Vorticity

Use metpy.calc.vorticity.

This example demonstrates the calculation of relative vorticity using the example xarray Dataset and plotting using Matplotlib.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import metpy.calc as mpcalc
from metpy.cbook import example_data

# load example data
ds = example_data()

# Calculate the vertical vorticity of the flow
vort = mpcalc.vorticity(ds.uwind, ds.vwind)

# start figure and set axis
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(5, 5))

# scale vorticity by 1e5 for plotting purposes
cf = ax.contourf(ds.lon, ds.lat, vort * 1e5, range(-80, 81, 1), cmap=plt.cm.PuOr_r)
plt.colorbar(cf, pad=0, aspect=50)
ax.barbs(ds.lon.values, ds.lat.values, ds.uwind, ds.vwind, color='black', length=5, alpha=0.5)
ax.set(xlim=(260, 270), ylim=(30, 40))
ax.set_title('Relative Vorticity Calculation')

plt.show()