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wrf_user_ll_to_ij

Finds the nearest model grid indices (i,j) to the specified location(s) in longitude and latitude.

Prototype

load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/wrf/WRFUserARW.ncl"

	function wrf_user_ll_to_ij (
		file_handle  : file or list [list added in V6.0.0],  
		lon          : numeric,                              
		lat          : numeric,                              
		opt          : logical                               
	)

	return_val  :  float or double

Arguments

file_handle

Reference to an input netCDF file opened with addfile, or, as of V6.0.0, can be a list of NetCDF files opened with addfiles.

lon
lat

Longitude and latitude arrays for which ij locations are required.

opt

A logical scalar containing attributes. See description below.

Return value

An array that holds the i, j index locations to the input lon, lat. If a single lon, lat location is used as input, the return value will have a dimension of 2, where the first element holds the i-th location and the second element holds the j-th location.

If an array of lon, lat values are used on input, the return value will be 2 x n, where n is the size of the input arrays.

The return values will represent a true value in the model domain. So if these values are later used as indexes in NCL scripts, 1 needs to be deducted from the values first.

Description

This function replaces wrf_user_latlon_to_ij.

This function makes use of map projection information out of the input file (nc_file) to locate the ij locations which corresponds to the input lon/lat locations. Note that if the lon/lat locations are outside your model domain, the returned ij locations will represent a point outside the domain.

The return values will represent a true value in the model domain. So if these values are later used as indexes in NCL scripts, 1 needs to be deducted from the values first.

The opt variable can contain the following attributes. Attributes are case-insensitive:

  • returnInt - True, will return an integer value, False will return real (defaults to True)

  • useTime - which time in the file should be used when extracting XLAT/XLONG arrays from input file. Only important to set if output is for a moving nest and all the output times are in a single wrfout file.

wrf_user_ll_to_ij is part of a library of functions and procedures in WRFUserARW.ncl written to help users plot ARW WRF model data.

Questions on this function should be sent to wrfhelp@ucar.edu.

See Also

wrf_user_ij_to_ll, wrf_ll_to_ij, wrf_ij_to_ll, wrf_user_getvar, wrf_user_intrp2d, wrf_user_intrp3d, wrf_user_list_times, wrf_user_unstagger

See the full list of WRF functions.

Examples

Example 1

A simple example showing how to use this function to extract a particular lat/lon region of interest for your data. The print statements in this example will also help ensure that you are using this function properly. 

  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/contributed.ncl"
  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/wrf/WRFUserARW.ncl"

  a = addfile("wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00.nc","r")

  minlat = 30
  maxlat = 40
  minlon = -80
  maxlon = -70

  opt = True
  loc  = wrf_user_ll_to_ij(a,(/minlon,maxlon/),(/minlat,maxlat/),opt)
  loc = loc-1          ; To convert to NCL subscripts

;---The requested and calculated values should be close
  print("Requested min/max  xlon = " + minlon + "/" + maxlon)
  print("Calculated min/max xlon = " + xlon(loc(1,0),loc(0,0)) + "/" + \
                                       xlon(loc(1,1),loc(0,1)))

  print("Requested  min/max xlat = " + minlat + "/" + maxlat)
  print("Calculated min/max xlat = " + xlat(loc(1,0),loc(0,0)) + "/" + \
                                       xlat(loc(1,1),loc(0,1)))

;---Just for fun, pick a variable and take a subdomain of it.
  tc2 = wrf_user_getvar(a,"T2",0)   ; T2 in Kelvin
  printMinMax(tc2,0)

  tc2_sub = tc2(loc(1,0):loc(1,1),loc(0,0):loc(0,1))
  tc2_sub@description = tc2@description + " (subdomain)"   ; just an example
  printMinMax(tc2_sub,0)

Example 2

This example shows how using the output from wrf_user_ll_to_ij as input to wrf_user_ij_to_ll should give you close to the same values: 

load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/wrf/WRFUserARW.ncl"

  a    = addfile("wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00.nc","r")
  xlat = a->XLAT(0,:,:)
  xlon = a->XLONG(0,:,:)

  minlat =  30
  maxlat =  40
  minlon = -80
  maxlon = -70

;---Get ij indexes, and then use these to get lat/lon values back again.
  opt    = True
  loc    = wrf_user_ll_to_ij(a,(/minlon,maxlon/),(/minlat,maxlat/),opt)
  latlon = wrf_user_ij_to_ll(a,loc(0,:),loc(1,:),opt)


;---The min/max values printed should be close.
  print("----")
  print("Requested  min/max xlon = " + minlon + "/" + maxlon)
  print("Actual     min/max xlon = " + xlon(loc(1,0)-1,loc(0,0)-1) + "/" + \
                                       xlon(loc(1,1)-1,loc(0,1)-1))
  print("Calculated min/max xlon = " + latlon(0,0) + "/" + latlon(0,1))

  print("----")
  print("Requested  min/max xlat = " + minlat + "/" + maxlat)
  print("Actual     min/max xlat = " + xlat(loc(1,0)-1,loc(0,0)-1) + "/" + \
                                       xlat(loc(1,1)-1,loc(0,1)-1))
  print("Calculated min/max xlat = " + latlon(1,0) + "/" + latlon(1,1))
  print("----")

Example 3

Have the "loc" values returned as floating point values, rather than integers: 

  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/wrf/WRFUserARW.ncl"

  a   = addfile("wrfout_d01_2000-01-24_12:00:00.nc","r")

  res = True
  res@returnInt = False                             ; return real values
  loc  = wrf_user_ll_to_ij(a, -100.0, 40.0, res)
  print("X/Y location is: " + loc)

Example 4

As of NCL V6.0.0, you can retrieve ij coordinates from a list of WRF ARW NetCDF files: 

  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
  load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/wrf/WRFUserARW.ncl"

  files = systemfunc("ls -1 wrfout_d01_2000*") + ".nc"
  a = addfiles(files,"r")

  res = True
  res@returnInt = False                             ; return real values
  loc  = wrf_user_ll_to_ij(a, -100.0, 40.0, res)
  print("X/Y locations are: " + loc)

You can see some other example scripts and their resultant images at:

http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/OnLineTutorial/Graphics/NCL/

Example 5

To see a graphical example of using wrf_user_ll_to_ij, see example "wrf_debug_4.ncl" on the Debugging WRF grids page.