View source for How to visualize vertical profiles from WRF in Matlab

{{users guide}}
A vertical profile is a graph of an atmospheric variable, such as wind speed or temperature, as a function of height above the terrain, in a fixed horizontal location. Vertical profiles can be measured e.g. by soundings, sondes, or sensors on meteorological towers. Computation of a vertical profile from the state of an atmospheric model is useful for validation of simulations and as an observation function for data assimilation.

==Prerequisites==
* [[Matlab]]
* [[How to run WRF-Fire|Get and run WRF-Fire]]

==Step by step direction==
* '''cd wrf-fire/WRFV3/test/em_fire''' and start Matlab from the command line: '''matlab &''' 
* Alternatively, change to the above directory from inside Matlab command window and run '''startup'''.
* In Matlab,
** type '''help vprofile''' for more information
** change to directory with [[WRF]] [[NetCDF]] input or output files.
** run the '''vprofile''' command

==Examples==
* '''vprofile('wrfout_d01_0001-01-01_00:01:00',100,100,1)''' will generate the profile at location 100m north and 100m west of the south-east corner of the domain from the specified '''wrfout''' file at history step 1
* '''vprofile('wrfinput_d01',100,100,[])''' will generate the same profile from the WRF input file (this file is created by '''ideal.exe''' or '''real.exe''').
[[File:WRF-profile-speed.jpg|250px]] [[File:WRF-profile-direction.jpg|260px]]
* the '''vprofile''' script will also print to the terminal the information on the first few levels of the profile, such as

<pre>
Wind profile at (300m 300m) from lower left corner of domain
Roughness height from LANDUSE 0.020m
layer altitude     U       V   speed  direction (degrees)
z0     0.020   0.000   0.000   0.000
reduced       -0.341  -1.506   1.544 -12.758
  1    1.007  -0.433  -2.503   2.540  -9.811
  2    3.071  -0.581  -2.975   3.032 -11.048
  3    5.236  -0.716  -3.288   3.365 -12.291
  4    7.506  -0.855  -3.600   3.701 -13.365
  5    9.888  -0.999  -3.924   4.049 -14.288
</pre>

and

<pre>
Wind height on fire mesh        0.248m
layer altitude        U       V   speed  direction (degrees)
z0     0.020   0.000   0.000   0.000
fwh   0.248   -0.276  -1.609   1.632  -9.734
  1    1.007  -0.433  -2.503   2.540  -9.811
  2    3.071  -0.581  -2.975   3.032 -11.048
  3    5.236  -0.716  -3.288   3.365 -12.291
  4    7.506  -0.855  -3.600   3.701 -13.365
  5    9.888  -0.999  -3.924   4.049 -14.288
</pre>

==See also==
* [[Data types]]

==Works with==
* WRF-Fire {{WRF-Fire-commit|9fdf477caf27d6b35653974b943f7cdfe6a96d03|Sun Jul 31 2011}}
* Matlab 2010a, 2011a

[[Category:WRF-Fire]]
[[Category:Howtos|Visualize vertical profiles from WRF in Matlab]]
[[Category:Visualization]]