177] [180] [192]

... and plenty of smaller bug fixes and general improvements. For more info please have a look at the [release v1.4 Milestone](https://github.com/pySTEPS/pysteps/milestone/5?closed=1).

Breaking changes
------------------------

- `pysteps.extrapolation.semilagrangian`
- `D_prev`argument renamed to `displacement_prev` [184]
- `pysteps.utils.images`
- `pysteps.utils.images.shitomasi` method migrated to `pysteps.feature.shitomasi` [178]
- `pysteps.utils.images.blob` method migrated to `pysteps.feature.blob` [178]
- `pysteps.motion.lucaskande`
- `pysteps.motion.lucaskanade.track_features` method migrated to `pysteps.tracking.lucaskanade.track_features` [178]
- `pysteps.visualization`
- `map` argument renamed to `plot_map` [177] [180]

Contributors
----------------
aperezhortal chiara-arpae dnerini edigiacomo feldmann-m jleinonen loforest pulkkins RubenImhoff