Provided by: gmt-common_5.4.3+dfsg-1_all 
NAME
gmt.conf - Configuration for GMT
DESCRIPTION
The following is a list of the parameters that are user-definable in GMT. The parameter names are always
given in UPPER CASE. The parameter values are case-insensitive unless otherwise noted. The system
defaults are given in brackets [ for SI (and US) ]. Those marked * can be set on the command line as well
(the corresponding option is given in parentheses). Note that default distances and lengths below are
given in both cm or inch; the chosen default depends on your choice of default unit (see
PROJ_LENGTH_UNIT). You can explicitly specify the unit used for distances and lengths by appending c
(cm), i (inch), or p (points). When no unit is indicated the value will be assumed to be in the unit set
by PROJ_LENGTH_UNIT. Several parameters take only true or false. Finally, most of these parameters can be
changed on-the-fly via the --PARAMETER=VALUE option to any GMT program. However, a few are static and are
only read via the gmt.conf file; these are labeled (static).
COMMON SPECIFICATIONS
The full explanation for how to specify pens, pattern fills, colors, and fonts can be found in the gmt
man page.
┌──────────────────────────────┬─────────┐
│ THEMATIC SUB-SECTIONS │ prefix │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ COLOR Parameters │ COLOR_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ DIR Parameters │ DIR_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ FONT Parameters │ FONT_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ FORMAT Parameters │ FORMAT_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ GMT Miscellaneous Parameters │ GMT_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ I/O Parameters │ IO_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ MAP Parameters │ MAP_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ Projection Parameters │ PROJ_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ PostScript Parameters │ PS_ │
├──────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│ Calendar/Time Parameters │ TIME_ │
└──────────────────────────────┴─────────┘
COLOR_BACKGROUND
Color used for the background of images (i.e., when z < lowest color table entry) [black].
COLOR_FOREGROUND
Color used for the foreground of images (i.e., when z > highest color table entry) [white].
COLOR_HSV_MAX_S
Maximum saturation (0-1) assigned for most positive intensity value [0.1].
COLOR_HSV_MIN_S
Minimum saturation (0-1) assigned for most negative intensity value [1.0].
COLOR_HSV_MAX_V
Maximum value (0-1) assigned for most positive intensity value [1.0].
COLOR_HSV_MIN_V
Minimum value (0-1) assigned for most negative intensity value [0.3].
COLOR_MODEL
Selects in which color space a CPT should be interpolated. By default, color interpolation takes
place directly on the RGB values which can produce some unexpected hues, whereas interpolation
directly on the HSV values better preserves those hues. The choices are: none (default: use
whatever the COLOR_MODEL setting in the CPT demands), rgb (force interpolation in RGB), hsv (force
interpolation in HSV), cmyk (assumes colors are in CMYK but interpolates in RGB).
COLOR_NAN
Color used for the non-defined areas of images (i.e., where z == NaN) [127.5].
DIR_CACHE
Cache directory where to save files downloaded when using external URL addresses or the files
called earth_relief_res.grd or filenames starting in @ (e.g., @hotspots.txt)
DIR_DATA
Session data dir. Overrides the value of the environment variable $GMT_DATADIR (see Directory
parameters in the CookBook).
DIR_DCW
Path to optional Digital Chart of the World polygon files.
DIR_GSHHG
Path to GSHHG files. Defaults to $GMT_SHAREDIR/coast if empty.
FONT Sets the default for all fonts, except FONT_LOGO. This setting is not included in the gmt.conf
file.
FONT_ANNOT
Sets both FONT_ANNOT_PRIMARY and FONT_ANNOT_SECONDARY to the value specified. This setting is not
included in the gmt.conf file.
FONT_ANNOT_PRIMARY
Font used for primary annotations, etc. [12p,Helvetica,black]. When + is prepended, scale fonts,
offsets and tick-lengths relative to FONT_ANNOT_PRIMARY.
FONT_ANNOT_SECONDARY
Font to use for time axis secondary annotations [14p,Helvetica,black].
FONT_LABEL
Font to use when plotting labels below axes [16p,Helvetica,black].
FONT_LOGO
Font to use for text plotted as part of the GMT time logo [8p,Helvetica,black].
FONT_TITLE
Font to use when plotting titles over graphs [24p,Helvetica,black].
