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[IDV #ZIL-902685]: Plotting Winds



Greetings Stephen,

Sorry for the delay - still trying to catch up from AMS. In order to view cross
section, you will go through the same steps as I outlined before, but with
a one exception:

In step 5, instead of selecting "Flow Displays" -> "Wind Barb Plan View",
choose "Cross sections" -> "Color-Filled Contour Cross Section". More
information on the controls for cross sections can be found here:

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/docs/userguide/controls/CrossSectionControl.html

In order to study frontogenesis, you will likely need to use some custom
functions in the IDV. We do have a built-in jython function called:

frnt(S,V):
"""Frontogenesis function from theta and the wind"""

which, as it says, implements the frontogensis function. Check out the
workshop material covering the use of functions and jython in the
IDV for more info:

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/docs/workshop/formulas/index.html

One last thing - you may be interested in attending our IDV training
workshop. We hold training workshops once a year here in Boulder, and
this year we will be holding one over the summer. it's a 3.5 day workshop.
We have not picked dates yet, but we will soon be doing so - if you are
interested in attending, please check our workshop page for updates!

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/events/index.html#training

Cheers!

Sean

> Excellent. Thanks. Now another question. I like to look at frontogenesis
> and cross sections? How do I do this?
> Stephen
> 
> 
> 
> address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > Greetings Stephen,
> >
> > Sure, that will work. But, as an extra bonus, NCDC NOMADS offers
> > a THREDDS Data Server for access to their data, which you can use/browse
> > directly from the IDV rather than downloading entire grids. From the
> > Data Choosers tab on the Dashboard, select "General -> Catalogs" and
> > enter this URL for the catalog:
> >
> > http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog.xml
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Sean
> >
> > > Sean,
> > > I am primarily interested in using this for viewing archived data from
> > > NCDC. Can I just use the following steps for plotting the winds for NAM
> > > data that I have downloaded. I don't have access to the workstation with
> > > IDV at the moment but if I just pick the file for my data source seems
> > like
> > > it should work?
> > > Thanks,
> > > Stephen
> > >
> > > address@hidden> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Greetings Stephen,
> > > >
> > > > Ok, let's do that for model output.
> > > >
> > > > First, there are two windows in the IDV - the Dashboard (it has
> > > > tabs for Data Choosers, Field Selector, Displays), and the second
> > > > is the main map display. Please try the following:
> > > >
> > > > 1) Go to the Dashboard and click on the "Data Choosers" tab.
> > > >
> > > > 2) On the left-hand side of the Dashboard, click General->Catalogs.
> > > >
> > > > 3) In the middle of the Dashboard window, you should see several
> > > > enteries under "IDV catalog". Click the little sideways triangle
> > > > and open up "Unidata IDD Model Data" -> "UCAR (motherlode)" ->
> > > > "Global Forecast System Model" -> "NCEP GFS CONUS 80 km" and
> > > > select "Latest NCEP GFS CONUS 80 km". This will get you the most
> > > > recent run of the GFS from NCEP. Once you have "Latest NCEP GFS
> > > > CONUS 80 km" selected, click "Add Source" at the bottom of the
> > > > Dashboard.
> > > >
> > > > 4) The Dashboard will automatically take you to the Field Selector
> > > > tab - this is where you can choose what variables / kinds of
> > > > displays you'd like to create. First, select the variable you'd
> > > > like to plot. For winds, look under the "Fields" panel, and click
> > > > "3D grid" -> "Derived" -> "Flow Vectors (from u_wind & v_wind)"
> > > >
> > > > 5) Now, to the right of the "Fields" panel, select "Flow Displays" ->
> > > > "Wind Barb Plan View".
> > > >
> > > > 6) The data will be pull across the network, and this can sometimes be
> > > > slow (especially if the grids are big). Let's select just the first
> > three
> > > > or so time steps. Below the "Displays" panel, click on the "Times" tab,
> > > > click on the dropdown box and select "Use Selected", and then select
> > > > the first time step, hold the shift key, and select the range of times
> > > > you'd like to display.
> > > >
> > > > 7) At the bottom of the Dashboard window, click "Create Display"
> > > >
> > > > This will cause the main map view window to appear and display a barb
> > > > plot of winds at 1000 mb. If you look on the right side of the window,
> > > > you will see the Legend - click "flowvectors - ..."to access the
> > display
> > > > controls (this takes you back to the dashboard).
> > > >
> > > > 8) The controls for the barb display are pretty simple. The display
> > > > is pretty cluttered when all grid points are plotted, so it's a good
> > > > idea to set the "Skip: XY:" value to something like 2 or 3. Also, you
> > > > wanted 200 mb, so set the "Levels" dropdown box to 200.
> > > >
> > > > Now, to get the speeds on there (if you don't like reading those from
> > > > the barbs), return to the Dashboard and click on the Field Selector
> > tab,
> > > > and look under "3D grid" -> Derived -> Speed (from u_wind & v_wind).
> > For
> > > > the Display, select "Color-Filled Contour Plan View", select the times
> > you
> > > > want to display, and click "Create Display". Again, this will plot the
> > wind
> > > > speeds at 1000mb - you will need to go back to the Dashboard and,
> > under the
> > > > Displays tab, select the "windspeed -..." display on the left side of
> > the
> > > > window, and set the "Levels" dropdown box to 200.
> > > >
> > > > That should get you started :-)
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > >
> > > > Sean
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > I just want to plot say barbs and speeds to show jets.
> > > > > Yes I am going to go through the tutorial.
> > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > Stephen
> > > > >
> > > > > address@hidden> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Greetings Stephen,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Are you wanting to plot wind barbs or vectors, or just wind speed?
> > > > Also,
> > > > > > are you wanting to look at model output or RAOB data?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Also, if you are somewhat new to the IDV, you may find the tutorial
> > > > > > useful (it's what we cover in our training workshop):
> > > > > >
> > > > > > https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/docs/workshop/
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Cheers!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Sean
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Full Name: Stephen Keebler
> > > > > > > Email Address: address@hidden
> > > > > > > Organization: The National Weather Service
> > > > > > > Package Version:
> > > > > > > Operating System:
> > > > > > > Hardware:
> > > > > > > Description of problem: I am taking this step by step. How do I
> > plot
> > > > > > total winds say at 200mb?
> > > > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > > > Stephen
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Ticket Details
> > > > > > ===================
> > > > > > Ticket ID: ZIL-902685
> > > > > > Department: Support IDV
> > > > > > Priority: Normal
> > > > > > Status: Open
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > *Stephen Keebler*
> > > > > *Winter Weather Program Leader*
> > > > > *Backup Program Leader*
> > > > > *EEO Program Leader*
> > > > > *Outreach Team*
> > > > > *Wilmington North Carolina*
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Ticket Details
> > > > ===================
> > > > Ticket ID: ZIL-902685
> > > > Department: Support IDV
> > > > Priority: Normal
> > > > Status: Open
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > *Stephen Keebler*
> > > *Winter Weather Program Leader*
> > > *Backup Program Leader*
> > > *EEO Program Leader*
> > > *Outreach Team*
> > > *Wilmington North Carolina*
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > Ticket Details
> > ===================
> > Ticket ID: ZIL-902685
> > Department: Support IDV
> > Priority: Normal
> > Status: Open
> >
> >
> 
> 
> --
> *Stephen Keebler*
> *Winter Weather Program Leader*
> *Backup Program Leader*
> *EEO Program Leader*
> *Outreach Team*
> *Wilmington North Carolina*
> 
> 

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: ZIL-902685
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Urgent
Status: Closed