Visualization

Abstract

Examples are introduced here in which Python can be used to visualize Scientific data in 2D and 3D. Data can originate from both observation and numerical models. Examples in this chapter focus more on observational data. The most used visualization library in Python, MatPlotLib, is introduced from the historical point of view. Datasets are downloaded from the web, among them simple data like the length of the day. A mathematical 3D object called Moebius stream is created and visualized with several techniques. Python is mostly used as a wrapper for general visualization software such as Paraview and VisIt. More in general there exists a Scientific Python Ecosystem, embedding tools such as iPython (now Jupyter), MatPlotLib, and many more. Although this system has been conceived to practice science, it is largely a set of tools that allows practicing, visualizing, and sharing technologies applied to Science. Finally, two projects directly applied to the Earth Sciences are quickly illustrated.