FORMAT_CLOCK_IN
Formatting template that indicates how an input clock string is formatted. This template is then
used to guide the reading of clock strings in data fields. To properly decode 12-hour clocks,
append am or pm (or upper case) to match your data records. As examples, try hh:mm, hh:mm:ssAM,
etc. [hh:mm:ss].
FORMAT_CLOCK_MAP
Formatting template that indicates how an output clock string is to be plotted. This template is
then used to guide the formatting of clock strings in plot annotations. See FORMAT_CLOCK_OUT for
details. [hh:mm:ss].
FORMAT_CLOCK_OUT
Formatting template that indicates how an output clock string is to be formatted. This template is
then used to guide the writing of clock strings in data fields. To use a floating point format for
the smallest unit (e.g., seconds), append .xxx, where the number of x indicates the desired
precision. If no floating point is indicated then the smallest specified unit will be rounded off
to nearest integer. For 12-hour clocks, append am, AM, a.m., or A.M. (GMT will replace a|A with
p|P for pm). If your template starts with a leading hyphen (-) then each integer item (y,m,d) will
be printed without leading zeros (default uses fixed width formats). As examples, try hh:mm,
hh.mm.ss, hh:mm:ss.xxxx, hha.m., etc. [hh:mm:ss]. If the format is simply - then no clock is
output and the ISO T divider between date and clock is omitted.
FORMAT_DATE_IN
Formatting template that indicates how an input date string is formatted. This template is then
used to guide the reading of date strings in data fields. You may specify either Gregorian
calendar format or ISO week calendar format. Gregorian calendar: Use any combination of yyyy (or
yy for 2-digit years; if so see TIME_Y2K_OFFSET_YEAR), mm (or o for abbreviated month name in the
current time language), and dd, with or without delimiters. For day-of-year data, use jjj instead
of mm and/or dd. Examples can be ddmmyyyy, yy-mm-dd, dd-o-yyyy, yyyy/dd/mm, yyyy-jjj, etc. ISO
Calendar: Expected template is yyyy[-]W[-]ww[-]d, where ww is ISO week and d is ISO week day.
Either template must be consistent, e.g., you cannot specify months if you do not specify years.
Examples are yyyyWwwd, yyyy-Www, etc. [yyyy-mm-dd].
FORMAT_DATE_MAP
Formatting template that indicates how an output date string is to be plotted. This template is
then used to guide the plotting of date strings in data fields. See FORMAT_DATE_OUT for details.
In addition, you may use a single o instead of mm (to plot month name) and u instead of W[-]ww to
plot “Week ##”. Both of these text strings will be affected by the GMT_LANGUAGE,
FORMAT_TIME_PRIMARY_MAP and FORMAT_TIME_SECONDARY_MAP setting. [yyyy-mm-dd].
FORMAT_DATE_OUT
Formatting template that indicates how an output date string is to be formatted. This template is
then used to guide the writing of date strings in data fields. You may specify either Gregorian
calendar format or ISO week calendar format. Gregorian calendar: Use any combination of yyyy (or
yy for 2-digit years; if so see TIME_Y2K_OFFSET_YEAR), mm (or o for abbreviated month name in the
current time language), and dd, with or without delimiters. For day-of-year data, use jjj instead
of mm and/or dd. As examples, try yy/mm/dd, yyyy=jjj, dd-o-yyyy, dd-mm-yy, yy-mm, etc. ISO
Calendar: Expected template is yyyy[-]W[-]ww[-]d, where ww is ISO week and d is ISO week day.
Either template must be consistent, e.g., you cannot specify months if you do not specify years.
As examples, try yyyyWww, yy-W-ww-d, etc. If your template starts with a leading hyphen (-) then
each integer item (y,m,d) will be printed without leading zeros (default uses fixed width formats)
[yyyy-mm-dd]. If the format is simply - then no date is output and the ISO T divider between date
and clock is omitted.
FORMAT_GEO_MAP
Formatting template that indicates how an output geographical coordinate is to be plotted. This
template is then used to guide the plotting of geographical coordinates in data fields. See
FORMAT_GEO_OUT for details. In addition, you can append A which plots the absolute value of the
coordinate. The default is ddd:mm:ss. Not all items may be plotted as this depends on the
annotation interval.
