Woods Hole Science Center
Development, analysis
and visualization tools for the POM, ECOM and ROMS ocean models (Utilizing NetCDF,
MATLAB and AVS)
Rich Signell, John G. Evans
and Chuck Denham
Rationale
You've got the model code, but how do you generate a decent grid, store the data
in an reasonable way, and analyze/visualize the output? To hopefully save you
some work, we've put our machine-independent, extensible software system for generating/editing
grids, visualizing and analyzing the model output from ROMS,
POM and
ECOM circulation models out here on the Web where you can grab it.
Components of the system:
Component 1. Creating NetCDF output files
To use the Matlab and AVS tools, you need to be write the output using NetCDF
, an efficient, self-describing machine-independent binary format that was developed
at NCAR's UNIDATA, and is specifically designed for large arrays of scientific
data.
- If you've got ROMS or ECOM, you already write NetCDF output, so you
are all set.
- If you use POM, you need to add the ability to write NetCDF output files.
An example of a routine that can be used as a template is putcdf.f
which stores the 4D POM Model output in a NetCDF
file, a machine-independent binary format. It might be more convenient
to grab the tar-compressed complete NetCDF modified
POM97 source code (seamount test case) obtained September 23, 1999 .
If you have built NetCDF, you just have to untar, modify the Makefile to point
to your NetCDF library, build and go! Check out the comments at the
head of putcdf.f or the Readme.txt file for details.
Component 2: Matlab Tools
You can use Matlab to create model grids, edit bathymetry values of the grid,
and visualize the NetCDF output files from the model.
- SEAGRID:
Matlab tools to interactively build a curvilinear grid.
- GRIDEDIT: Matlab tools to edit bathymetry values.
- OMVIZ: Command line Matlab
tools to analyze and visualize NetCDF model output
- CSLICE: GUI Matlab tool to interactively
explore the NetCDF model output files, horizontal and arbitrary vertical sections,
velocity overlays, zoom, and more.
Component 3: AVS tools
Component 4: Making movies
How about making movies? Well, just make the frames of your movie with whatever
package you like to use, and save each frame as a standard image format, like
.gif, .pcx, .ppm, etc. Then use the free FLC making tools
to make your movie.