To download scatterometer data and plot the Rossby number for a case of your
choice, follow these instructions.
1. Go to ftp://ftp.ssmi.com/qscat/bmaps_v04/ and download the daily file that
best captures your tropical cyclone. Avoid the 3 day average files.
2. Unzip the downloaded file. Windows users: use 7-Zip. Linux users: in a
terminal window, type gunzip followed by the full file name.
3. Once the file is unzipped, put it into a MATLAB folder along with the scripts
get_scat_daily_v03.m and
qscathurr.m. You are now ready to open the latter
script and customize your case for plotting. Modification of
get_scat_daily_v03.m is not necessary. You may also download a
sample data file depicting Hurricane Bertha to test the
script as is.
4. Open qscathurr.m and enter the latitude and longitude of the storm's center,
storm name, and unzipped scatterometer filename in the "user defined input
variables" section. This script will then plot the wind fields for a 10 deg. lat
x 10 deg. lon area centered at the point chosen.