geostrophic_wind

metpy.calc.geostrophic_wind(heights, f, dx, dy)[source]

Calculate the geostrophic wind given from the heights or geopotential.

Parameters:
  • heights ((M, N) ndarray) – The height field, with either leading dimensions of (x, y) or trailing dimensions of (y, x), depending on the value of dim_order.
  • f (array_like) – The coriolis parameter. This can be a scalar to be applied everywhere or an array of values.
  • dx (scalar) – The grid spacing in the x-direction
  • dy (scalar) – The grid spacing in the y-direction
  • dim_order (str or None, optional) – The ordering of dimensions in passed in arrays. Can be one of None, 'xy', or 'yx'. 'xy' indicates that the dimension corresponding to x is the leading dimension, followed by y. 'yx' indicates that x is the last dimension, preceded by y. None indicates that the default ordering should be assumed, which will change in version 0.6 from ‘xy’ to ‘yx’. Can only be passed as a keyword argument, i.e. func(…, dim_order=’xy’).
Returns:

A 2-item tuple of arrays – A tuple of the u-component and v-component of the geostrophic wind.