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Recommendations for Usage of SURFER to Gridding Model Results
Author(s) -
Shan Chao,
Stephens Daniel B.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1994.tb00669.x
Subject(s) - contouring , grid , computer science , contour line , merge (version control) , regular grid , quadrant (abdomen) , computer graphics (images) , set (abstract data type) , algorithm , data mining , mathematics , cartography , geometry , parallel computing , geography , medicine , pathology , programming language
Contouring is an important aspect of virtually all hydrogeological and contamination investigations. The popular computer contouring package SURFER saves enormous effort in preparing contour plots, but for some cases its misuse can lead to significant errors. We have demonstrated that where regularly spaced data with uniform grid size are to be input to SURFER for contouring, certain procedures are recommended to obtain improved accuracy. For optimal results, the grid size in SURFER should be exactly the same as that in the input file, and the number of nearest points for searching should be set to 1. If these procedures are not followed, contour lines are often not smooth. Consequently, the plots can introduce bias that appears as though there is numerical dispersion. For cases where calculated data have a nonuniform grid size, we recommend using Quadrant as the search method and setting the number of nearest search points to 1.