Is the DEM(Digital Elevation Models) readable in VAPOR?

[muteldw]

Is the DEM(Digital Elevation Models) readable in VAPOR?
I am trying to visualize atmospheric variables, such as air temperature and winds, with 3D elevation data.

IFY, the data source is the following URL (OpenTopography - USGS 1 meter Digital Elevation Model).

Thanks

[pearse]

Sorry, it looks like the DEM is stored as a point cloud using a json file format. The only point-cloud data that we support is in netCDF format according to our Data Collection Particles (DCP) standard.

If this is something you would find useful, you can request an enhancement on our github page and we will discuss the possibility of incorporating this, or finding a workaround.

[pearse]

@muteldw I was able to find a workaround to do this.

Steps:

1. Download the .tif file for your area, such as the one located here
2. Convert the tif file to a netCDF file with the tool of your choice. I used GDAL:

gdal_translate -f netCDF ~/Downloads/USGS_1M_12_x76y426_CO_WestCentral_2019_A19.tiff ~/Downloads/USGS_1M_12_x76y426_CO_WestCentral_2019_A19.nc

3. Add a ‘time’ and ‘z’ coordinate variable with ‘units’ and ‘axis’ attributes. Also add these attributes to the ‘x’ and ‘y’ coordinate variables. Create a new variable that is based on the elevation variable, and is a function of the new ‘time’ and ‘z’ coordinate variables. I used NCO for this:

ncap2 -s 'x@axis="X";x@units="m";y@axis="Y";y@units="m";defdim("time",1);time[time]=1;time@long_name="Time";time@axis="T";time@units="seconds since 2000-0101";defdim("z",1);z[z]=1;z@axis="Z";z@units="m";Band1_new[$time,$z,$y,$x]=Band1;' -O ~/Downloads/USGS_1M_12_x76y426_CO_WestCentral_2019_A19.nc ~/Downloads/USGS_1M_12_x76y426_CO_WestCentral_2019_A19_xyt3.nc

4. Import the new file USGS_1M_12_x76y426_CO_WestCentral_2019_A19_xyt3.nc into VAPOR as a NetCDF-CF file.

Hope that helps!