[Tgcmgroup] tgcmproc idl

[Ben Foster]

Hi tgcmgroup:

I have released a new version of tgcmproc (IDL) at hao, and on dave 
and dataproc. To run this processor, simply give the command "tgcmproc". 
If this does not work, contact me and we can easily fix your setup 
(s.a. my earlier mail re setup for this processor). 

See the "PlotOptions" menu from maps or lon slices for most of 
the new features. These include:

  1. Four combinations of contouring and image display.
     ('Plot Type' submenu of the PlotOptions menu)
     a. image only
     b. image+contours (default)
     c. monochrome contour only
     d. color-fill contour

  2. User settable image min,max 
     ('Fix image min,max...' from PlotOptions menu)
     (see the help button from the popup window)

  3. User settable contour min, max, and interval 
     ('Custom Contour...' from PlotOptions menu)
     (see the help button from the popup window)

  4. User settable range of vertical (zp) axis of longitude slices.
     ('Set y-axis range..' from PlotOptions menu of longitude slices)

  5. Plot zonal means in longitude slices (PlotOptions).

  6. Plot log10 of fields in longitude slices (PlotOptions).

  7. Two image types for longitude slices (maps always use raster images):
     a. "raster": interpolated image -- best for animations (see bug below)
     b. "contour": contour a byte-scaled image using cell-fill (most accurate)

     If you see a mismatch between contour lines and the image, switch
     to the contour image type (see bug below).

  8. Save animations as PNG file series'. These can be combined into 
     single-file MNG or GIF movies with the ImageMagick "convert" 
     command. The movies can be viewed using ImageMagick's "animate"
     command. (Hit the Help button from an animation window for more info). 
     You can also use xanim or netscape to view gif movies.

  9. This processor will read history files written by the model, or netcdf
     files saved by the fortran tgcmproc (sendcdf output). Reading files from
     the latter is faster, since "pre-processing" has already been done by the 
     fortran code. You can also save height-interpolated fields, difference 
     fields, and derived fields in nc output files from the fortran code, and 
     read those with the idl processor.

KNOWN BUG: 
  In longitude slices with image+contours (raster image type), sometimes the 
  contour lines do not match the image properly, i.e., contour lines pass 
through 
  different colors. This is especially noticeable in northern latitudes, and 
when 
  the vertical axis is limited in zp range. The contours are correct, the image
  is offset. To correct this problem, you can use the "contour" image type 
  (see #7 above) -- in this case, the contours should overlay the image exactly.


On the wish list for future developments:
  1. Vector plotting.
  2. Height interpolation and height on vertical axes.
  3. More custom axis control, e.g., in ce maps.
  4. More animation control, e.g., fix local time in ce maps,
     specify frame groups to be animated.
  4. New plots such as latitude slices, time-dependent plots,
     global means, etc.

Please send me any more requests..

--Ben

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Ben Foster		      	High Altitude Observatory (HAO)
foster@ucar.edu			phone: 303-497-1595  fax: 303-497-1589  
Nat. Center for Atmos. Res.     P.O. Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307 USA
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