A taste of Verde#

Verde offers a wealth of functionality for processing spatial and geophysical data, like bathymetry, GPS, temperature, gravity, or anything else that is measured along a surface. While our main focus is on gridding (interpolating on a regular grid), you’ll also find other things like trend removal, data decimation, spatial cross-validation, and blocked operations.

This example will show you some of what Verde can do to process some data and generate a grid.

The library#

Most classes and functions are available through the verde top level package. So we can import only that and we’ll have everything Verde has to offer:

import verde as vd

Note

Throughout the documentation we’ll use vd as the alias for verde.

We’ll also import other modules for this example:

# Standard Scipy stack
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# For projecting data
import pyproj
# For plotting data on a map
import pygmt
# For fetching sample datasets
import ensaio

Loading some sample data#

For this example, we’ll download some sample GPS/GNSS velocity data from across the Alps using ensaio:

path_to_data_file = ensaio.fetch_alps_gps(version=1)
print(path_to_data_file)

/home/runner/.cache/ensaio/v1/alps-gps-velocity.csv.xz

Since our data are in CSV format, the best way to load them is with pandas:

data = pd.read_csv(path_to_data_file)
data

	station_id	longitude	latitude	height_m	velocity_east_mmyr	velocity_north_mmyr	velocity_up_mmyr	longitude_error_m	latitude_error_m	height_error_m	velocity_east_error_mmyr	velocity_north_error_mmyr	velocity_up_error_mmyr
0	ACOM	13.514900	46.547935	1774.682	0.2	1.2	1.1	0.0005	0.0009	0.001	0.1	0.1	0.1
1	AFAL	12.174517	46.527144	2284.085	-0.7	0.9	1.3	0.0009	0.0009	0.001	0.1	0.2	0.2
2	AGDE	3.466427	43.296383	65.785	-0.2	-0.2	0.1	0.0009	0.0018	0.002	0.1	0.3	0.3
3	AGNE	7.139620	45.467942	2354.600	0.0	-0.2	1.5	0.0009	0.0036	0.004	0.2	0.6	0.5
4	AIGL	3.581261	44.121398	1618.764	0.0	0.1	0.7	0.0009	0.0009	0.002	0.1	0.5	0.5
...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...	...
181	WLBH	7.351299	48.415171	819.069	0.0	-0.2	-2.8	0.0005	0.0009	0.001	0.1	0.2	0.2
182	WTZR	12.878911	49.144199	666.025	0.1	0.2	-0.1	0.0005	0.0005	0.001	0.1	0.1	0.1
183	ZADA	15.227590	44.113177	64.307	0.2	3.1	-0.3	0.0018	0.0036	0.004	0.2	0.4	0.4
184	ZIMM	7.465278	46.877098	956.341	-0.1	0.4	1.0	0.0005	0.0009	0.001	0.1	0.1	0.1
185	ZOUF	12.973553	46.557221	1946.508	0.1	1.0	1.3	0.0005	0.0009	0.001	0.1	0.1	0.1

186 rows × 13 columns

The data are the observed 3D velocity vectors of each GPS/GNSS station in mm/year and show the deformation of the crust that is caused by the subduction in the Alps. For this example, we’ll only the vertical component (but Verde can handle all 3 components as well).

Before we do anything with this data, it would be useful to extract from it the West, East, South, North bounding box (this is called a region in Verde). This will help us make a map and can be useful in other operations as well. Verde offers the function verde.get_region function for doing just that:

region = vd.get_region([data.longitude, data.latitude])
print(region)

(-4.4965935, 16.5830568, 41.9274581, 52.3792981)

Coordinate order

In Verde, coordinates are always given in the order: West-East, South-North. All functions and classes expect coordinates in this order. The only exceptions are the dims and shape arguments that some functions take.

