Volume Browser

The Volume Browser is a simple and robust model data loading tool that can be used to generate plan view plots, cross sections, time heights, variable versus height, soundings, and time series. The main types of products that can be loaded are found under the fourth menu on the upper left. In the last menu on the top you can load multiple frames of data products in time (e.g. 500mb heights each forecast hour) or space (geopotential height for each available vertical grid layer at a particular time).

Once you select a type of display along the top row of menus (e.g. Plan-view), you need to select a source, field, and plane for your product. The Sources menu contains traditional single-model volume sources like the NAM, pre-defined ensembles of data like the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GFS ensemble), and surface grids like the High-Resolution Precipitation Estimator (HPE).

The fields menu is where you can select a basic parameter like temperature and wind or more sophisticated severe weather parameters (under T-Storms) like CAPE. Radar data is one non-grid data type that is read in and converted from polar-format radar data to cartesian-format grid format where you can make graphics contours or image color-filled layers out of the data. Older AWIPS builds like on the local WES machines with 17.3.4 will load radar images, but recent AWIPS builds will load radar contours, and the user must right click on the text legend of the contour product to load as image to view as a standard radar image.

Radar data is unique because prior to 21.4.1 there has been no way to specify a particular radar from the VB menus. Prior to 21.4.1 you set the cursor home to the location of the radar (via Tools button in VB or Tools button in D-2D) before you load the data. Starting in 21.4.1, the local radars are available from the Radar Source menu, and using the Home tool is no longer necessary. Having radar data in the Volume menu allows you to map radar fields to many different coordinate systems to combine with other model data.

The planes are where you can specify height coordinates such as pressure, theta (isentropic), height, temperature, or even radar tilts. One of the more commonly used planes is the surface which is located in the Misc Planes menu.

Once you have specified the proper source, field, and plane, if the data exists, an entry will show up in the bottom white box with check boxes next to the times in the forecast hours. If no data exists for the parameters you have specified, nothing will populate in the bottom white box. It is not uncommon to have menus grey out and not be selectable, and there are options to clear the Volume Browser sections from the Edit menu in the Volume Browser. 

Sometimes after entering in some of the parameter sections, you may notice that the VB will show you green boxes next to the menu items that are possible to load. It is good not to depend on menu statuses though, since this is a fairly complicated configuration tool, and the green boxes do not always show up, or do not always mean you have specified the correct source, field, and plane.

Once you have product identified in the bottom white box, select the product and click the Load button. Many models products will load as graphics, though you can convert a graphic to an image with a right click on the product legend.

While there is no explicit all-tilts like option in the Volume Browser for grid data like exists with all-tilts radar data, it is possible for forecasters to use the localization perspective to manually create a display that navigates time and space of grid data using keyboard shortcut keys. That is beyond the scope of this course, but if you are interested in knowing more, see this link.

The Volume Browser supports the ability to create custom contours by modifying color, line style, linewidth, and more. Reference this custom contouring jobsheet for more information.