Recipe Visualize downloaded data using Panoply

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Problem

We want to visualize a downloaded data file using Panoply.

Solution

For the purpose of this example, we assume that we have already downloaded the file c1440_NR.inst01hr_3d_T_Cv.20060918_0900z.nc4 from the ftp/https server. For more information about file naming conventions, and how to download a file, please follow the links in the #See Also section.

Panoply (v 4.0.5) is a cross-platform application that plots geo-gridded and other arrays from NetCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets. For more information, please see

https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/panoply/

Once panoply is installed, it can be launched from the command line via

> panoply.sh

assuming that the shell script panoply.sh is in the user's path.

Once launched, the following window is presented

Panoply_main.png

To load the downloaded data file click on File -> Open... and from the file browser we choose the file. Opening the file leads to the display

Panoply_data.png

Here, we select our variable, T, from the 'Datasets' tab and click on 'Create Plot'. In the new window that appears, we select the first option 'Create geogridded Longitude-Latitude plot' and click on 'Create'. To plot the air temperature at the surface (level=72), in the 'Array(s)' Tab we set the 'Vertical level:' to 72 and check the 'Always fit to data' box in the 'Scale' tab resulting in

Panoply_temperature.png

Discussions

See Also

1. File Spec:
2. Recipe: Retrieve (global) data from FTP server
3. Recipe: Retrieve (global) data from HTTPS server

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