Let’s plot this on a pygmt map so we can see it more clearly:

# Start a figure
fig = pygmt.Figure()
# Add a basemap with the data region, Mercator projection, default frame
# and ticks, color in the continents, and display national borders
fig.coast(
    region=region, projection="M15c", frame="af",
    land="#eeeeee", borders="1/#666666", area_thresh=1e4,
)
# Create a colormap for the velocity
pygmt.makecpt(
    cmap="polar+h",
    series=[data.velocity_up_mmyr.min(), data.velocity_up_mmyr.max()],
)
# Plot colored points for the velocities
fig.plot(
    x=data.longitude,
    y=data.latitude,
    fill=data.velocity_up_mmyr,
    style="c0.2c",
    cmap=True,
    pen="0.5p,black",
)
# Add a colorbar with automatic frame and ticks and a label
fig.colorbar(frame='af+l"vertical velocity [mm/yr]"')
fig.show()

Decimate the data#

You may have noticed that that the spacing between the points is highly variable. This can sometimes cause aliasing problems when gridding and also wastes computation when multiple points would fall on the same grid cell. To avoid all of the this, it’s customary to block average the data first.

Block averaging means splitting the region into blocks (usually with the size of the desired grid spacing) and then taking the average of all points inside each block. In Verde, this is done by verde.BlockMean:

# Desired grid spacing in degrees
spacing = 0.2
blockmean = vd.BlockMean(spacing=spacing)

The verde.BlockMean.filter method applies the blocked average operation with the given spacing to some data. It returns for each block: the mean coordinates, the mean data value, and a weight (we’ll get to that soon).

block_coordinates, block_velocity, block_weights = blockmean.filter(
    coordinates=(data.longitude, data.latitude),
    data=data.velocity_up_mmyr,
)
block_coordinates

