from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function) # example showing how to use streamlines to visualize a vector # flow field (from Hurricane Earl). # Requires matplotlib 1.1.1 or newer. from netCDF4 import Dataset as NetCDFFile from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap, interp import numpy as np import matplotlib.pyplot as plt if not hasattr(plt, 'streamplot'): raise ValueError('need newer version of matplotlib to run this example') # H*wind data from http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data_sub/wind.html ncfile = NetCDFFile('rita.nc') udat = ncfile.variables['sfc_u'][0,:,:] vdat = ncfile.variables['sfc_v'][0,:,:] lons1 = ncfile.variables['longitude'][:] lats1 = ncfile.variables['latitude'][:] lat0 = lats1[len(lats1)//2]; lon0 = lons1[len(lons1)//2] lons, lats = np.meshgrid(lons1,lats1) ncfile.close() # downsample to finer grid for nicer looking plot. nlats = 2*udat.shape[0]; nlons = 2*udat.shape[1] lons = np.linspace(lons1[0],lons1[-1],nlons) lats = np.linspace(lats1[0],lats1[-1],nlats) lons, lats = np.meshgrid(lons, lats) udat = interp(udat,lons1,lats1,lons,lats) vdat = interp(vdat,lons1,lats1,lons,lats) speed = np.sqrt(udat**2+vdat**2) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(8,8)) m = Basemap(projection='cyl',llcrnrlat=lats1[0],llcrnrlon=lons1[0],urcrnrlat=lats1[-1],urcrnrlon=lons1[-1],resolution='i') x, y = m(lons,lats) m.drawmapboundary(fill_color='w') m.drawcoastlines() m.drawmeridians(np.arange(-120,-60,2),labels=[0,0,0,1]) m.drawparallels(np.arange(0,30,2),labels=[1,0,0,0]) m.streamplot(x,y,udat,vdat,color=speed,linewidth=2,density=2,cmap=plt.cm.Spectral) m.colorbar() plt.title('Hurricane Rita flow field visualized with streamlines',\ fontsize=13) plt.show()