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Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:26 pm
by joleenf
Hi,

How do I display a vertical profile for any of the 3D fields in this data? Eventually, I would like to have access to the surface emissivity portion of the data from within McIDAS-V. Will there be a way to make this possible in the future? Currently, it is possible to load all the data in McIDAS-V which does not have a dependency on wavelengths. However, there is a field (retrieved surface emissivity), which is dependent on channel wavelength as well as lat/lon.

Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:48 pm
by joleenf
Hi,

I found that if I select only the altitudes I know have a retrieval, I can create a vertical profile. It would be ideal if McIDAS-V could handle missing data in the vertical profile more smoothly. I believe for this retrieval, the temperature profile will be complete to the cloud top. Therefore, there will be complete profiles (top of atmosphere to surface) for some locations, and partial profiles in others (top of atmosphere to cloud top).

Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:50 pm
by joleenf
Hi,

As long as I don't select "All Levels" and select only .005 hPa to 986.1 hpa, I can display the vertical profile for this case.

bransonVerticalProfile.jpg


There is quite a bit which can be controlled at this point and other features where control is lacking:
    1.) The grid line style, thickness and color is controlled by right-clicking on the chart and selecting properties.
      a.) I am surprised there is no way of getting to this under the Layer Control menu of Edit>Properties. Since that is often where I can find the control I need, that is the first place I looked.
      b.) What do the legend label sections control in this window? I don't know that these affect the chart or the listing.
      Screen Shot 2012-06-13 at 1.11.05 PM.png

      c.) I would expect to be able to control the line thickness of the x-axis and y-axis exclusively (instead of every grid line) here, but can't control it. There should be control for the thickness and the style of the axes independent of the grid lines.

    2.) The zoom in and zoom out for the domain and range are okay, to control further:

      a.) I can control the domain of the data by selecting in the Layer Controls menu View>Parameters>Parameter Type (such as Parameter TAirStd)>Chart Properties
    from there I can set the min/max. I would like to be able to connect both parameters (TAirStd, Dew Point Temperature) so that they have the same range. I don't want to have multiple domain axis in this case since they should be sharing the axis. The way to achieve this is to deselect Visibility>Axis in the Chart Properties window:
    Screen Shot 2012-06-13 at 1.49.21 PM.png


    However, I would have to be very careful that I do nothing the alter the min/max range of the visible parameter axis, since that would make the information invalid for the parameter where the visibility for the axis is turned off. This is not ideal.

    Now, I would like to change the labeling of that axis, it no longer makes sense. (See point number 3)

    b.) Control the range axis by left click>drag in the chart window. It would be nice to control this with absolute endpoints by entering a min/max as is possible for the domain axis.
    bransonVerticalProfile2.jpg


3.) The description of the parameter does not change in the chart legend, when the Legend Label is changed from the Layer Controls menu View>Parameters>Parameter Type (such as Parameter TAirStd)>Chart Properties That is surprising. In fact, after clicking apply and okay, then reopening the window, the change does not even remain.
Screen Shot 2012-06-13 at 1.38.52 PM.png


4.) Is it possible to control the interval of the tick marks or the domain and range axis?
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5.) It would be nice to control the placement and size of the legend as well as the size of the data point in the legend.

6.) I want to display the range as a function of pressure rather than altitude.

Thanks,
Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 4:51 pm
by joleenf
Hi,

With the help of MUG and the IDV list, I was able to plot a retrieval on a Grid Skew-T chart in McIDAS-V.


Code: Select all

def createSounding(temperature,dewpoint, timeString='1972-01-01 00:00:01'):
    import ucar.unidata.data.grid.DerivedGridFactory as DGF
   
    if isinstance(temperature[0], visad.Real):
        temperature = makeSingleTimeField(timeString, temperature)
    if isinstance(type(dewpoint[0]), visad.Real):
        dewpoint = makeSingleTimeField(timeString, dewpoint)

    newGrid = DGF.combineGrids(temperature,dewpoint,1)

    return newGrid

def makeSingleTimeField(time, fltFld):
    dateTime = DateTime.createDateTime(time,DateTime.DEFAULT_TIME_FORMAT,DateTime.DEFAULT_TIMEZONE)
 
    fncType = FunctionType(RealType.Time, fltFld.getType())
    timeSet = DateTime.makeTimeSet([dateTime])
    newField = FieldImpl(fncType, timeSet)
 
    # do not make a copy of the values
    newField.setSample(0, fltFld,0,0)
    return newField


And in the formulas editor:

Formula Editor "Settings Tab"
Formula Editor "Settings Tab"

Formula Editor "Derived Tab"
Formula Editor "Derived Tab"

Parameter Groups Editor - from main window toolbar, select:<br />Tools--&gt;Parameters--&gt;Groups
Parameter Groups Editor - from main window toolbar, select:
Tools-->Parameters-->Groups


Is there a way to plot more than one sounding from a grid and one time? It seems that I can only plot one point at a time.