(array([ 8.7626159 ,  2.434972  ,  2.7949003 ,  6.2060949 , 12.3557044 ,
        13.1239995 ,  1.0860528 ,  2.02959   ,  2.7660378 ,  3.4876973 ,
         5.3537886 ,  6.2289099 ,  6.6010118 ,  2.8234738 ,  3.6991176 ,
         4.4216344 ,  4.8104624 ,  5.3331971 ,  1.4808917 ,  2.3408725 ,
         2.7275844 ,  3.3143753 ,  3.8648417 ,  4.0958931 ,  5.7869818 ,
         7.0541003 ,  7.26361955,  3.2682596 ,  3.9669648 ,  4.8617726 ,
         5.7173553 ,  6.366692  ,  6.7236848 ,  6.9205745 , 11.0991283 ,
        11.2138006 ,  3.5812609 ,  5.4836986 ,  8.1594175 , 15.2275901 ,
         2.8551187 ,  4.4669187 ,  4.5738468 ,  5.2725628 ,  6.3455153 ,
         6.9770648 ,  4.156319  ,  8.0811275 ,  8.9211444 , 11.6468163 ,
         3.2836469 ,  5.9105951 ,  6.6618686 , 10.9491953 , 12.2494364 ,
         6.4789542 ,  6.7100358 ,  3.8788733 ,  4.2874656 ,  5.3984569 ,
         5.881079  ,  6.0834629 ,  7.6503444 ,  7.7653026 ,  4.665694  ,
         4.7979068 ,  5.4725132 ,  5.7617809 ,  6.358558  ,  6.7100867 ,
        13.5950464 ,  2.0519965 ,  7.1396203 , 11.8960633 , 12.3540792 ,
         4.0678111 ,  4.9058086 ,  5.1521292 ,  5.9021552 ,  5.985685  ,
         6.6282299 , 11.0342814 , 12.5884184 , 13.7635214 ,  3.1110763 ,
         4.6765767 ,  4.8089593 ,  5.624649  ,  9.0956236 , 10.1088147 ,
        11.042103  , 12.2085197 , 13.0525523 , 13.4356375 , -0.4076986 ,
         4.8029182 ,  8.6802049 , 11.1434418 , 11.8270897 , 12.4350216 ,
        12.9790963 , 13.2530207 , 14.543717  , -1.2193156 ,  4.6061776 ,
         5.416495  ,  6.2830311 ,  8.2610005 ,  9.8502544 , 11.7237974 ,
        12.987684  , 13.4160616 ,  5.7956604 , 11.3367981 , 12.174517  ,
        12.5653448 , 13.0011467 , 13.5149004 ,  5.0751405 , 11.2946668 ,
        12.9914523 , 13.850455  , 14.6260666 ,  7.4652781 , 10.8315721 ,
         4.2889755 , 10.6268236 , 15.4934817 ,  1.7196751 ,  5.9893868 ,
        11.3860936 ,  7.2681933 ,  9.7846655 , 10.0725985 , 10.5510003 ,
        12.3594601 , 13.7713212 , -3.5079805 , -3.427339  ,  5.8265567 ,
         6.7456111 ,  7.4288212 , 11.3149642 , 12.2492719 , 12.8075351 ,
        16.5830568 ,  7.0315242 ,  7.5961676 , 13.1104313 , 15.8589121 ,
         0.1552863 ,  5.3508882 , 11.2798716 , 14.0207379 ,  7.1967089 ,
        13.486385  , 14.2830623 , 16.3730836 , -4.4965935 ,  5.3535964 ,
         7.3512992 ,  7.6399038 ,  5.8411017 ,  6.7838184 ,  7.6710324 ,
         7.7624948 , 13.9953591 ,  2.5873124 ,  7.3642111 ,  8.4112604 ,
        12.8789111 ,  6.2915779 ,  6.6996722 , -1.7779594 , 11.0045746 ,
         8.6649682 , 11.8758926 , 13.7296944 ,  9.9505607 , 13.0660927 ]),
 array([41.9274581 , 42.7275495 , 43.0481629 , 42.9832846 , 43.1193923 ,
        43.1119865 , 43.2068502 , 43.1571519 , 43.2419319 , 43.2913725 ,
        43.2787706 , 43.3010132 , 43.2194846 , 43.4313718 , 43.3976493 ,
        43.4491472 , 43.3759731 , 43.4912152 , 43.5606955 , 43.7203399 ,
        43.6809908 , 43.6933643 , 43.6374387 , 43.6923772 , 43.6757239 ,
        43.6114285 , 43.71438235, 43.9198043 , 43.8769014 , 43.8813695 ,
        43.9241573 , 43.873539  , 43.7974659 , 43.7547386 , 43.8855632 ,
        43.7956496 , 44.1213985 , 43.9409571 , 44.1095454 , 44.1131766 ,
        44.1996596 , 44.2554513 , 44.1853354 , 44.2778955 , 44.1772974 ,
        44.2678215 , 44.3692026 , 44.4459918 , 44.4193884 , 44.5199581 ,
        44.7217941 , 44.6328399 , 44.6622451 , 44.6293541 , 44.6769027 ,
        44.8576702 , 44.9103636 , 45.0436188 , 45.124571  , 45.1166293 ,
        45.1107151 , 45.0866148 , 45.0392507 , 45.0415489 , 45.2413805 ,
        45.3071052 , 45.2493163 , 45.2352196 , 45.3041378 , 45.2137781 ,
        45.2260172 , 45.4033539 , 45.4679419 , 45.4111544 , 45.4305709 ,
        45.7156927 , 45.7137762 , 45.7333733 , 45.6776851 , 45.6430025 ,
        45.6914899 , 45.599783  , 45.6684352 , 45.7097578 , 45.7609636 ,
        45.8790852 , 45.7990205 , 45.916077  , 45.802164  , 45.8860062 ,
        45.8935061 , 45.8570112 , 45.805723  , 45.9244697 , 46.1334636 ,
        46.1482756 , 46.0423417 , 46.0981198 , 46.0321389 , 46.0082949 ,
        45.958532  , 46.0374798 , 46.0481344 , 46.158943  , 46.1948277 ,
        46.2247145 , 46.2176766 , 46.3135602 , 46.1700344 , 46.3039483 ,
        46.2407539 , 46.1839611 , 46.528575  , 46.4990246 , 46.527144  ,
        46.4570897 , 46.4141535 , 46.5479352 , 46.7255889 , 46.685116  ,
        46.615732  , 46.6070306 , 46.6614109 , 46.8770983 , 46.8665916 ,
        46.9538414 , 47.14623   , 47.0671307 , 47.2941957 , 47.246882  ,
        47.3129057 , 47.4383509 , 47.5153293 , 47.4925837 , 47.5487161 ,
        47.4182421 , 47.3772563 , 47.6480085 , 47.7461152 , 47.6595708 ,
        47.6596952 , 47.6831756 , 47.6067929 , 47.7474651 , 47.6511983 ,
        47.6836476 , 47.923005  , 47.8339487 , 47.8034215 , 47.9279647 ,
        48.0186173 , 48.1244335 , 48.0861707 , 48.1583438 , 48.2168508 ,
        48.2034179 , 48.309783  , 48.2188572 , 48.3804944 , 48.486154  ,
        48.4151715 , 48.5493608 , 48.6123195 , 48.6751878 , 48.66522695,
        48.5798433 , 48.5698369 , 48.8410585 , 48.8730278 , 49.0112461 ,
        49.1441992 , 49.2039455 , 49.3715652 , 49.5806623 , 49.5864936 ,
        50.0905788 , 50.3129033 , 51.029827  , 51.5002153 , 52.3792981 ]))