FORMAT_GEO_OUT
Formatting template that indicates how an output geographical coordinate is to be formatted. This
template is then used to guide the writing of geographical coordinates in data fields. The
template is in general of the form [+|-]D or [+|-]ddd[:mm[:ss]][.xxx][F]. By default, longitudes
will be reported in the range [-180,180]. The various terms have the following purpose:
+D Output longitude in the range [0,360]
-D Output longitude in the range [-360,0]
D Use FORMAT_FLOAT_OUT for floating point degrees.
ddd Fixed format integer degrees
: delimiter used
mm Fixed format integer arc minutes
ss Fixed format integer arc seconds
.xxx Floating fraction of previous integer field, fixed width.
F Encode sign using WESN suffix
G Same as F but with a leading space before suffix
The default is D.
FORMAT_FLOAT_MAP
Format (C language printf syntax) to be used when plotting double precision floating point numbers
along plot frames and contours. For geographic coordinates, see FORMAT_GEO_MAP. [%.12lg].
FORMAT_FLOAT_OUT
Format (C language printf syntax) to be used when printing double precision floating point numbers
to output files. For geographic coordinates, see FORMAT_GEO_OUT. [%.12lg]. To give some columns a
separate format, supply one or more comma-separated cols:format specifications, where cols can be
specific columns (e.g., 5 for 6th since 0 is the first) or a range of columns (e.g., 3-7). The
last specification without column information will override the format for all other columns.
Alternatively, you can list N space-separated formats and these apply to the first N columns.
FORMAT_TIME_MAP
Sets both FORMAT_TIME_PRIMARY_MAP and FORMAT_TIME_SECONDARY_MAP to the value specified. This
setting is not included in the gmt.conf file.
FORMAT_TIME_PRIMARY_MAP
Controls how primary month-, week-, and weekday-names are formatted. Choose among full,
abbreviated, and character. If the leading f, a, or c are replaced with F, A, and C the entire
annotation will be in upper case [full].
FORMAT_TIME_SECONDARY_MAP
Controls how secondary month-, week-, and weekday-names are formatted. Choose among full,
abbreviated, and character. If the leading f, a, or c are replaced with F, A, and C the entire
annotation will be in upper case [full].
FORMAT_TIME_STAMP
Defines the format of the time information in the UNIX time stamp. This format is parsed by the C
function strftime, so that virtually any text can be used (even not containing any time
information) [%Y %b %d %H:%M:%S].
GMT_COMPATIBILITY
Determines if this GMT version should be able to parse command-line options for a prior major
release. Specify either 4 or 5. If 4 is set we will parse obsolete GMT 4 options and issue
warnings; if 5 is set then parsing GMT 4 only syntax will result in errors [4].
GMT_EXPORT_TYPE
This setting is only used by external interfaces and controls the data type used for table
entries. Choose from double, single, [u]long, [u]int, [u]short, and [u]char [double].
GMT_EXTRAPOLATE_VAL
Determines what to do if extrapolating beyond the data domain. Choose among ‘NaN’, ‘extrap’ or
‘extrapval,val’ (without quotes). In the first case return NaN for any element of x that is
outside range [Default]. Second case lets the selected algorithm compute the extrapolation values.
Third case sets the extrapolation values to the constant value passed in ‘val’ (this value must
off course be numeric).
GMT_CUSTOM_LIBS
Comma-separated list of GMT-compliant shared libraries that extend the capability of GMT with
additional custom modules [none]. Alternatively, provide a directory name, that MUST end with a
slash (or back slash), to use all shared libraries in that directory. On Windows, if the dir name
is made up only of a single slash (‘/’) search inside a subdirectory called ‘gmt_plugins’ of the
directory that contains the ‘gmt’ executable. See the API documentation for how to build your own
shared modules.
GMT_FFT
Determines which Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) should be used among those that have been configured
during installation. Choose from auto (pick the most suitable for the task among available
algorithms), fftw[,planner_flag] (The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West), accelerate (Use the
Accelerate Framework under OS X; Note, that the number of samples to be processed must be a base 2
exponent), kiss, (Kiss FFT), brenner Brenner Legacy FFT [auto]. FFTW can “learn” how to optimally
compute Fourier transforms on the current hardware and OS by computing several FFTs and measuring
their execution time. This so gained “Wisdom” will be stored in and reloaded from the file
fftw_wisdom_<hostname> in $GMT_USERDIR or, if $GMT_USERDIR is not writable, in the current
directory. To use this feature append planner_flag, which can be one of measure, patient, and
exhaustive; see FFTW reference for details. The default FFTW planner flag is estimate, i.e., pick
a (probably sub-optimal) plan quickly. Note: if you need a single transform of a given size only,
the one-time cost of the smart planner becomes significant. In that case, stick to the default
planner, estimate, based on heuristics.
