# GrADS > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/GrADS > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/GrADS.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrADS > Source revision: 1340842503 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) The Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) Developers Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, Institute of Global Environment and Society, George Mason University Release 1988 (1988) Stable release 2.2.2 / 4 January 2021; 5 years ago (2021-01-04)[1] Written in C Operating system Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Solaris, IBM AIX, Tru64, IRIX Available in English Type Scientific visualization License GNU General Public License Website cola.gmu.edu/grads/ The **Grid Analysis and Display System**[2] (**GrADS**) is an interactive [desktop](/source/Desktop_computer) tool that is used for easy access, manipulation, and visualization of [earth science](/source/Earth_science) data. The format of the data may be either [binary](/source/Binary_file), [GRIB](/source/GRIB), [NetCDF](/source/NetCDF), or [HDF](/source/Hierarchical_Data_Format)-SDS (Scientific Data Sets). GrADS has been implemented worldwide on a variety of commonly used [operating systems](/source/Operating_system) and is freely distributed over the [Internet](/source/Internet). **GrADS** uses a 4-Dimensional data environment: [longitude](/source/Longitude), latitude, vertical level, and time. Data sets are placed within the 4-D space by use of a [data descriptor file](/source/File_descriptor). **GrADS** interprets station data as well as gridded data, and the grids may be regular, non-linearly spaced, [Gaussian](/source/Gaussian_function), or of variable resolution. Data from different data sets may be graphically overlaid, with correct spatial and time registration. It uses the *ctl* mechanism to join differing time group data sets. Operations are executed interactively by entering [FORTRAN](/source/FORTRAN)-like expressions at the command line. A rich set of built-in functions are provided, but users may also add their own functions as external routines written in any programming language. Data may be displayed using a variety of graphical techniques: line and bar graphs, scatter plots, smoothed [contours](/source/Contour_line), shaded contours, [streamlines](/source/Streamlines%2C_streaklines%2C_and_pathlines), wind [vectors](/source/Euclidean_vector), grid boxes, shaded grid boxes, and station model plots. Graphics may be output in [PostScript](/source/PostScript) or image formats. **GrADS** provides geophysically intuitive defaults, but the user has the option to control all aspects of graphics output. **GrADS** has a programmable interface ([scripting language](/source/Scripting_language)) that allows for sophisticated analysis and display applications. Scripts can display buttons and drop menus as well as graphics, and then take action based on user point-and-clicks. GrADS can be run in [batch mode](/source/Batch_processing), and the scripting language facilitates using GrADS to do long overnight batch jobs. As of version 2.2.0, graphics display and printing are now handled as independent plug-ins. A C-language Python extension for GrADS called GradsPy was introduced in version 2.2.1. ## See also - [Climate Data Analysis Tool](/source/Climate_Data_Analysis_Tool) - [Giovanni (meteorology)](/source/Giovanni_(meteorology)) - [IDL (programming language)](/source/IDL_(programming_language)) and [GNU Data Language](/source/GNU_Data_Language) - [MATLAB](/source/MATLAB) and [GNU Octave](/source/GNU_Octave) - [NCAR Command Language](/source/NCAR_Command_Language) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["ChangeLog"](http://cola.gmu.edu/grads/ChangeLog). *cola.gmu.edu*. Retrieved 2021-04-10. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Documentation of GrADS"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150407042441/http://www.iges.org/grads/gadoc/). Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies, Institute of Global Environment and Society, [George Mason University](/source/George_Mason_University). Archived from [the original](http://www.iges.org/grads/gadoc/) on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015. ## External links - [GrADS official site](http://cola.gmu.edu/grads/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160213015526/http://cola.gmu.edu/grads/) 2016-02-13 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) - [OpenGrADS official site](http://opengrads.org/) - [HiGrads - A GrADS script function library for managing subplots and charts](https://github.com/haibuihoang/higrads) This climatology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Climatology-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AClimatology-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Climatology-stub) This scientific software article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Science-software-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AScience-software-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Science-software-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [GrADS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrADS) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrADS?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.