Discussion: NCL-like curly vector rendering for GeoCAT

[QianyeSu]

Hi GeoCAT team,

I would like to ask whether the GeoCAT maintainers would be interested in considering Skyborn as a reference implementation for NCL-like “curly vector” rendering for wind-field visualization.

I noticed that many former NCL users still miss the visual style of NCL vector plots in Python: curved, flow-following vectors that often look more natural and readable than standard `quiver` or `streamplot`, especially for meteorological wind fields.`

A plotting feature that many former NCL users still miss in Python is the visual style of NCL vector plots: curved, flow-following vectors that often look more natural and readable than standard quiver or streamplot, especially for meteorological wind fields.

This style is particularly useful for:

• global wind maps
• synoptic-scale circulation analysis
• cyclone and anticyclone structure
• latitude-pressure circulation sections
• users migrating from NCL who want similar visual output in Python

In my own package, Skyborn(https://github.com/QianyeSu/Skyborn), I have implemented a Matplotlib-compatible curly_vector function that aims to reproduce this NCL-like appearance. I am not asking GeoCAT to adopt my implementation directly, but only to raise the question of whether this rendering style itself would be useful for GeoCAT users.

For reference, below are a few example plots produced with this approach.

Thanks.

[erogluorhan]

Hi @QianyeSu thanks very much for your suggestion (and all your efforts on this)! We will look into this soon and get back to you.