GMT_HISTORY
Passes the history of past common command options via the gmt.history file. The different values
for this setting are: true, readonly, false, to either read and write to the gmt.history file,
only read, or not use the file at all [true].
GMT_INTERPOLANT
Determines if linear (linear), Akima’s spline (akima), natural cubic spline (cubic) or no
interpolation (none) should be used for 1-D interpolations in various programs [akima].
GMT_LANGUAGE
Language to use when plotting calendar and map items such as months and days, map annotations and
cardinal points. Select from:
• CN1 Simplified Chinese
• CN2 Traditional Chinese
• DE German
• DK Danish
• EH Basque
• ES Spanish
• FI Finnish
• FR French
• GR Greek
• HI Hawaiian
• HU Hungarian
• IE Irish
• IL Hebrew
• IS Icelandic
• IT Italian
• JP Japanese
• KR Korean
• NL Dutch
• NO Norwegian
• PL Polish
• PT Portuguese
• RU Russian
• SE Swedish
• SG Scottish Gaelic
• TO Tongan
• TR Turkish
• UK British English
• US US English
If your language is not supported, please examine the $GMT_SHAREDIR/localization/gmt_us.locale
file and make a similar file. Please submit it to the GMT Developers for official inclusion.
Custom language files can be placed in directories $GMT_SHAREDIR/localization or ~/.gmt. Note:
Some of these languages may require you to also change the PS_CHAR_ENCODING setting.
GMT_TRIANGULATE
Determines if we use the Watson [Default] or Shewchuk algorithm (if configured during
installation) for triangulation. Note that Shewchuk is required for operations involving Voronoi
constructions.
GMT_VERBOSE
(-V) Determines the level of verbosity used by GMT programs. Choose among 6 levels; each level
adds to the verbosity of the lower levels: quiet, nnormal (errors and warnings), compatibility
warnings, verbose progress reports, long verbose progress reports, debugging messages [c].
IO_COL_SEPARATOR
This setting determines what character will separate ASCII output data columns written by GMT.
Choose from tab, space, comma, and none [tab].
IO_GRIDFILE_FORMAT
Default file format for grids, with optional scale, offset and invalid value, written as
ff[+sscale][+ooffset][+ninvalid]. The 2-letter format indicator can be one of [abcegnrs][bsifd].
See grdconvert and Section grid-file-format of the GMT Technical Reference and Cookbook for more
information. You may the scale as a for auto-adjusting the scale and/or offset of packed integer
grids (=ID+sa is a shorthand for =ID+sa+oa). When invalid is omitted the appropriate value for
the given format is used (NaN or largest negative). [nf].
IO_GRIDFILE_SHORTHAND
If true, all grid file names are examined to see if they use the file extension shorthand
discussed in Section grid-file-format of the GMT Technical Reference and Cookbook. If false, no
filename expansion is done [false].
IO_HEADER
(-h) Specifies whether input/output ASCII files have header record(s) or not [false].
IO_LONLAT_TOGGLE
(-:) Set if the first two columns of input and output files contain (latitude,longitude) or (y,x)
rather than the expected (longitude,latitude) or (x,y). false means we have (x,y) both on input
and output. true means both input and output should be (y,x). IN means only input has (y,x),
while OUT means only output should be (y,x). [false].
IO_N_HEADER_RECS
Specifies how many header records to expect if -h is used [0]. Note: This will skip the specified
number of records regardless of what they are. Since any records starting with # is automatically
considered a header you will only specify a non-zero number in order to skip headers that do not
conform to that convention.
IO_NAN_RECORDS
Determines what happens when input records containing NaNs for x or y (and in some cases z) are
read. Choose between skip, which will simply report how many bad records were skipped, and pass
[Default], which will pass these records on to the calling programs. For most programs this will
result in output records with NaNs as well, but some will interpret these NaN records to indicate
gaps in a series; programs may then use that information to detect segmentation (if applicable).
