.. include:: ../common_links.inc

v3.7 (31 Aug 2023)
******************

This document explains the changes made to Iris for this release
(:doc:`View all changes <index>`.)


.. dropdown:: v3.7 Release Highlights
   :color: primary
   :icon: info
   :animate: fade-in
   :open:

   There are no major feature highlights for this release of Iris, but it's worth
   noting that, in addition to some important bug fixes in specific areas, this time
   we have made a number of improvements for user-experience and usability,
   notably :

   * We added :ref:`Dark mode support <docs_dark>` for the documentation.

   * We :ref:`added a "Dask Best Practices" guide <dask_guide>`
     ( :ref:`here <dask best practices>` ) .

   * We :ref:`improved the Installation Guide <installdocs_update>`.

   * We improved the information in
     :ref:`warnings from CubeList.concatenate() <concat_warnings>`
     and :ref:`documentation of Cube.convert_units() <convert_docs>`.

   * We prevented some warnings occurring in :ref:`pp loading <cftime_warnings>`
     and :ref:`contourf <contour_future>`.

   Please do get in touch with us on :issue:`GitHub<new/choose>` if you have
   any issues or feature requests for improving Iris. Enjoy!


v3.7.1 (04 Mar 2024)
====================

.. dropdown:: v3.7.1 Patches
   :color: primary
   :icon: alert
   :animate: fade-in

   The patches in this release of Iris include:

   #. `@stephenworsley`_ fixed a potential memory leak for Iris uses of
      :func:`dask.array.map_blocks`; known specifically to be a problem in the
      :class:`iris.analysis.AreaWeighted` regridder. (:pull:`5767`)


📢 Announcements
================

#. N/A


✨ Features
===========

#. `@rcomer`_ rewrote :func:`~iris.util.broadcast_to_shape` so it now handles
   lazy data. (:pull:`5307`)

   .. _concat_warnings:

#. `@acchamber`_   added error and warning messages about coordinate overlaps to
   :func:`~iris.cube.CubeList.concatenate` to improve the concatenation process.
   (:pull:`5382`)

#. `@trexfeathers`_ included mesh location coordinates
   (e.g. :attr:`~iris.experimental.ugrid.Mesh.face_coords`) in
   the data variable's ``coordinates`` attribute when saving to NetCDF.
   (:issue:`5206`, :pull:`5389`)

#. `@pp-mo`_ modified the install process to record the release version of the CF
   standard-names table, when it creates the ``iris/std_names.py`` module.
   The release number is also now available as
   ``iris.std_names.CF_STANDARD_NAMES_TABLE_VERSION``.
   (:pull:`5423`)


🐛 Bugs Fixed
=============

#. `@acchamber`_ fixed a bug with :func:`~iris.util.unify_time_units` so it does not block
   concatenation through different data types in rare instances. (:pull:`5372`)

#. `@acchamber`_ removed some obsolete code that prevented extraction of time points
   from cubes with bounded times (:pull:`5175`)

   .. _cftime_warnings:

#. `@rcomer`_ modified pp-loading to avoid a ``cftime`` warning for non-standard
   calendars. (:pull:`5357`)

#. `@rsdavies`_ modified the CF compliant standard name for m01s00i023 (:issue:`4566`)


💣 Incompatible Changes
=======================

#. N/A


🚀 Performance Enhancements
===========================

#. `@rcomer`_ made :meth:`~iris.cube.Cube.aggregated_by` faster. (:pull:`4970`)

🔥 Deprecations
===============

#. N/A


🔗 Dependencies
===============

#. N/A

📚 Documentation
================
.. _docs_dark:

#. `@tkknight`_ prepared the documentation for dark mode and enable the option
   to use it.  By default the theme will be based on the users system settings,
   defaulting to ``light`` if no system setting is found.  (:pull:`5299`)

   .. _dask_guide:

#. `@HGWright`_ added a :doc:`/further_topics/dask_best_practices/index`
   section into the user guide, containing advice and use cases to help users
   get the best out of Dask with Iris.  (:pull:`5190`)

   .. _convert_docs:

#. `@acchamber`_ improved documentation for :meth:`~iris.cube.Cube.convert_units`
   and :meth:`~iris.coords.Coord.convert_units` by including a link to the UDUNITS-2
   documentation which contains lists of compatible units and aliases for them.
   (:pull:`5388`)

   .. _installdocs_update:

#. `@rcomer`_ updated the :ref:`Installation Guide<installing_iris>` to reflect
   that some things are now simpler.  (:pull:`5416`)


💼 Internal
===========

#. `@pp-mo`_ supported loading and saving netcdf :class:`netCDF4.Dataset` compatible
   objects in place of file-paths, as hooks for a forthcoming
   `"Xarray bridge" <https://github.com/SciTools/iris/issues/4994>`_ facility.
   (:pull:`5214`, :pull:`5212`)

   .. _contour_future:

#. `@rcomer`_ updated :func:`~iris.plot.contourf` to avoid using functionality
   that is deprecated in Matplotlib v3.8 (:pull:`5405`)



.. comment
    Whatsnew author names (@github name) in alphabetical order. Note that,
    core dev names are automatically included by the common_links.inc:
.. _@rsdavies: https://github.com/rsdavies
.. _@acchamber: https://github.com/acchamber



.. comment
    Whatsnew resources in alphabetical order: