Re: problem plotting a trajectory across the International Dateline (180 deg)

From: Adam Phillips <asphilli_at_nyahnyahspammersnyahnyah>
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:07:32 -0600

Hi Jonathan,

For problem #2, did you try setting mpCenterLonF?
Adam

Jonathan Vigh wrote:
> Aha! There is an easy solution to problem #1 (wrapping of trajectories
> at the domain edge). It involves a very handy (and apparently
> oft-overlooked) resource called mpGreatCircleLinesOn which controls how
> the primitive transformations are mapped for the primitive functions
> like gsn_add_polyline, gsn_add_polygon, and gsn_add_polymarker. The
> default (res_at_mpGreatCircleLineOn = False) treats the lat-lon grid as a
> cartesian system, which explains why the wrapping occurs. Setting it
> instead to True calculates the great circle route (the shortest distance
> on the surface of the globe) between each set of points. So the dots get
> connected 'nicely' along the shortest possible path on the sphere.
>
> Now on to problem #2 . . .
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
> On Wed, 2006-09-20 at 13:00 -0600, Jonathan Vigh wrote:
>
>>Greetings NCL Wizards,
>>
>> This might be an advanced problem, or maybe there's an easy solution
>>- I'm not sure at this point.
>>
>> I am trying to plot trajectories on the globe which may or may not
>>cross the International Dateline or the Prime Meridian. My longitude
>>convention is -180 to 180 (Eastern Hemisphere positive, Western
>>Hemisphere negative). There are two issues which arise. The first
>>problem occurs when a trajectory (plotted using gsn_add_polyline)
>>crosses the International Dateline. For a trajectory going from the
>>Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere (e.g. westward), the
>>trajectory longitudes may go like this in time:
>>
>>-170.
>>-174.
>>-178.
>> 177.
>> 173.
>>
>>I am using mpLimitMode = "latlon" and and am also setting mpCenterLon in
>>the correct way, so my domain is centered correctly. However, the
>>trajectory comes up to the last point in the WHem before the Dateline
>>then wraps all the way around the globe to get to the next point in the
>>EHem. I know that I should expect this because gsn_add_polyline is just
>>doing what it's being told - connecting the dots - so it's not its
>>fault. One solution would be to just transform my input data so that
>>longitude keeps going more negative in the Ehem, but I'd rather not do
>>this as I'd like the script to be smart enough to plot the trajectory
>>without regard to where it starts and where or how far it goes (in the
>>more general case, it would be nice to plot the trajectory correctly
>>without regard to how many times it circles the globe and in which
>>direction it is going). I think changing the longitude convention to 0
>>to 360 just moves the problem over to the Prime Meridian. It would be
>>really nice if there was a general solution to this problem.
>>
>>So is there any way to tell gsn_add_polyline not to 'wrap' the polyline
>>all the way around the globe if it crosses the Dateline? Is there some
>>sort of resource to indicate that if the distance between points is less
>>than halfway around the globe, don't wrap it all the way around, but
>>just connect it across the Dateline?
>>
>>The second issue is that the domain is not limited in the desired manner
>>if it spans the Dateline (I'm using mpLimitMode = "latlon", and setting
>>mpMaxLonF and mpMinLonF). If I'm using a -180 to +180 longitude
>>convention and it happens to include the Dateline, I'd like the domain
>>to span from my smallest positive longitude (leftmost point in the E
>>Hemisphere) to my largest negative longitude (rightmost point in the W
>>Hemisphere) - so this is like the inverse of what the current behavior
>>of is. Simply swapping the values doesn't work because it generates a
>>warning that the min can't be greater than the max. The only workaround
>>I've found so far is to make longitude go beyond -180 or 180 and then
>>swap the values, but then my data do not get plotted unless they are
>>similarly transformed and I'd rather not have to transform this data.
>>
>>I've attached my script and an example plot if anyone is interested in
>>these two problems. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>Jonathan
>>
>>
>>
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>
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-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------
Adam Phillips			             asphilli_at_ucar.edu
National Center for Atmospheric Research   tel: (303) 497-1726
ESSL/CGD/CAS                               fax: (303) 497-1333
P.O. Box 3000				
Boulder, CO 80307-3000	  http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/asphilli
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Received on Wed Sep 20 2006 - 15:07:32 MDT

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