Spaghetti Plot

Description

An analysis of stations relative to one another can assist in the identification of problematic segments. This tool plots station data between user-specified start and end dates (inclusive). Data can be inspected closely using the zooming and panning capabilities of the plots in HOB Tools.

Discussion of the Generated Plot
Stations with data will be plotted between the user-specified start and end dates (inclusive). All stations available in the input file will be listed under "List of Stations in Spaghetti Plot". This includes stations that do not have data available during the time period assessed (i.e., stations within the input file that have only -99s for the user-specified time period). Selecting any one of these stations will highlight that station's data in red if the station has data available during the time period plotted (e.g., Fig. 1). This highlighted station can then be visually assessed relative to the rest of the network.

Figure 1. Daily mean temperature from three stations in eastern Kansas were generally in agreement with one another from August 1861 through July 1862. The exception was Fort Riley, KS, which is selected under "List of Stations in Spaghetti Plot" and therefore highlighted in red in the plot.

Input File
Select the input data by clicking on "Browse" and navigating to the proper file.

Start Row
Enter the row number where the main data to be processed begin in the input file selected above. An example of how row numbers are entered is shown in Figure 2 located in the Running HOB Tools topic.

Number of Input Stations
Enter the number of stations located within the input data file specified above.

Plot Options
Enter the title and the y-axis label for the plot.

Input Data Format
If Year / Month / Day / Data is selected:

If Year / Month / Data is selected:

If Year / Data is selected:

Each "/" is a tab (i.e., data should be tab-delimited). Station 1 through Station N are the names of the individual stations. All columns must be filled with observations and in the same units. If a station does not have observations during a particular year or day, then a “-99” should be entered indicating a missing value.

Start Plot
Enter the year and, if necessary, the month and day when the plot should start. If "Year / Data" is selected under "Input Data Format", then the month and day fields will be disabled.

End Plot
Enter the year and, if necessary, the month and day when the plot should end. If "Year / Data" is selected under "Input Data Format", then the month and day fields will be disabled.