IO_NC4_CHUNK_SIZE
Sets the default chunk size for the lat and lon dimension of the z variable. Very large chunk
sizes and sizes smaller than 128 should be avoided because they can lead to unexpectedly bad
performance. Note that a chunk of a single precision floating point variable of size 2896x2896
completely fills the chunk cache of 32MiB. Specify the chunk size for each dimension separated by
a comma, or auto for optimally chosen chunk sizes in the range [128,256). Setting
IO_NC4_CHUNK_SIZE will produce netCDF version 4 files, which can only be read with the netCDF 4
library, unless all dimensions are less than 128 or classic is specified for classic netCDF.
[auto]
IO_NC4_DEFLATION_LEVEL
Sets the compression level for netCDF4 files upon output. Values allowed are integers from 0 (no
compression) to 9 (maximum compression). Enabling a low compression level can dramatically improve
performance and reduce the size of certain data. While higher compression levels further reduce
the data size, they do so at the cost of extra processing time. This parameter does not apply to
classic netCDF files. [3]
IO_SEGMENT_BINARY
Determines how binary data records with all values set to NaN are interpreted. Such records are
considered to be encoded segment headers in binary files provided the number of columns equals or
exceeds the current setting of IO_SEGMENT_BINARY [2]. Specify 0 or “off” to deactivate the
segment header determination.
IO_SEGMENT_MARKER
This holds the character we expect to indicate a segment header in an incoming ASCII data or text
table [>]. If this marker should be different for output then append another character for the
output segment marker. The two characters must be separated by a comma. Two marker characters have
special meaning: B means “blank line” and will treat blank lines as initiating a new segment,
whereas N means “NaN record” and will treat records with all NaNs as initiating a new segment. If
you choose B or N for the output marker then the normal GMT segment header is replaced by a blank
or NaN record, respectively, and no segment header information is written. To use B or N as
regular segment markers you must escape them with a leading backslash.
MAP_ANNOT_MIN_ANGLE
If the angle between the map boundary and the annotation baseline is less than this minimum value
(in degrees), the annotation is not plotted (this may occur for certain oblique projections.) Give
a value in the range [0,90]. [20]
MAP_ANNOT_MIN_SPACING
If an annotation would be plotted less than this minimum distance from its closest neighbor, the
annotation is not plotted (this may occur for certain oblique projections.) [0p]
MAP_ANNOT_OBLIQUE
This integer is a sum of 6 bit flags (most of which only are relevant for oblique projections): If
bit 1 is set (1), annotations will occur wherever a gridline crosses the map boundaries, else
longitudes will be annotated on the lower and upper boundaries only, and latitudes will be
annotated on the left and right boundaries only. If bit 2 is set (2), then longitude annotations
will be plotted horizontally. If bit 3 is set (4), then latitude annotations will be plotted
horizontally. If bit 4 is set (8), then oblique tick-marks are extended to give a projection equal
to the specified tick length. If bit 5 is set (16), tick-marks will be drawn normal to the border
regardless of gridline angle. If bit 6 is set (32), then latitude annotations will be plotted
parallel to the border. To set a combination of these, add up the values in parentheses. [1].
MAP_ANNOT_OFFSET
Sets both MAP_ANNOT_OFFSET_PRIMARY and MAP_ANNOT_OFFSET_SECONDARY to the value specified. This
setting is not included in the gmt.conf file.
MAP_ANNOT_OFFSET_PRIMARY
Distance from end of tick-mark to start of annotation [5p].
MAP_ANNOT_OFFSET_SECONDARY
Distance from base of primary annotation to the top of the secondary annotation [5p] (Only applies
to time axes with both primary and secondary annotations).
MAP_ANNOT_ORTHO
Determines which axes will get their annotations (for linear projections) plotted orthogonally to
the axes. Combine any w, e, s, n, z (uppercase allowed as well). [we] (if nothing specified).
MAP_DEFAULT_PEN
Sets the default of all pens related to -W options. Prepend + to overrule the color of the
parameters MAP_GRID_PEN_PRIMARY, MAP_GRID_PEN_SECONDARY, MAP_FRAME_PEN, MAP_TICK_PEN_PRIMARY, and
MAP_TICK_PEN_SECONDARY by the color of MAP_DEFAULT_PEN [default,black].
MAP_DEGREE_SYMBOL
Determines what symbol is used to plot the degree symbol on geographic map annotations. Choose
between ring, degree, colon, or none [ring].
MAP_FRAME_AXES
Sets which axes to draw and annotate. Combine any uppercase W, E, S, N, Z to draw and annotate
west, east, south, north and/or vertical (perspective view only) axis. Use lower case to draw the
axis only, but not annotate. Add an optional + to draw a cube of axes in perspective view. [WESN].
