read_pvolfile: Read a polar volume ('pvol') from file

In bioRad: Biological Analysis and Visualization of Weather Radar Data

Read a polar volume (pvol) from file

Description

Read a polar volume (pvol) from file

Usage

read_pvolfile(
  file,
  param = c("DBZH", "DBZ", "VRADH", "VRAD", "WRADH", "WRAD", "TH", "T", "RHOHV", "ZDR",
    "PHIDP", "CELL", "BIOLOGY", "WEATHER", "BACKGROUND"),
  sort = TRUE,
  lat,
  lon,
  height,
  elev_min = 0,
  elev_max = 90,
  verbose = TRUE,
  mount = dirname(file),
  local_install
)

Arguments

file	A string containing the path to a polar volume file
param	An atomic vector of character strings, containing the names of scan parameters to read. To read all scan parameters use 'all'.
sort	A logical value, when TRUE sort scans ascending by elevation.
lat	Latitude in decimal degrees of the radar position. If not specified, value stored in file is used. If specified, value stored in file is overwritten.
lon	Longitude in decimal degrees of the radar position. If not specified, value stored in file is used. If specified, value stored in file is overwritten.
height	Height of the center of the antenna in meters above sea level. If not specified, value stored in file is used. If specified, value stored in file is overwritten.
elev_min	Minimum scan elevation to read in degrees.
elev_max	Maximum scan elevation to read in degrees.
verbose	A logical value, whether to print messages (TRUE) to console.
mount	(deprecated) A character string with the mount point (a directory path) for the Docker container.
local_install	(deprecated) String with path to local vol2bird installation, to use local installation instead of Docker container

Details

Scan parameters are named according to the OPERA data information model (ODIM), see Table 16 in the ODIM specification. Commonly available parameters are:

• DBZH, DBZ: (Logged) reflectivity factor (dBZ)

• TH, T: (Logged) uncorrected reflectivity factor (dBZ)

• VRADH, VRAD: Radial velocity (m/s). Radial velocities towards the radar are negative, while radial velocities away from the radar are positive

• RHOHV: Correlation coefficient (unitless). Correlation between vertically polarized and horizontally polarized reflectivity factor

• PHIDP: Differential phase (degrees)

• ZDR: (Logged) differential reflectivity (dB)

Value

An object of class pvol, which is a list containing polar scans, i.e. objects of class scan

Examples

# locate example volume file:
pvolfile <- system.file("extdata", "volume.h5", package = "bioRad")

# print the local path of the volume file:
pvolfile

# load the file:
example_pvol <- read_pvolfile(pvolfile)

# print summary info for the loaded polar volume:
example_pvol

# print summary info for the scans in the polar volume:
example_pvol$scans

# copy the first scan to a new object 'scan'
scan <- example_pvol$scans[[1]]

# print summary info for the new object:
scan

bioRad documentation built on Aug. 29, 2025, 5:14 p.m.