Python/PlotMetData
From mn/geo/geoit
Plotting Meteorological Data with Python
This is a very brief introduction to using pygrib and NetCDFFile in order to plot met data in Python. Note that you should read the Python/SettingPaths section in order to be sure that you'll be able to import the appropriate modules.
Let's get started with some test data::
mkdir test cd test cp ~sec/kleinproject/FUKU/geop_april* .
Now, start ipython in your shell, or create a python file in the test directory::
ipythonNext, let's take care of some basic imports::
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pygrib
from netCDF4 import Dataset as NetCDFFile
Now, we'll write some python code to plot the netcdf variables::
nci = NetCDFFile('geopot_april_01.nc')
nci.variables #will print a listing of the variables (note: nci.variables is a dictionary)
z = nci.variables['z']
z.shape #what shape is the 'z' array?
for i in range(3):
plt.figure()
plt.imshow(z[0,i,:,:]) #we take the i'th slab
plt.title('netcdf geopot {0}'.format(i))
plt.colorbar()
plt.savefig('nc_geopot_{}'.format(i))
grbs = pygrib.open('geop_april_01_2011.grib')
for grb in grbs:
grb
grbs.seek(0)
ghs = grbs.select(name='Geopotential')
for i,grb in enumerate(ghs):
plt.figure()
g = grb
plt.imshow(g.values)
title = g.name + ' at level ' + str(g.level) + ' [' + g.units + ']'
plt.title(title)
plt.colorbar()
plt.savefig(g.name + str(i) + '.png')