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Re: strange Ferret-definition of the time axis !



Hi Emile,
I will just list some ideas that may help you find some answers

This FAQ gives an example that may help you: "Overlaying symbols on a time-axis plot", at
http://www.ferret.noaa.gov/Ferret/FAQ/custom_plots/time_series_symbol_overlay.html

Creating a variable from the time axis is a helpful way of getting the time coordinates
you need.  In addition to T[gt=axisname], you might also want the pseudovariables
TBOXLO or TBOXHI.

Also, the results of the  RETURN keyword are often helpful when writing a script.
These kinds of commands may give you what you need:

yes? DEFINE SYMBOL axname = `var,return=taxis`
yes? DEFINE SYMBOL time1 = `var,return=tstart`
yes? LET tt = t[gt=var]
yes? LET t1 = tt[t=($time1)]

Ansley Manke

Emilie Vanvyve wrote:
Hello !

I have another time-axis problem to submit to you ... ;o)

The original problem is : I try to draw a simple line (as a legend) on a plot which has pressure for y-axis and time for x-axis. I try to draw that line not with the ALINE command (because it does not work in version 5.6 : I can not get a line plotted on my graph), but with the PLOT/OVER/.../VS/LINE {x1,x2}, {y1,y2} (which allows a greater liberty for the line style).

So, I need x1, x2, y1 and y2 in user units. As it is inside a series of automatic scripts, I would really prefer not to have to set those coordinates by hand.
It's ok and easy to get y1 and y2 for the y-axis, but not at all for the x-axis which is a time axis in my case.
This time axis is from 21/11/1993 0h to 1/12/1993 0h and is defined automatically from my data (I mean I do not define any new time axis or do not make any regridding — and I do not want to !).

The problem I have is that I do not understand the value given by XAXIS_MIN and XAXIS_MAX for my time axis and that I can not convert the values I get in numbers of hours since the x january 1901 (which seem to be the values I need to plot my line in the right place on the plot).

Here are more details. For my time axis, I have :
XAXIS_MIN = 8764 (21/11/1993 0h)
XAXIS_MAX = 9004 (01/12/1993 0h)

Those values, Ferret does not understand them and so does not draw the line where I want it to do. I should normally have something like 813888 for the 21/11/1993 0h and 814128 for the 01/12/1993 0h (= number of hours since the x january 1901).
I have tried to understand where do XAXIS_MIN/MAX values come from.

So :
XAXIS_MAX - XAXIS_MIN = 240 = 24 hours * 10 days
(which sounds logical and means to me that my time axis unit = hours) (my data = "" 6 hours)

>From this result, I have tried to discover to which date would correspond a XAXIS_MIN = 1. It seems to be (according above) the 21/11/1992 0h (because 8764 / 24 = 365,1 days). I begin to be lost ...
Anyway, it does not help me very much. On another hand, a colleague of mine got XAXIS_MIN = 8761 for the 15/05/1990 0h and 12049 for the 29/09/1990 0h (with same kind of data) ... I'm lost !

So, how could I simply get these values (813888 and 814128) ? (if possible, automatically and through a variable)
Or, how to transform the XAXIS_MIN and XAXIS_MAX values into the ones here above ? (without too many computes, this script is just assumed to draw a line ...)
And can anyone tell me how Ferret computes its time database ??

I would be glad to have any answer to those questions :o) !!

Thanks in advance !!
Best regards,

Emilie V.

____________________________________________________________
Emilie VANVYVE
Physicist, PhD student

Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
Institut d'astronomie et de géophysique G. Lemaître (ASTR)
Chemin du Cyclotron, 2
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)
Phone : +32-(0)10-473300
Fax : +32-(0)10-474722
E-mail : vanvyve@astr.ucl.ac.be
Web : www.astr.ucl.ac.be

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