(18) Volumes and Spatial Selections

To demonstrate potential usage of the programs gmtspatial, grdvolume and gmtselect we extract a subset of the Sandwell & Smith altimetric gravity field 1 for the northern Pacific and decide to isolate all seamounts that (1) exceed 50 mGal in amplitude and (2) are within 200 km of the Pratt seamount. We do this by dumping the 50 mGal contours to disk, then use gmtspatial that returns the mean location of the points making up each closed polygon, and then pass these locations to gmtselect, which retains only the points within 200 km of Pratt. We then mask out all the data outside this radius and use grdvolume to determine the combined area and (gravimetric) volumes of the chosen seamounts. Our illustration is presented in Figure 18 which also shows the automatic labeling offered by subplot.

using GMT, Printf

pratt = [-142.65 56.25 400]

# First generate gravity image w/ shading, label Pratt, and draw a circle
# of radius = 200 km centered on Pratt.
grav_cpt = makecpt(color=:rainbow, range=(-60,60));
grdimage("@AK_gulf_grav.nc", shade=:default, frame=(annot=2,ticks=1), proj=:merc, figsize=14, xshift=3.8, yshift=14.9)
coast!(region="@AK_gulf_grav.nc", land=:gray, shore=:thinnest)
colorbar!(pos=(anchor=:BC, offset=(0,1)), xaxis=(annot=20, ticks=10), ylabel="mGal")
text!(text_record(pratt, "Pratt"), font=(12,"Helvetica-Bold"), justify=:LB, offset="8p")
plot!(pratt, marker="E-", markerline=:thinnest)

# Then draw 10 mGal contours and overlay 50 mGal contour in green
grdcontour!("@AK_gulf_grav.nc", cont=20, frame=(axes=:WSEn, annot=2, ticks=1), yshift=-12.3)
# Save 50 mGal contours to individual files, then plot them
grdcontour!("@AK_gulf_grav.nc", cont=10, range=(49,51), dump="sm_%c.txt")
plot!("sm_C.txt", lw=:thin, lc=:green)
coast!(land=:gray, shore=:thinnest)
plot!(pratt, marker="E-", markerline=:thinnest)

# Now determine centers of each enclosed seamount > 50 mGal but only plot
# the ones within 200 km of Pratt seamount.

# First determine mean location of each closed contour and add it to the file centers.txt
centers = gmtspatial("sm_C.txt", length=true, colinfo=:g)

# Only plot the ones within 200 km
t = gmtselect(centers, C=(pratt,"200k"), colinfo=:g)
plot!(t, marker=:Circle, ms=0.2, mc=:red, MarkerLine=:thinnest)
plot!(pratt, marker=:Triangle, ms=0.25, fill=:yellow, MarkerLine=:thinnest)

# Then report the volume and area of these seamounts only
# by masking out data outside the 200 km-radius circle
# and then evaluate area/volume for the 50 mGal contour

Gmask = gmt(string("grdmath -R@AK_gulf_grav.nc ", pratt[1], " ", pratt[2], " SDIST ="))
Gmask = grdclip(Gmask, above=(200, NaN), below=(200, 1))
Gtmp = gmt("grdmath @AK_gulf_grav.nc ? MUL =", Gmask);
av   = grdvolume(Gtmp, cont=50, unit=:k);

T = mat2ds(["Volumes: $(av.data[3]) mGal\\264km@+2@+"
    ""
    sprintf("Areas: %.2f km@+2@+", av.data[2])], hdr="> -149 52.5 14p 2.6i j")

text!(T, paragraph=true, fill=:white, pen=:thin, offset=0.75, font=(14,"Helvetica-Bold"),
      justify=:LB, clearance=0.25, show=true)