Plotting a Cross-section from WRF Model output with NCAR Command Language (ncl)

From assela Pathirana
Jump to navigationJump to search

Following is an explanation on how to plot a vertical cross-section of a WRF model domain with NCAR Command Language (ncl)[1].

Note
Before running this script it is important to have a file named .hluresfile in your home directory. The file should contain something like:
*wkColorMap : WhViBlGrYeOrReWh
*wkBackgroundColor : white
*wkForegroundColor : black
*FuncCode : ~
*TextFuncCode : ~
*Font : helvetica
*wkWidth : 900
*wkHeight : 900

For more information see: ncl web site.

Dependencies

Need the following programs installed
  1. NCAR Graphics with ncl [2]. Set the $NCARG_ROOT environment variable to the correct installation location. (e.g.~/usr/local/ncarg). This installation will also provide the command psplit that can be used to split a multi-page postscript document to individual pages.
  2. Ghostscript tools (normally available in many standard UNIX installations. This provide eps2eps command.
  3. ImageMagick graphics utilities [3]
  4. gifsicle program for making GIF animations. [4]

Download

File:WrfNclXplot.tar.gz

Usage

  1. Edit the file ./pltprogs/CONSTANTS.bash to reflect the paths in your computer.
  2. Go to the directory where wrfplot.bash. Copy or link the wrf output file to this place.
  3. Execute the following command
    ./wrfplot.bash

Upon successful execution the png format images and datasets used to plot them will be available in the folder ./output.