[gradsusr] plotting terrain vectors

[Jeff Duda]

WRF output usually includes terrain height.
NARR data does not explicitly contain terrain height, but it does have
surface pressure (not the same thing as MSLP).  If all you need is the
general shape of the terrain, this would help you.  If you need specific
values, you could assume a standard atmosphere to diagnose the terrain
height.  Granted, you wouldn't get great resolution with it.
NAM, GFS, and RUC analysis data contain surface geopotential height, which
is just about the same thing as terrain height.
I have used all of these sources from the nomads site at NCDC before.

If you need something really hi-res, check out the National Elevation
Datasets from the USGS: http://seamless.usgs.gov/
I have no experience with using USGS data in Grads, however.

Jeff

On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 9:01 PM, Rowell, Mason D.
<Mason.D.Rowell-1 at ou.edu>wrote:

> All,
>
> Do any grads users have experience with any topo data sets that could be
> used to plot terrain gradient vectors?
>
> Mason
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-- 
Jeff Duda
Grad student - PhD, Meteorology
University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology - Center for Analysis and
Prediction of Storms
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