In this case, we have uncertainty data for each observation and so we can pass that as input weights to the block averaging (and compute a weighted average instead). The weights should usually be 1 over the uncertainty squared and we need to let verde.BlockMean know that our input weights are uncertainties. It’s always recommended to use weights if you have them!

blockmean = vd.BlockMean(spacing=spacing, uncertainty=True)
block_coordinates, block_velocity, block_weights = blockmean.filter(
    coordinates=(data.longitude, data.latitude),
    data=data.velocity_up_mmyr,
    weights=1 / data.velocity_up_error_mmyr**2,
)

What if I don’t have uncertainties?

Don’t worry! Input weights are optional in Verde and can always be ommited.

Block weights

The weights that are returned by verde.BlockMean.filter can be different things. See verde.BlockMean for a detailed explanation. In our case, they are 1 over the propagated uncertainty of the mean values for each block. These can be used in the gridding process to give less weight to the data that have higher uncertainties.

Now let’s plot the block-averaged data:

fig = pygmt.Figure()
fig.coast(
    region=region, projection="M15c", frame="af",
    land="#eeeeee", borders="1/#666666", area_thresh=1e4,
)
pygmt.makecpt(
    cmap="polar+h", series=[block_velocity.min(), block_velocity.max()],
)
fig.plot(
    x=block_coordinates[0],
    y=block_coordinates[1],
    fill=block_velocity,
    style="c0.2c",
    cmap=True,
    pen="0.5p,black",
)
fig.colorbar(frame='af+l"vertical velocity [mm/yr]"')
fig.show()

It may not seem like much happened, but if you look closely you’ll see that data points that were closer than the spacing were combined into one.

Project the data#

In this example, we’ll use Verde’s Cartesian interpolators. So we need to project the geographic data we have to Cartesian coordinates first. We’ll use pyproj to create a projection function and convert our longitude and latitude to easting and northing Mercator projection coordinates.

# Create a Mercator projection with latitude of true scale as the data mean
projection = pyproj.Proj(proj="merc", lat_ts=data.latitude.mean())

easting, northing = projection(block_coordinates[0], block_coordinates[1])

Spline interpolation#

Since our data are relatively small (< 10k points), we can use the verde.Spline class for bi-harmonic spline interpolation [Sandwell1987] to get a smooth surface that best fits the data:

# Generate a spline with the default arguments
spline = vd.Spline()
# Fit the spline to our decimated and projected data
spline.fit(
    coordinates=(easting, northing),
    data=block_velocity,
    weights=block_weights,
)

Spline(mindist=0)

In a Jupyter environment, please rerun this cell to show the HTML representation or trust the notebook.
On GitHub, the HTML representation is unable to render, please try loading this page with nbviewer.org.

Have more than 10k data?

