20051219: contouring upper air data

[Steve Chiswell <chiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Frank,

No, I didn't create an analog to sfcntr for upperair.

The most comprehensive way to contour either upperair or
surface data is to run the Barnes objective analysis on
the file to create a grid, and then use the GD programs.
The sfcntr is a shortcut which makes some limiting assumptions
on map projection and mean station spacing based on the data
to contour the data without writing the grid out to a grid file.

The way to contour the upper air data would be to create a grid file
with gdcfil (or oagrid), run oabsnd, and then contour the grid.

I created sfcntr because with 20 minute data bins, you would have to run
oabsfc up to 72 times per day, or wait a while until each hour's data
has trickled in- but with the station density, you can get OK looking
plots even if all the data hadn't arrived yet. For the most part, the
upperair data oabsnd would only need to be run every 12 hours- but
contouring on the fly before the data is complete is really
unsatisfying.


Steve Chiswell
Unidata User Support


On Mon, 2005-12-19 at 12:10, Frank J. Marsik wrote:
> Steve:
> 
> Sorry about the direct email, but I figured that this is probably
> too simple a question for the Unidata user groups...
> 
> Is there an "upper air equivalent" to the sfcntr program in gempak?
> I would like to contour geopotential height on the constant pressure
> maps.  I cannot seem to find such a program.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> peace,
> frank
> 
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> Frank J. Marsik
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