MAP_FRAME_PEN
Pen attributes used to draw plain map frame [thicker,black].
MAP_FRAME_TYPE
Choose between inside, plain and fancy (thick boundary, alternating black/white frame; append +
for rounded corners) [fancy]. For some map projections (e.g., Oblique Mercator), plain is the only
option even if fancy is set as default. In general, fancy only applies to situations where the
projected x and y directions parallel the longitude and latitude directions (e.g., rectangular
projections, polar projections). For situations where all boundary ticks and annotations must be
inside the maps (e.g., for preparing geotiffs), chose inside. Finally, for Cartesian plots you
can also choose graph, which adds a vector to the end of each axis. This works best when you
reduce the number of axes plotted.
MAP_FRAME_WIDTH
Width (> 0) of map borders for fancy map frame [5p].
MAP_GRID_CROSS_SIZE
Sets both MAP_GRID_CROSS_SIZE_PRIMARY and MAP_GRID_CROSS_SIZE_SECONDARY to the value specified.
This setting is not included in the gmt.conf file.
MAP_GRID_CROSS_SIZE_PRIMARY
Size (>= 0) of grid cross at lon-lat intersections. 0 means draw continuous gridlines instead
[0p].
MAP_GRID_CROSS_SIZE_SECONDARY
Size (>= 0) of grid cross at secondary lon-lat intersections. 0 means draw continuous gridlines
instead [0p].
MAP_GRID_CROSS_PEN
Sets both MAP_GRID_CROSS_PEN_PRIMARY and MAP_GRID_CROSS_PEN_SECONDARY to the value specified.
This setting is not included in the gmt.conf file.
MAP_GRID_PEN_PRIMARY
Pen attributes used to draw primary grid lines in dpi units or points (append p) [default,black].
MAP_GRID_PEN_SECONDARY
Pen attributes used to draw secondary grid lines in dpi units or points (append p)
[thinner,black].
MAP_LABEL_OFFSET
Distance from base of axis annotations to the top of the axis label [8p].
MAP_LINE_STEP
Determines the maximum length (> 0) of individual straight line-segments when drawing arcuate
lines [0.75p]
MAP_LOGO
(-U) Specifies if a GMT logo with system timestamp should be plotted at the lower left corner of
the plot [false].
MAP_LOGO_POS
(-U) Sets the justification and the position of the logo/timestamp box relative to the current
plots lower left corner of the plot [BL/-54p/-54p].
MAP_ORIGIN_X
(-X) Sets the x-coordinate of the origin on the paper for a new plot [1i]. For an overlay, the
default offset is 0.
MAP_ORIGIN_Y
(-Y) Sets the y-coordinate of the origin on the paper for a new plot [1i]. For an overlay, the
default offset is 0.
MAP_POLAR_CAP
Controls the appearance of gridlines near the poles for all azimuthal projections and a few others
in which the geographic poles are plotted as points (Lambert Conic, Oblique Mercator, Hammer,
Mollweide, Sinusoidal and van der Grinten). Specify either none (in which case there is no special
handling) or pc_lat/pc_dlon. In that case, normal gridlines are only drawn between the latitudes
-pc_lat/+*pc_lat*, and above those latitudes the gridlines are spaced at the (presumably coarser)
pc_dlon interval; the two domains are separated by a small circle drawn at the pc_lat latitude
[85/90]. Note for r-theta (polar) projection where r = 0 is at the center of the plot the meaning
of the cap is reversed, i.e., the default 85/90 will draw a r = 5 radius circle at the center of
the map with less frequent radial lines there.
MAP_SCALE_HEIGHT
Sets the height (> 0) on the map of the map scale bars drawn by various programs [5p].
MAP_TICK_LENGTH
Sets both MAP_TICK_LENGTH_PRIMARY and MAP_TICK_LENGTH_SECONDARY to the value specified. This
setting is not included in the gmt.conf file.
MAP_TICK_LENGTH_PRIMARY
The length of a primary major/minor tick-marks [5p/2.5p]. If only the first value is set, the
second is assumed to be 50% of the first.
MAP_TICK_LENGTH_SECONDARY
The length of a secondary major/minor tick-marks [15p/3.75p]. If only the first value is set, the
second is assumed to be 25% of the first.
