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Time

Time is a very important dimension in meteorology, and there are many things to keep in mind. Here we will explore how Metview handles the fourth dimension.

Overlaying Time Steps

Inspect the supplied GRIB files: z500_fc.grib contains geopotential forecasts made in one run, but for six different forecast steps; z500_an.grib contains analysis fields for two times. Visualise the supplied Geographical View icon and drop the forecast GRIB icon along with its corresponding Contouring icon (cont_fc)into the Display Window, and then drop the analysis GRIB icon along with its corresponding Contouring icon (cont_an)too. Go through the frames of animation. The fields have been overlaid, but if you look at the times and dates in the title, you will see that they do not match. Metview has simply plotted the first field of each data file together, then the second, and so on. We can make it more intelligent.

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