Section: 3.8.0 Sounding Displays

3.8.0 Sounding Displays

Upper Air RAOB sounding data can be accessed and displayed in the IDV as skew-T log-p, Stuve or Emagram displays, with a table of aerological values. More than one station and more than one sounding at each station can be loaded at once.

Open the RAOB Data Source Chooser and Select a Time

Open the Data Choosers.
In the Data Chooser tree click on the RAOB node.
Click on the Soundings: Remote tab.
In the Server: entry box, select the remote ADDE server adde.ucar.edu. Group: entry box, select RTPTSRC. Make sure the 00 & 12Z only box is checked
Click on Connect.
The IDV will connect to the ADDE server at adde.ucar.edu and download metadata about available RAOB data. Data times you can get from this server are listed in the box Available Times:.
Select the 00 and 12 times for today.

Zooming and Decluttering the Selector, and Selecting Stations

The map only shows a few stations, so you need to zoom in and declutter. More stations will appear when you zoom in and declutter. Find station 72201 (Key West) southwest of Miami, Florida.
Click on that station. It will turn red, and it will be listed with the data times in the Selected Soundings: box.
Select another station, 72214, north of 72201, by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on 72214. Both stations now should be red.
Four entries should be in the Selected Soundings: box. Click the Add Source button at the bottom of the selector window.

You should see the label RAOB data: adde.ucar.edu in the Data Sources panel in the Field Selector. If the Create display checkbox was selected in the chooser, the data will be read from the server and a Skew-T display will be created. If not then create it:

In the Field Selector window create a RAOB Skew-T display using the RAOB Data field.

The skew-T plot appears in its own control window in the Dashboard, with the data from the first station and time plotted. Skew-T plots of RAOB data have a station selector box labeled Soundings. Undock the Skew-T control from the Dashboard with the View→Undock from Dashboard menu.

Using the Skew-T Control

The skew-T plot, wind barb staff, and associated aerological table are all in the control window.
Move the mouse pointer over the skew-T Plot and see the values on the plot listed in the table.
Use the Soundings selector box to change station and time selection.
Use the Customize→Display Types→Stuve menu item to change the display to a Stuve.
Show the idealized parcel path by checking the Parcel Path checkbox. Change the Parcel mode: to the At Cursor Pressure option. Click in the display with the middle mouse button to show the parcel path from that pressure.
Modify the sounding by clicking and dragging on the temperature profile. Change the Parcel mode: to the At Cursor (Press,Temp) option. Click in the display with the middle mouse button to show the parcel from new locations on the modified sounding. For more information, see Using the IDV Sounding Displays
Reset the profile with the Edit→Reset Sounding menu.

Unidata IDV Workshop for version 6.3 > Accessing and Displaying Data > Upper Air Displays