Field Of View Plots

Field Of View (FOV) plots show the radars scanning region for a given radar station id.

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(66, datetime(2015, 3, 8, 15, 0), radar_label=True)
plt.show()

A datetime object of the date is required to convert to Coords.AACGM_MLT (default) or Coords.AACGM.

Additional options

Here is a list of all the current options than can be used with plot_fov

Option	Action
stid=(int)	Station id of the radar. Can be found using SuperDARNRadars
date=(datetime)	`datetime` object to determine the position the radar fov AACGM or AACGM MLT coordinates
ranges=(list)	Two element list giving the lower and upper ranges to plot, grabs ranges from hardware file (default []
ax=(Axes Object)	Matplotlib axes object than can be used for cartopy additions
ccrs=(object)	Cartopy axes object for plotting using Cartopy
rsep=(int)	Range Seperation (km) (default: 45 km)
frang=(int)	Frequency Range (km) (default: 180 km)
projs=(Projs)	Projection for the plot to be plotted on Polar and Geographic (GEO) (default: Projs.POLAR)
coords=(Coords)	Coorindates Geographic, AACGM, or AACGM MLT (default: Coords.AACGM_MLT)
grid=(bool)	Boolean to apply the grid lay of the FOV (default: False )
colorbar=(bool)	Set true to plot a colorbar (default: True)
colorbar_label=(string)	Label for the colour bar (requires colorbar to be true)
boundary=(bool)	Set false to not show the outline of the radar FOV (default: True)
grid=(bool)	Set true to show the outline of the range gates inside the FOV (default: False)
fov_color=(string)	Sets the fill in color for the fov plot (default: transparency)
line_color=(string)	Sets the boundary line and radar location dot color (default: black)
alpha=(int)	Sets the transparency of the fill color (default: 0.5)
line_alpha=(int)	Sets the transparency of the boundary and grid lines if shown (default: 0.5)
radar_location=(bool)	Places a dot in the plot representing the radar location (default: True)
radar_label=(bool)	Places the radar 3-letter abbreviation next to the radar location
coastline=(bool)	Plots outlines of coastlines below FOV (Uses Cartopy)
beam=(int)	Only plots outline/fill of specified beam (default: None)
kwargs **	Axis Polar settings. See polar axis

To plot based on hemisphere or selection of radars, here is an example plotting North hemisphere radars with selected SuperDARN Canada radars colored as green, note that the axes object (ax) needs to be updated inside to loop to plot multiple FOV:

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

fov_rtn={}
fov_rtn['ax'] = None
for stid in pydarn.SuperDARNRadars.radars.keys():
    if pydarn.SuperDARNRadars.radars[stid].hemisphere == pydarn.Hemisphere.North:
        if stid != 2:
            if stid in [66, 65, 6, 65, 5]: 
                fov_rtn = pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(stid, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), 
                                    radar_label=True, fov_color='green',
                                    line_color='green', alpha=0.8, ax=fov_rtn['ax'])

            fov_rtn = pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(stid, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), 
                                radar_label=True, fov_color='blue',
                                line_color='blue', alpha=0.2, lowlat=10, 
                                ax=fov_rtn['ax'])

plt.show()

This example will plot the South Hemisphere radars FOV in red:

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

fov_rtn={}
fov_rtn['ax'] = None
for stid in pydarn.SuperDARNRadars.radars.keys():
    if pydarn.SuperDARNRadars.radars[stid].hemisphere == pydarn.Hemisphere.South:
        if stid != 2:
            fov_rtn = pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(stid, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5),
                                radar_label=True, fov_color='red',
                                line_color='red', alpha=0.2, ax=fov_rtn['ax'])
plt.show()

This example shows the use of cartopy, plotting in geographic coordinates with the coastline outlines.

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(stid=65, date=datetime(2022, 1, 8, 14, 5),
                    fov_color='red', coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC,
                    projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO, coastline=True)
plt.show()

Note

If plotting multiple FOV on one plot for geographic coordinates, it is required that the ax and ccrs of the initial plot is read into the subsequent plots. Each subsequent plot also needs to be told that it is supposed to be in geographic coordinates and/or geographic projection using the coords and projs keywords.

This is an example of multiple FOV in geographic coordinates using the correct set of keywords.

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

fov_rtn = pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(66, datetime(2021, 6, 21, 6, 0),
                              lowlat= 50, boundary=True, radar_label=True,
                              line_color='red', grid = True,
                              coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC,
                              projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO, coastline=True)
pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(5, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), radar_label=True,
                    ax=fov_rtn['ax'], ccrs=fov_rtn['ccrs'], boundary=True,
                    line_color='blue', grid = True,
                    coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC,
                    projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO)
pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(64, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), radar_label=True,
                    ax=fov_rtn['ax'], ccrs=fov_rtn['ccrs'],
                    boundary=True, line_color='green',
                    grid = True, coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC,
                    projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO)
pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(65, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), radar_label=True,
                    ax=fov_rtn['ax'], ccrs=fov_rtn['ccrs'],
                    boundary=True, line_color='orange',
                    grid = True, coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC,
                    projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO)
pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(6, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), radar_label=True,
                    ax=fov_rtn['ax'], ccrs=fov_rtn['ccrs'],
                    boundary=True, grid = True,
                    coords=pydarn.Coords.GEOGRAPHIC, projs=pydarn.Projs.GEO)
plt.show()

Warning

You cannot plot AACGM coordinates on a geographic plot as its not correctly transformed.

plot_fov use two other plotting methods plot_radar_position and plot_radar_label, these methods have the following parameters:

Option	Action
stid=(int)	Station id of the radar. Can be found using SuperDARNRadars
date=(datetime)	`datetime` object to determine the position the radar fov is in MLT
line_color=(string)	Sets the text and radar location dot color (default: black)

Note

These methods will not plot on a polar axis if called without plot_fov, so it is strongly encouraged to use plot_fov to use them.

To obtain only dots and labels:

import pydarn
from datetime import datetime
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 

pydarn.Fan.plot_fov(66, datetime(2021, 2, 5, 12, 5), boundary=False,
                    radar_label=True)
plt.show()

Note

The radar label positions have been manually set so that no labels overlap. Users can plot their own labels using plt.text(*lon psn in radians*, *lat psn in degrees*, *text string*) if the current position used is not suitable.