NCL: Divergent and Rotational Wind Components

wind_1.ncl: First calculates divergence, then the divergent wind components. Creates a simple vector plot.

wind_2.ncl: First calculates vorticity and then the rotational wind components. Creates a simple vector plot.

wind_3.ncl: Calculate divergence and vorticity. Then, derive and plot the velocity potential and stream function with overlays of the divergent and rotational wind components.

wind_4.ncl: A black and white version of example 3.

wind_5.ncl: Example of divergence calculated via spherical harmonics (uv2dvG) and centered finite differences uv2dv_cfd. These functions require the grids to be rectilinear. All spherical harmonic function require global grids. The centered finite difference function(s) can be used on limited area grids and allow missing values (_FillValue).

wind_6.ncl: Calculate the local vorticity tendency using spherical harmonics. Spherical harmonics are used to produce highly accurate gradients. Based upon scale analysis, the synoptic scale local vorticity tendency can be calculated using the two terms shown in the rightmost figure. The reference in the wind_6.ncl script provides additional information. The original code design was to plot an EOF ONLY if it was significant (see: eofunc_north). However, for this example, those code lines are commented to illustrate what the EOF plots would look like. Also, only one EOF plot is presented.

mfc_div_1.ncl: Calculate various divergence and moisture quantities including Vertically Integrated Moisture Flux Convergence (VIMFC). VIMFC has a high correlation with frontal and convective activity. Positive values indicate net precipitation.

The following equation is implemented within mfc_div_1.ncl

This example uses uv2dvF_Wrap [uv2dvF] because the grid is a global fixed grid. For global gaussian, uv2dvG_Wrap [uv2dvG] should be used. For a regional grid uv2dv_cfd should be used.

mfc_div_2.ncl: The above MFC equation can be partitioned as follows:

    MFC => Moisture Flux Convergence

    MFC_advect = -(u*(dq/dx)+v*(dq/dy))   ; advect moisture term
    MFC_conv   =  -q*((du/dx)+(dv/dy) )   ; [con/div]ergence term
    MFC        = MFC_advect + MFC_conv

The MFC_advect can be derived using advect_variable for global rectilinear grids or advect_variable_cfd for regional rectilinear grids

The MFC_conv can be derived using: uv2dvF_Wrap or uv2dvG_Wrap for global rectilinear grids or uv2dv_cfd for regional rectilinear grids. Then, multiply the derived quantity by specific humidity [q].

Q1Q2_yanai.ncl: Using high-frequency [eg: 3/6/12 hourly or daily] data, calculate apparent-heat-source (Q1) and apparent-moisture-sink (Q2) quantities as described in:

This example uses daily mean data from NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Specifically, NCEP_Reanalysis 2 daily mean data spanning 3-9 April 1993.

This is a test script. It is not fully tested. The returned quantities are:

         q1 =   (dT/dt) - [omega*static_stability - V.grad(T)]  ; K/day
         q2 = -[(dH/dt) +  V.grad(H) +omega*(dH/dp)]            ; g/(kg-Pa)
    and
         Q1 = Cp*q1     ; apparent Heat Source
         Q2 = Lc*q2     ; apparent Moisture Sink