Earthdata Forum

Dear Sir/Madam,
I have plotted the vertical feature mask of all feature types using CALIPSO Level 2 Version 4.2 Vertical Feature Mask product after modifying the code available on the website of HDF-EOS (http://hdfeos.org/zoo/LaRC/CAL_LID_L2_VFM_ValStage1_V3_02_2011_12_31T23_18_11ZD_hdf.m). Here, I have plotted only with the latitude. But, I want to plot with both latitude and longitude as shown in the example image of the 'Layer Type' section on the CALIPSO website (https://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov/resources/calipso_users_guide/browse/index.php). Also, the plot that appears after running my code is not that much good as shown in the example I mentioned above. If you look at my code, you will see I added 'linecolor','none' in contourf line to omit the contour line. But, still, some outlines are appearing in the contour. I have attached my figure here. Please have a look at that to understand what I am trying to mean. Can anyone tell me why? Is it because of contour? Is there any other way to plot instead of using contourf?
I have seen one Meteoinfo example (http://meteothink.org/examples/meteoinfolab/satellite/calipso.html) which is written in python (I think). but I don't have any knowledge in python. Still I gave a try using the following line:
image(lat, altitude, rot90(data, 1))
But, it doesn't work. So, can anyone guide me on how to plot all feature type using CALIPSO vertcal feature mask data as just like similar to the image I have mentioned above. I'm very new to this type of data. So, any help on this will be very much appreciable. Thank you.

Ankan

Thank you for your question. A Subject Matter Expert has been notified and will answer your question shortly. Please stand by!

Okay. I am eagerly waiting for your response. Thank you.

Hi Ankan,

The answer to your question was replied via the HDF Forum.

Thank you.

Hi,
Actually, the question asked in the HDF Forum (the link you have given in your last reply) is a different question. There the question is how to plot cloud subtypes from CALIPSO vertical feature mask data in MATLAB.
But, here I am asking :
Question no 1: How to plot feature types similar to the image shown in the example image of the 'Layer Type' section on the CALIPSO website. In this image, the feature types are plotted both in latitude and longitude. What I am able to do so far in MATLAB is only with the latitude, not with both latitude and longitude. For clarity, I am also attaching a sample image so that you will understand easily what I am looking for to do so.
Also, I am asking:
Question no 2: Is there any other possible way to plot this instead of using the 'contourf' command. Like in the Meteoinfo example, they used these lines:
# Plot
levs = arange(8)
cols = [(255,255,255),(0,0,255),(51,255,255),(255,153,0),(255,255,0),(0,255,0),(127,127,127),(0,0,0)]
ls = makesymbolspec('image', levels=levs, colors=cols)
layer = imshow(rot90(data, 1), symbolspec=ls, extent=[lat[0],lat[-1],alt[0],alt[-1]])
colorbar(layer, ticklabels=['Invalid', 'Clear Air', 'Cloud', 'Aerosol', 'Strato Feature', 'Surface', 'Subsurface', 'No Signal'])
basename = os.path.basename(fn)
title([basename, 'Feature Type (Bits 1-3) in Feature Classification Flag'])
xlabel('Latitude (degrees north)')
ylabel('Altitude (km)')
xaxis(tickin=False)
yaxis(tickin=False)
But these are written in Jython. And I don't have any knowledge of this. I have tried in MATLAB but couldn't able to do it. So, is it possible to do the same code like using 'imshow' instead of 'contourf' in MATLAB for better visualization of the data?
Therefore, any help on these will be very much appreciable. Thank you.

Hello,

We wanted to let you know that we are currently looking into this. Apologies for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Hello @ank_earthdata19,

We apologize for the long delay. To answer the first part of your question:
The final plot is done with imagesc command. imagesc(pfNum, Z2, aeroSubtype);

pfNum is a vector of profile numbers
Z2 is the size which involves getting the number of 1km records, single shot, and sizing the buffer by the “hi” & “low” buffer.
aeroSubtype. – breaking out the VFM mask

Z = the lidar altitude
Z_hi = (fliplr(linspace(Z(288), Z(89), num1kmRows)))';
Z_lo = Z(289:2*289);
Z2 = [Z_hi; Z_lo];


As far as plotting both the lat and lon:
Here is a real simple example of using sprintf to get lat and lon on same xtick
Latitude = [-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90];
Longitude = [70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170];


pfStop = last; pfStart = start;
lat = Latitude;
lon = Longitude;

pfCount = pfStop - pfStart + 1;
%pfNum = 1:pfCount;
latmin = lat(start);
latmax = lat(last);


latTickPos = zeros(11, 1);
latTickPos(start) = lat(start);
latTickPos(last) = lat(last);

latLabels{start} = sprintf('%.2f %.2f', lat(start),lon(start));
latLabels{last} = sprintf('%.2f %.2f', lat(last),lon(last));

for k = 2:11
axFrac = (k-1)/11;
latTickPos(k) = round( pfCount*axFrac );
N = round( pfStart + pfCount*axFrac - 1 );
latLabels{k} = sprintf('%.2f %.2f', lat(N),lon(N));
end

latLabels = cellfun(@(x) strrep(x,' ','\newline'), latLabels,'UniformOutput',false);
% a = gca;
% a.XTickLabel = latLabels;
set(gca,'XTick', latTickPos);
set(gca,'XTickLabel', latLabels );

For the second part of your question, CALIPSO does not distribute code to make the plots. Again we apologize for the long wait.

Warm Regards,

NASA Langley ASDC User Services

Thank you so much for your reply.