Thanks, Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:51 pm
by jayh
Hi Joleen-

Thanks for posting this information to the forum. In testing the finer details. I've been looking at this with Bob and we had a few comments and questions.

Regarding the date of the file and needing to specify one:
This is part of inquiry 2691 (queued/high). We still plan to fix this so the user won't be required to have a time dimension to create a sounding display. The other contour/image display types work, so this inquiry will aim to get the soundings to work the same way.

Bob did come up with a little method that when run in the Jython Shell was able to print out the date/time of your file from the filename:

Code: Select all

fname = 'AIRS_d20180709_t062921_g065.atm_prof_rtv.h5'

dstr = fname[6:14]
tstr = fname[16:22]

new_dstr = dstr[:4] + '-' + dstr[4:6] + '-' + dstr[6:]
new_tstr = tstr[:2] + ':' + tstr[2:4] + ':' + tstr[4:]

f_dt = '%s %sZ' % (new_dstr, new_tstr)

print f_dt

We thought it's possible to extract the filename somewhere in your function, and then you wouldn't have to manually enter the date/time every time. This assumes that the filename structure won't change or the indices might not be valid anymore.

I hope this helps, I will address the grid sounding question in the next post.

Thanks, Jay

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:09 pm
by jayh
Hi Joleen-

Currently there is no way to plot more than one sounding from a grid. We had some questions on what is your desired output for this capability.

- We you looking for something like a 4-paneled display in the Layer Controls of different sounding locations?

- Right now you can create as many sounding displays as you want by clicking Create Display in the Field Selector multiple times. If you want to see a couple at the same time you can undock them from the Data Explorer by selecting View>Undock from Data Explorer in the Layer Controls. This lets you place multiple soundings side-by-side if your monitor is large enough.

- Are you interested in comparing the grid sounding to to real upper air soundings, where if you select multiple stations in the Soundings>Remote chooser at once and display them, there's a Station dropdown in the Sounding chart tab of the Layer Controls where you can select which station's sounding to plot?

- Are you interested in plotting the sounding for two probe locations in the same chart?

Most likely this will be something for a new development inquiry, I wanted to write it up with your intended purpose.

Thanks, Jay

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:31 pm
by joleenf
Hi Jay,

- I see how I can plot multiple sounding displays in different display windows. I have to make sure that the current skew-T display is not active, otherwise the new plot overwrites the old, rather than adding a second layer.


I was thinking of plotting either:
-- two retrievals from two different locations on the same chart
-- compare retrievals to a nearby sonde location
-- compare two different satellite retrievals

Thanks,
Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 7:59 pm
by jayh
Thanks Joleen!

I've written up inquiry 2704 for evaluation.

Thanks, Jay

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:51 pm
by joleenf
Thanks Jay. I have a few more questions:

1.) If the file has a time variable that is recognized, for example, GOES retrievals: ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/ssec/joleenf/), how can I create a time series of vertical profiles? I thought I needed to use mergeTimeSequence, but using that I am just seeing a single profile result for both times rather than independent profiles.

2.) If I have only temperature and relative humidity (GOES retrievals) or perhaps just temperature and mixing ratio (as far as I can see this is what is in the nucaps file: ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/ssec/joleenf/nucaps/NUCAPS-EDR_v2r0_npp_s201805310841519_e201805310847097_c201805311726110.nc), is there a way to create a skew-T display?

3.) If I can create a Skew-T display of these profiles, how would I create a time series of these? Would I be able to use the same grid function to create the time sequence and display as a skew-T?

Thanks,

Joleen

Re: Vertical Profile of AIRS product

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:00 pm
by jayh
Hi Joleen-

Bob came up with some answers for you.

In regards to #1:
You can make the time series of Vertical Profiles by creating a ncml file that defines the time dimension. Bob created ones for *LVMPC* and *LVTPC* files which I have attached to this post. I created two directories to separate those files and placed each corresponding *.ncml file in the appropriate directory. You can then use the display type Grid Files and load the *.ncml file. In the Field Selector you should now see multiple times available.

In regards to #2:
Currently there is no way to create a skew-T with the available parameters in your nucaps file because there is no dew point. I have written inquiry 2709 for evaluation to allow the skew-T display type to allow for different parameters to be displayed (not dependent on temperature and dew point). With that said, we did find a work around you could try to display the temperature profile of your nucaps file.

1. In the Field Selector, right-click on a parameter to define as a dew point, I chose Temperature from MIT retrieval. From the first list choose DEWPOINT.
2. Reload the nucaps file in the Data Source tab.
3. When you are back in the Field Selector with this reloaded Data Source you will see there are more Derived Fields, including "Sounding Data..." If you select this, you will get Grid Skew-T as a display type. Choose this and you'll see the Temperature displayed.

In regards to #3:
We would hypothesize that the same steps would work in getting a time series of the nucaps data displayed. We only had the one nucaps file to test with, so we did not try this.

I hope this information helps. Let us know if you have further questions.

Thanks, Jay