You may want to use some of our other interpolators instead, like KNeighbors or Cubic. The bi-harmonic spline is very memory intensive so avoid using it for >10k data unless you have a lot of RAM.

Now that we have a fitted spline, we can use it to make predictions at any location we want using verde.Spline.predict. For example, we can predict on the original data points to calculate the residuals and evaluate how well the spline fits our data. To do this, we’ll have to project the original coordinates first:

prediction = spline.predict(projection(data.longitude, data.latitude))
residuals = data.velocity_up_mmyr - prediction

fig = pygmt.Figure()
fig.coast(
    region=region, projection="M15c", frame="af",
    land="#eeeeee", borders="1/#666666", area_thresh=1e4,
)
pygmt.makecpt(
    cmap="polar+h", series=[residuals.min(), residuals.max()],
)
fig.plot(
    x=data.longitude,
    y=data.latitude,
    fill=residuals,
    style="c0.2c",
    cmap=True,
    pen="0.5p,black",
)
fig.colorbar(frame='af+l"fit residuals [mm/yr]"')
fig.show()

As you can see by the colorbar, the residuals are quite small meaning that the spline fits the decimated data very well.

Extracting a profile#

Once we have a fitted spline, we can also use it to predict data along a profile with the verde.Spline.profile method. For example, let’s extract a profile that cuts across the Alps:

profile = spline.profile(
    point1=(4, 51),  # longitude, latitude of a point
    point2=(11, 42),
    size=200,  # number of points
    dims=("latitude", "longitude"),
    data_names="velocity_up_mmyr",
    projection=projection,
)
profile

	latitude	longitude	distance	velocity_up_mmyr
0	51.000000	4.000000	0.000000e+00	-0.126214
1	50.958517	4.035176	5.776034e+03	-0.124948
2	50.916997	4.070352	1.155207e+04	-0.123690
3	50.875440	4.105528	1.732810e+04	-0.122425
4	50.833845	4.140704	2.310414e+04	-0.121140
...	...	...	...	...
195	42.195756	10.859296	1.126327e+06	0.652267
196	42.146874	10.894472	1.132103e+06	0.668127
197	42.097954	10.929648	1.137879e+06	0.684209
198	42.048996	10.964824	1.143655e+06	0.700388
199	42.000000	11.000000	1.149431e+06	0.716551

200 rows × 4 columns

Note

We passed in a projection because our spline is Cartesian but we want to generate a profile between 2 points specified with geographic coordinates. The resulting points will be evenly spaced in the projected coordinates.

The result is a pandas.DataFrame with the coordinates, distance along the profile, and interpolated data values. Let’s plot the location of the profile on our map:

fig = pygmt.Figure()
fig.grdimage(grid.velocity_up, cmap="polar+h", projection="M15c")
fig.coast(
    frame="af", shorelines="#333333", borders="1/#666666", area_thresh=1e4,
)
fig.colorbar(frame='af+l"vertical velocity [mm/yr]"')
fig.plot(
    x=profile.longitude,
    y=profile.latitude,
    pen="2p,#333333",
)
fig.show()

Finally, we can plot the profile data using matplotlib:

plt.figure(figsize=(12, 6))
plt.plot(profile.distance, profile.velocity_up_mmyr, "-")
plt.title("Vertical GPS/GNSS velocity across the Alps")
plt.xlabel("Distance along North-South profile (m)")
plt.ylabel("velocity (mm/yr)")
plt.xlim(profile.distance.min(), profile.distance.max())
plt.grid()
plt.show()

Wrapping up#

This covers the basics of using Verde. Most use cases will involve some variation of the following workflow:

Load data (coordinates and data values)
Create a gridder
Fit the gridder to the data
Predict new values (using predict, grid, or profile)

Now go explore the rest of the documentation and try out Verde on your own data!

Questions or comments?

Reach out to us through one of our communication channels! We love hearing from users and are always looking for more people to get involved with developing Verde.

A taste of Verde

Contents

A taste of Verde#

The library#

Loading some sample data#

Decimate the data#

Project the data#

Spline interpolation#

Generating a grid#

Extracting a profile#

Wrapping up#