MAP_TICK_PEN
Sets both MAP_TICK_PEN_PRIMARY and MAP_TICK_PEN_SECONDARY to the value specified. This setting is
not included in the gmt.conf file.
MAP_TICK_PEN_PRIMARY
Pen attributes to be used for primary tick-marks in dpi units or points (append p)
[thinner,black].
MAP_TICK_PEN_SECONDARY
Pen attributes to be used for secondary tick-marks in dpi units or points (append p)
[thinner,black].
MAP_TITLE_OFFSET
Distance from top of axis annotations (or axis label, if present) to base of plot title [14p].
MAP_VECTOR_SHAPE
Determines the shape of the head of a vector. Normally (i.e., for vector_shape = 0), the head will
be triangular, but can be changed to an arrow (1) or an open V (2). Intermediate settings give
something in between. Negative values (up to -2) are allowed as well [0].
PROJ_AUX_LATITUDE
Only applies when geodesics are approximated by great circle distances on an equivalent sphere.
Select from authalic, geocentric, conformal, meridional, parametric, or none [authalic]. When not
none we convert any latitude used in the great circle calculation to the chosen auxiliary latitude
before doing the distance calculation. See also PROJ_MEAN_RADIUS.
PROJ_ELLIPSOID
The (case sensitive) name of the ellipsoid used for the map projections [WGS-84]. Choose among:
Airy: Applies to Great Britain (1830)
Airy-Ireland: Applies to Ireland in 1965 (1830)
Andrae: Applies to Denmark and Iceland (1876)
APL4.9: Appl. Physics (1965)
ATS77: Average Terrestrial System, Canada Maritime provinces (1977)
Australian: Applies to Australia (1965)
Bessel: Applies to Central Europe, Chile, Indonesia (1841)
Bessel-Namibia: Same as Bessel-Schwazeck (1841)
Bessel-NGO1948: Modified Bessel for NGO 1948 (1841)
Bessel-Schwazeck: Applies to Namibia (1841)
Clarke-1858: Clarke’s early ellipsoid (1858)
Clarke-1866: Applies to North America, the Philippines (1866)
Clarke-1866-Michigan: Modified Clarke-1866 for Michigan (1866)
Clarke-1880: Applies to most of Africa, France (1880)
Clarke-1880-Arc1950: Modified Clarke-1880 for Arc 1950 (1880)
Clarke-1880-IGN: Modified Clarke-1880 for IGN (1880)
Clarke-1880-Jamaica: Modified Clarke-1880 for Jamaica (1880)
Clarke-1880-Merchich: Modified Clarke-1880 for Merchich (1880)
Clarke-1880-Palestine: Modified Clarke-1880 for Palestine (1880)
CPM: Comm. des Poids et Mesures, France (1799)
Delambre: Applies to Belgium (1810)
Engelis: Goddard Earth Models (1985)
Everest-1830: India, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand (1830)
Everest-1830-Kalianpur: Modified Everest for Kalianpur (1956) (1830)
Everest-1830-Kertau: Modified Everest for Kertau, Malaysia & Singapore (1830)
Everest-1830-Pakistan: Modified Everest for Pakistan (1830)
Everest-1830-Timbalai: Modified Everest for Timbalai, Sabah Sarawak (1830)
Fischer-1960: Used by NASA for Mercury program (1960)
Fischer-1960-SouthAsia: Same as Modified-Fischer-1960 (1960)
Fischer-1968: Used by NASA for Mercury program (1968)
FlatEarth: As Sphere, but implies fast “Flat Earth” distance calculations (1984)
GRS-67: International Geodetic Reference System (1967)
GRS-80: International Geodetic Reference System (1980)
Hayford-1909: Same as the International 1924 (1909)
Helmert-1906: Applies to Egypt (1906)
Hough: Applies to the Marshall Islands (1960)
Hughes-1980: Hughes Aircraft Company for DMSP SSM/I grid products (1980)
IAG-75: International Association of Geodesy (1975)
Indonesian: Applies to Indonesia (1974)
International-1924: Worldwide use (1924)
International-1967: Worldwide use (1967)
Kaula: From satellite tracking (1961)
Krassovsky: Used in the (now former) Soviet Union (1940)
Lerch: For geoid modeling (1979)
Maupertius: Really old ellipsoid used in France (1738)
Mercury-1960: Same as Fischer-1960 (1960)
MERIT-83: United States Naval Observatory (1983)
Modified-Airy: Same as Airy-Ireland (1830)
Modified-Fischer-1960: Applies to Singapore (1960)
Modified-Mercury-1968: Same as Fischer-1968 (1968)
