[Vis5d-users] Vertical Coordinate

Hello,

I plan on using Vis5d to visualize model output from ARPS.  The model 
incorporates a terrain following vertical coordinate, z, which is used 
as the vertical coordinate in Vis5d.  However, this presents a problem 
since the terrain following surface is not flat, but it is plotted as 
such.  Overlaying the terrain on top of the model output fields causes 
data to be plotted below ground is areas where the terrain height > 0 
(because the terrain data file uses heights above MSL, zp, not a terrain 
following grid (z) ).  I plan on fixing this problem by reading in the 
v5d file output by the model, then converting the vertical grid back to 
actual height and creating a new v5d file.  Is this the easiest way to 
do this?  Any suggestions on how to do this?

Also, a related question:  Can Vis5d use a vertical grid such that the 
spacing between vertical levels varies in x and y?  (i.e. delta z = 
f(x,y) )?  The vertical grid section in the readme file implies that I 
can't.  However, the readme document also mentions an irregular data 
type called a "record."  I'm wondering if I could possibly display these 
data that way.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Jeff Frame
PSU Department of Meteorology
Graduate Program