[IDV #PNW-510251]: NOAA Profiler Plots

> Good Morning Yuan,
> Just checking in on the progress behind using MADIS Cooperative Agency 
> Profiler network data in the IDV. Specifically:
> 1) When do you project the profiler station plots will be available?
> 
> 2) Has there been any progress on a better y-axis display as you mentioned in 
> a previous email? This was in reference to the option that allows the most 
> recent data to be located on the right side of the chart as opposed to the 
> left. When clicked, the height expands making the data appear to shrink into 
> a very small vertical layer.
> 
> 3) Have you had a chance to look into the vertical extent issue (see below 
> for reference)?
> 
> 4) I noticed that the wind barbs do not appear to not match the input data's 
> magnitude. See attached IDV-generated and MADIS-generated charts for 
> time/height wind barb plots on 9/26/2007 at 12-18 UTC. Note that IDV's 
> highest color range has been changed to 50 kts (red) and the chart shows ~30 
> kts (yellow) as highest wind speeds for this time period. However, the 
> problem lies in the wind barb icon itself - the yellow wind barbs have a 50 
> kt-flag and extra barb indicating wind speeds of ~60 kts instead. Double 
> checking the data using MADIS-generated charts shows that the IDV color 
> scheme is correct and the IDV wind barb icons are wrong. Can this be fixed?
> 
> 5) Is adding the option to choose the data's QC level still a consideration?
> 
> Laura

Hi Laura,
    I will put this support ticket on hold status, and promise to check it 
after the training workshop.


