Consider making the plotting options of plot_point_obs more configurable.

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Describe the New Feature

There are many ways that plot_point_obs could be improved. Listed below are some recommended changes based on a recent met_help question from Binyu:

We should change plot_point_obs’s command line argument from:
-data_file path to gridded data file
To:
-plot_grid filename, grid name, grid spec

And then just reuse the same logic for parsing “to_grid” in regrid_data_plane. Still quietly support -data_file.

From binyu’s met_help question. She also want to filter obs by their height or pressure.

We could also add an optional plot_point_obs config file consisting of a “plot_options” array where each element is a dictionary defining a filter and set of plotting options. The logic would be... for each plot_options entry, loop through all of the input point observations and plot the matching dots. The alternative logic would be to only read the obs once, and then plot a dot using the matching plot_options entry. Or if none match, plot nothing. I think the second logic is simpler.

// Default config file

outline_color = “”;
fill_color = “red”;
fill_color_table = “”; // takes precedence over fill_color. Does this mean we need a color bar?
dotsize = 10; // could be a function of obs value?

message_type = [];
obs_var = [];
height_thresh = NA;
pressure_thresh = NA;
obs_thresh = NA;
obs_qc = [];
// what about convert and censor_thresh/censor_val?

plot_options = [
{ fill_color = “red”; }
];

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Time Estimate

3 days.

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[JohnHalleyGotway]

Feedback from the Air Force on 10/28/20:
Any enhancements to the plot_point_obs would be beneficial to us. One thing that would be verify helpful is to have a terrain map background or have a filter to display observations in relation to their elevation.

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Made lots of good progress.

This image shows ADPSFC obs plotted as small gray circles while the ADPUPA obs of TMP/P500 are plotted as larger circles and colored based on the their value. And these are layered on top of a plot of gridded TMP/P500 data.

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Added a 3rd call to plot_point_obs in unit_plot_point_obs.xml to exercise many of the new config file options. It creates this image:

The gridded field of data is a 12-hour NAM forecast of 500mb RH. The large colored circles are verifying ADPUPA observations of 500mb RH plotted using the same colorbar. The small gray dots are locations of ADPSFC observations of RH and the blue dots are 3-hourly accumulated TRMM precipitation with values > 0.

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Resolved by PR #1560