Viewing horizontal temperature distribution
NOTE:
This guide can also be applied to the visualization of any scalar field on horizontal plane,
which uses Scalar Horizontal layer.
For the terms & names of UI components, refer to UI Components.
1. Open data file.
Open your data file(s), using Open Data buttons on the Home menu category of Menu Bar.
2. Load the temperature variable and show it on a layer.
In order to visualize the distribution of the variable on a layer, you can either
- click the Add Scalar Horizontal menu button on Layer menu category, select options, and then click "OK", or
- right-click the temperature variable on the Variables Pane, and select Add Scalar Horizontal, or
- double-click the temperature variable on the Variables Pane, and click 'OK' to add layer.
Note that if you use the first option using dialog box, you can specify the options with exact values, such latitudes and longitudes of the selected area.
Rendering Pane will immediately display the distribution, and a new layer will be added to the Layers Pane.
3. Change the visualization style - contour vs. raster (optional).
On Scalar Horizontal menu category of Menu Bar, you can select one of the following visualization styles:
- Contour : show distribution with discrete iso-level contour lines (optionally with filled colors)
- Raster : show distribution with smoothly filled colors
- Dot : show distribution with colored dots for grid points
Each menu button has drop-down submenu, where you can set various options for each visualization style. For example, you can display character labels (including "H"/"L" for geopotential height) at the peak locations of the distribution.
4. Change the settings for color mapping (optional).
Double click the vertical Color Bar on the right-hand side of Rendering Pane. A popup dialog named 'Setup Colormap and Limit Range' will show up, where you can change various options regarding the color mapping.
5. Explore temperature distributions at different altitudes (if any).
If your dataset includes wind flow datasets at multiple altitude, you can select a particular height level, or easily change to the next/previous height level.
On Scalar Horizontal menu category of Menu Bar, you will find Vertical Level drop-down control, where you can select height level among all the levels available in your dataset. You can also click Move Up / Move Down button in order to increase / decrease the selected level.
Also note that, with both reference level and current level selected on Scalar Horizontal menu category, you can choose one of visualization options, including the visualizations of current-level-values-only / differences-between / average-of-both.
6. Control the size and location of the plane (optional).
You can control the size and location of the plane by using Rendering Pane only. To do this, you do :
- switch from Globe mode to Map mode,
- double-click one of the corners of the plane, to reveal the control handles,
- drag the control handles to change the size and/or height.
You can also change latitude/longitude of the plane, by dragging control handles in the Area Pane.
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