How to visualize vertical profiles from WRF in Matlab

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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

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).

WRF-profile-speed.jpg WRF-profile-direction.jpg

See also