Use a temporal profile chart to visualize and analyze your multidimensional raster data

In ArcGIS AllSource, a temporal profile chart serves as a basic analysis tool for imagery data in a time series. It is a type of chart that provides in-depth visualization and analysis of your multidimensional raster data.

There are three options for creating a temporal profile for your multidimensional raster data:

• Create a temporal profile from multiple variables.
• Create a temporal profile from multiple bands of the selected variable.
• Create a temporal profile based on other dimension values (for example, depth) of the selected variable.

Requirements

To use the temporal profile chart, the multidimensional raster data must contain a time dimension. For a multidimensional mosaic dataset, all the general requirements must be met for variables and dimension fields.

Besides the common properties that a mosaic dataset has, a multidimensional mosaic dataset has information about the variables, the time dimension, and vertical dimension, which are stored as fields in the mosaic dataset footprint table:

• Variable—The variable name
• Dimensions—The name of the dimensions used in the mosaic dataset

It also contains one or more fields that define the dimensions:

• Standard Time—The standardized time dimension values (UTC)
• Standard Z—The standardized vertical dimension that is measured in length (meter)
• Standard Pressure—The standardized vertical dimension of pressure values (Pa).

For a multidimensional raster layer or netCDF raster layer, the general requirements are similar to those for multidimensional mosaic datasets, except there is no footprint table. The variable is the one you chose when creating the raster layer. The availability of dimensions, such as Standard Time, Standard Z or Standard Pressure, depend on the specific variable you chose.

Note:

Temporal profile charts also work on time series raster data that is not specified as multidimensional raster data. For example, you can create a temporal profile from a set of time series of Landsat measurements in a mosaic dataset that contains an acquisition time field.

Create a temporal profile from a multidimensional mosaic dataset

You can create a temporal profile chart from a multidimensional mosaic dataset, multidimensional raster layer, netCDF raster layer, or a multidimensional web imagery layer. Regardless of the layer type you use, the workflow to create the temporal profile is similar. The following steps use a layer created from a multidimensional mosaic dataset:

1. Right-click the layer in the Contents pane, point to Create Chart, and click Temporal Profile.

   The Chart Properties pane and blank chart dialog box appear.

2. Use the Draw tool in the Chart Properties pane to digitize a feature on the map. The point features will be added to the point feature table. In the table, you can select or deselect point features, delete unwanted point features, and click the point symbol to edit a feature's color and shape. The label is also editable in the table. When you select point features from this table, the temporal profile uses separate line graphs to represent each point feature.
3. Choose the time dimension name to be used on the x-axis. Click the Time drop-down arrow to see the available time dimension names. Typically, StdTime (Standard Time) is listed; this refers to the name of the time dimension. Sometimes both StdTime and StdTime_Max time dimensions are listed, indicating that your data’s time dimensions use two fields to represent a time period, the start time, and the end time, respectively.
4. Define a series of time settings using the Time Interval Size, Time Aggregation, Time Interval Alignment, and Trim incomplete time interval options.

   By default, Time Interval Size uses the data’s original temporal resolution, and no time aggregation is applied. In this case, the temporal profile displays the initial pixel values.

   You can also use time aggregation to perform statistical analysis on your data. For example, aggregate your hourly data to daily, monthly, and yearly time intervals and visualize the trend at different time scales. The Time Aggregation type is set to Mean once a new time interval size is specified. The average is calculated based on the values that fall within each new time interval and displayed on the temporal profile. The time supported aggregation types supported are Count, Mean, Median, and Sum.

   The Time Interval Alignment option allows you to define a new time interval to align to either the first time step or the last time step.

   Check the Trim incomplete time interval option to remove the partially filled time interval from the chart to avoid potential bias from the incomplete time interval.

5. Select an option in Time Series to create the temporal profile.
   1. One or more variables—This option works on most multidimensional mosaic datasets. It is typically used when the variables in the mosaic dataset are single band, and they have only a time dimension. You can select one or more variables from the variable name list and compare them in the same temporal profile. Once the variable name is selected, the corresponding graph is displayed on the temporal profile.

      If multiple variables are selected and their value ranges vary widely, check the Standardized values option in the Axes category to put all the variables on the same scale, allowing multiple distributions to be visualized in the same chart. For example, you may want to visualize precipitation that is within a couple of inches per day, and the daily average temperature in Fahrenheit, such as 60–90 degrees, together. Standardization of the values on y-axis involves a z-transform where the mean for all values is subtracted from each value and divided by the standard deviation for all the values.

      

   2. One variable with multiple bands—Specify the bands that you want to plot on the temporal profile; each band will have a separate graph. First, select one variable, then add the bands using their band names. You can also use the Add all or Remove all button to add or remove all bands, respectively. Comparing the values of a specific band at multiple locations is also allowed on the temporal profile.

      Sometimes the mosaic dataset contains multiband images in time series, for example, multispectral satellite measurements with an Acquisition time field. You can also create a multidimensional mosaic dataset using the composite bands template, which creates a mosaic dataset containing multiband imagery. See Create a mosaic dataset using a Multiband Composite template for more details.

      

   3. One variable with multi-dimensions—This option works on a multidimensional mosaic dataset containing a time dimension and other dimensions. Select the time variable name and the other dimension name, and make the temporal profile for your variable based on values from the other dimension; each value of the other dimension will have a separate graph. For example, some ocean salinity data comes with both time and depth dimensions—you can make a temporal profile for salinity at depth one, depth two, and so on. Comparing variables at the specific values of other dimensions at multiple locations is also allowed in the temporal profile. Use the Add all or Remove all button to add or remove all values of the other dimension.

This workflow outlines how to create temporal profile charts for time plotted with one or more variables, multiple bands, and multiple dimensions. Additionally, you can customize labeling and general information on your temporal profile chart with axes, number format, time and date formats, title, x- and y-axis titles, and so on. See Temporal Profile Chart for more information.