Scripts to read and plot data from the BAe 146 research aircraft. Uses the Iris package. This is just a rough description of what it includes. The package is divided between reading and plotting scripts (the plotting scripts don't require reading the data beforehand).

Reading:

bae146.read.core(filename, var=None, event=None, [fsummary=None]):

loads the core aircraft datasets (works with both 1 and 32Hz data) and outputs a 1D Iris cube with time as the main coordinate, and latitude/longitude auxiliary coordinates. 
'var' accepts both a string with a 'common' variable name, e.g. 'u' for horizontal wind (bae146.read.var2name() gives you the full list) or the netcdf var_name. Derived variables can also be included (calculated in bae146.read.derived_values), but at the moment I have only put in 'theta'.
'event' lets you select specific runs, profiles or sonde times. This can be a string or list of strings to get multiple runs. Either specific runs can be extracted (e.g. event='Run 1') or all of one type (event = 'Run')
The code uses the flight_summ* file to automatically determine 'event' times. By default it searches within the same folder as the data, but the file location can also be given explicitly as fsummary.

bae146.read.sonde(filename, var=None):

Similar to read.core but for dropsondes. Note that at the moment var only accepts the netcdf variable name (and these are different to the core dataset). To get a list of variable names call the function without specifying var (which automatically reads the entire netcdf).

Plotting:

bae146.plot.line(filename, var=None, xvar='time', event='Run', [fsummary=None, fout=None: 
Plot a simple line plot of 'var' against xvar
A label with var+event is added to each line, so plt.legend() can be called after multiple calls to line

xvar = 'time', 'latitude' or 'longitude'.
event = list of strings giving runs/profiles/sondes to be plotted. 
Will plot from the start of the first one to the end of the last.
Defaults to 'Run' (no number, so plot all runs).
fout = filename to save figure to. Won't save the figure by default.
 

bae146.plot.x_alt_path(filename, var=None, xvar='longitude', altvar='alt', 
        event='Run', fsummary=None, cmin=None, cmax=None, fout=None):

Plot a line of the aircraft path (x vs altitude) coloured by 'var'

altvar = altitude variable used ('alt','palt','radalt','pressure')
xvar = x variable ('longitude', 'latitude')
event = list of strings giving runs/profiles/sondes to be plotted. 
Will plot from the start of the first one to the end of the last.
Defaults to 'Run' (no number, so plot all runs).
cmin/cmax = min/max for the colorbar. Default is min/max of the data.
fout = filename to save figure to. Won't save the figure by default.
 

bae146.plot.x_y_path(filename, var=None, event='Run', 
        fsummary=None, lonlim = (72,88), latlim=(22,30), cmin=None, cmax=None): 

Plot the flight path coloured by variable var on a map.

event = list of strings giving runs/profiles/sondes to be plotted. 
Will plot from the start of the first one to the end of the last.
Defaults to 'Run' (no number, so plot all runs).
lonlim/latlim = map boundaries (defaults to northern India)
cmin/cmax = min/max for the colorbar. Default is min/max of the data.
fout = filename to save figure to. Won't save the figure by default.

bae146.plot.sonde_tephi(filename, winds=False, nbarbs=50, fout=None): 
Plot tephigram from a dropsonde file.
If wind==True (default False) also add wind barbs
nbarbs: approximate number of barbs to plot (default=50)
Requires tephi python package