The proplotter and procompare plotting tools

Proplotter tool to visualize simulation outputs

Graphical use

A tool for quickly plotting SURFEX-Crocus PRO.nc output can be run with plots/stratiprofile/proplotter.py (a proplotter command have been made available if you followed install instructions). Just run the script with python 3 for GUI access. For usual graphs, the plotting area is divided in two parts:

  • on the left, a seasonal graph: time is the x-axis

  • on the right, a vertical profile of a variable at a given date

Moving the mouse on the left plot should change the right plot

The general behaviour to make the Graphical User Interface work is:

  • click the Open File button to select a PRO.nc file

  • select the two variables of interest: one for the left seasonal graph, the other for the profile graph)

  • select the point of interest

  • click the Plot button

There are several options for graph type:

  • usual graph (default) to plot a PRO file on one point of your simulation

  • multiple plot: let free a part a point selection in order to have several points to plot

  • member plot: specific to Meteo France system: in order to compare members of a simulation

  • height graph: follow a variable in a specific place like 10 cm under snow surface

  • compare graph: allow to compare two different PRO files of a simulation

../_images/proplotter.png

Screenshot of proplotter tool.

Command line use

Script plots/stratiprofile/proplotter.py help:

usage: proplotter [-h] [--debug] [-o OUTPUT] [-b BEGIN] [-e END]
                  [-t {standard,multiple profil,multiple saison,height,member profil,member saison,compare}]
                  [-v VARIABLE] [-p VARIABLE_PROFIL] [--point POINT]
                  [-s SELECT] [--profil] [-d DATE] [--version]
                  [filename ...]

Proplotter is a tool to plot with (or without) the Graphical User Interface
which aims at providing representations and exploration tools for modelled
snowpack structures. It is primarily designed to deal with SURFEX/ISBA-Crocus
simulation output.

positional arguments:
  filename              Input file path

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --debug               Increase logging for debugging purpose.
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Output filename (for use without GUI). Only available
                        for standard graph for the moment.
  -b BEGIN, --begin BEGIN
                        Begin date
  -e END, --end END     End date
  -t {standard,multiple profil,multiple saison,height,member profil,member saison,compare}, --type {standard,multiple profil,multiple saison,height,member profil,member saison,compare}
                        Type of graph (standard, multiple profil, multiple
                        saison, height, member profil, member saison, compare)
  -v VARIABLE, --variable VARIABLE
                        Variable to plot
  -p VARIABLE_PROFIL, --variable-profil VARIABLE_PROFIL
                        Variable for profil plot (if relevant)
  --point POINT         Point number to select
  -s SELECT, --select SELECT
                        Selection of point with constraints on data: use as
                        many '-s variable=value' as necessary to select the
                        point of interest. Note that if -p is given, these
                        options are ignored.
  --profil              Plot profil at given date (-d is compulsory) instead
                        of a time evolution
  -d DATE, --date DATE  Date for vertical profile
  --version             show program's version number and exit

Procompare to compare two simulation outputs

The procompare tool is quite similar to proplotter but designed to compare two profiles from two different simulations files, for instance to visualize impacts of changes in the snow model.

Command line usage is similar to proplotter, use procompare --help for more details.

Note that the files that are compared should have the same geometry (same points represented for the different graphs).

../_images/procompare.png

Screenshot of procompare tool with two simulations with a different physical parameterization.