Yuan
> 
> >>> "Unidata IDV Support" <address@hidden> 9/2/2010 6:41 PM >>>
> > > Yuan,
> > > Here's some additional feedback on the new features.
> > > 1) Image capture: Thanks for adding the capture feature in the 
> > > time/height profiler display. It works very well when choosing "View" in 
> > > the Capture What options. However, the other two options of "View & 
> > > Legend" and "Full Window" prompt an error and no image can be captured.
> >
> > Yes, we knew this bug, and we were working on it.
> 
> The new 2.9u1 release should have fixed this.
> 
> 
> Yuan
> > >
> > > 2) Time/Height chart: I took a look at the y-axis fix that you've added 
> > > and I think there may be a bug. The attachment called 
> > > TimeHt_STWMA_latestL.jpg shows that loading the local profiler netCDF 
> > > files creates a nice Time/Height chart, however; the display changed 
> > > after I toggled the "Latest data on left" selection. The y-axis suddenly 
> > > increased its vertical extent as shown by TimeHt_STWMA_latestR.jpg.
> >
> > I need to find a better design for the y-axis.
> > >
> > > 3) To magnify the vertical extent of the profiler data (See #3 in last 
> > > email), I used the vertical scale icon as you suggested. Thank you for 
> > > pointing this out, it should work nicely. One item to note is that one of 
> > > the profilers (PNRMD) is a high elevation site that is located in 
> > > Frostburg, MD with an elevation of 763 meters. Using the vertical scale 
> > > icon, it is more apparent that the data point closest to the surface is 
> > > also magnified. This can be a problem because the profiler's data look to 
> > > originate in PA instead of MD. The other 2 attachments illustrate this: 
> > > 3D_PNRMD_VertScaleMax-6000m.jpg (actual data origin) and 
> > > 3D_PNRMD_VertScaleMax-500m.jpg (station looks to be located in PA). Is it 
> > > possible to make the data point closest to the surface maintain its 
> > > original fixed height while the vertical scale adjustment is being used?
> > >
> > I will check, this maybe a 3D illusion. When the station plot is available, 
> > this 3D illusion will be less concern.
> >
> >
> > Yuan
> > > Thanks,
> > > Laura
> > >
> > > >>> "Unidata IDV Support" <address@hidden> 8/11/2010 6:34 PM >>>
> > > > Hi Yuan,
> > > > I have been working with the CAP profiler winds display using local 
> > > > netCDF files. First, I would like to say that I can load the files with 
> > > > ease and have successfully used both the time/height display and the 3D 
> > > > plot. Thank you for your extensive work on this. I do have a few 
> > > > questions and they are listed below.
> > > >
> > > > 1) I see that the time/height and 3D plots are available. Do you 
> > > > anticipate adding the profiler station plot also?
> > > >
> > > Well, this is a easier one. I will add it soon.
> > >
> > > > 2) Time/height display: Is there a way to capture an image of the 
> > > > time/height display control window? Also, is the y-axis adjustable so 
> > > > that it can be changed to above ground level (AGL) labeled every 500 
> > > > meters as opposed to MSL labeled every 2000 meters? This would account 
> > > > for the lower heights measured by CAP boundary layer profilers compared 
> > > > to NOAA profilers that can reach up to tropopause.
> > > >
> > > No, you can not capture an image, but I will add this feature soon. If 
> > > you download the nightly build tomorrow, the y-axis label is better now, 
> > > may not be what you wanted, let me know if you like it or not.
> > >
> > > > 3) Most (if not all) of the CAP profiler network measures winds in the 
> > > > boundary layer (up to approximately 4 km AGL) whereas the NPN measures 
> > > > up to around 9-16 km AGL, depending on its vertical sampling mode. This 
> > > > height difference makes for a much different looking 3D plot with CAP 
> > > > data - the 3D plot looks a bit cramped, vertically. While this display 
> > > > is draw to scale and accurate, is there a way to artificially magnify 
> > > > the height of the CAP profiler data so that the vertical extent is 
> > > > expanded? Perhaps a drop down menu in the display settings that 
> > > > magnifies the height 2x, 3x, etc?
> > >
> > > If you want to adjust the vertical scale in the map view, click the 
> > > vertical scale icon on the left of the window, and change the value, it 
> > > will give you the same effect as magnifies the height.
> > > >
> > > > My reasoning behind this is that I hope to be able to create a 3D plot 
> > > > showing 3 profilers in 1 map view: a MD profiler (BLTMD), NJ profiler 
> > > > (RUTNJ), and NC profiler (CHANC). At the present time, without 
> > > > magnification of the data's vertical extent, it would be extremely 
> > > > difficult to see the wind barbs/colors for each profiler with the level 
> > > > of zoom required to get all 3 profilers in the same map view.
> > > >
> > > > 4) My previous question about plotting different QC levels of the data 
> > > > may be better illustrated by viewing the MADIS CAP Profiler Real-Time 
> > > > Data Display (http://madis-data.noaa.gov/cap/profiler.jsp?options=full)
> > > >
> > > > Note that on this site, you can select an option in the drop down QC 
> > > > menu such as "Pass Level 1" and "Applied and Pass Level 2". These 
> > > > options will filter the data based on QC flags designated by MADIS. The 
> > > > flags are also in the netCDF files. You can see this by selecting a 
> > > > local netCDF file I've uploaded in Data Choosers and select "I'm 
> > > > feeling lucky" as the data source type instead of "CDM netCDF profiler 
> > > > files". Then click 3D grid and you will see the IDV lists a few QC flag 
> > > > fields. More information on the applied QC is here 
> > > > (http://madis.noaa.gov/madis_sfc_qc.html). However, this might be a 
> > > > better question for the MADIS contacts I sent earlier today. They would 
> > > > likely be able to explain the file setup much more easily. Ideally I 
> > > > would want an option to select and plot the best available data 
> > > > (Applied and Pass Level 2).
> > > >
> > >
> > > This is interesting, I will put it in our to do list.
> > >
> > > > Let me know if you need more clarification.
> > > >
> > > > Laura
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Ticket Details
> > > ===================
> > > Ticket ID: PNW-510251
> > > Department: Support IDV
> > > Priority: Normal
> > > Status: Closed
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> 
> 
> Ticket Details
> ===================
> Ticket ID: PNW-510251
> Department: Support IDV
> Priority: Normal
> Status: Closed
> 
> 
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: PNW-510251
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: On Hold