NWL-10D: Naval Weapons Lab (Same as WGS-72) (1972)
NWL-9D: Naval Weapons Lab (Same as WGS-66) (1966)
OSU86F: Ohio State University (1986)
OSU91A: Ohio State University (1991)
Plessis: Old ellipsoid used in France (1817)
SGS-85: Soviet Geodetic System (1985)
South-American: Applies to South America (1969)
Sphere: The mean radius in WGS-84 (for spherical/plate tectonics applications) (1984)
Struve: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (1860)
TOPEX: Used commonly for altimetry (1990)
Walbeck: First least squares solution by Finnish astronomer (1819)
War-Office: Developed by G. T. McCaw (1926)
WGS-60: World Geodetic System (1960)
WGS-66: World Geodetic System (1966)
WGS-72: World Geodetic System (1972)
WGS-84: World Geodetic System [Default] (1984)
Moon: Moon (IAU2000) (2000)
Mercury: Mercury (IAU2000) (2000)
Venus: Venus (IAU2000) (2000)
Mars: Mars (IAU2000) (2000)
Jupiter: Jupiter (IAU2000) (2000)
Saturn: Saturn (IAU2000) (2000)
Uranus: Uranus (IAU2000) (2000)
Neptune: Neptune (IAU2000) (2000)
Pluto: Pluto (IAU2000) (2000)
Note that for some global projections, GMT may use a spherical approximation of the ellipsoid chosen,
setting the flattening to zero, and using a mean radius. A warning will be given when this happens. If
a different ellipsoid name than those mentioned here is given, GMT will attempt to parse the name to
extract the semi-major axis (a in m) and the flattening. Formats allowed are:
a implies a zero flattening
a,inv_f where inv_f is the inverse flattening
a,b=b where b is the semi-minor axis (in m)
a,f=f where f is the flattening
This way a custom ellipsoid (e.g., those used for other planets) may be used. Further note that
coordinate transformations in mapproject can also specify specific datums; see the mapproject man page
for further details and how to view ellipsoid and datum parameters.
PROJ_GEODESIC
Selects the algorithm to use for geodesic calculations. Choose between Vincenty [Default], Rudoe,
or Andoyer. The Andoyer algorithm is only approximate (to within a few tens of meters) but is up
to 5 times faster. The Rudoe is given for legacy purposes. The default Vincenty is accurate to
about 0.5 mm.
PROJ_LENGTH_UNIT
Sets the unit length. Choose between cm, inch, or point [c (or i)]. Note that, in GMT, one point
is defined as 1/72 inch (the PostScript definition), while it is often defined as 1/72.27 inch in
the typesetting industry. There is no universal definition.
PROJ_MEAN_RADIUS
Applies when geodesics are approximated by great circle distances on an equivalent sphere or when
surface areas are computed. Select from mean (R_1), authalic (R_2), volumetric (R_3), meridional,
or quadratic [authalic].
PROJ_SCALE_FACTOR
Changes the default map scale factor used for the Polar Stereographic [0.9996], UTM [0.9996], and
Transverse Mercator [1] projections in order to minimize areal distortion. Provide a new
scale-factor or leave as default.
PS_CHAR_ENCODING
(static) Names the eight bit character set being used for text in files and in command line
parameters. This allows GMT to ensure that the PostScript output generates the correct characters
on the plot.. Choose from Standard, Standard+, ISOLatin1, ISOLatin1+, and ISO-8859-x (where x is
in the ranges [1,10] or [13,15]). See Appendix F for details [ISOLatin1+ (or Standard+)].
PS_COLOR_MODEL
Determines whether PostScript output should use RGB, HSV, CMYK, or GRAY when specifying color
[rgb]. Note if HSV is selected it does not apply to images which in that case uses RGB. When
selecting GRAY, all colors will be converted to gray scale using YIQ (television) conversion.
PS_COMMENTS
(static) If true we will issue comments in the PostScript file that explain the logic of
operations. These are useful if you need to edit the file and make changes; otherwise you can set
it to false which yields a somewhat slimmer PostScript file [false].
PS_IMAGE_COMPRESS
Determines if PostScript images are compressed using the Run-Length Encoding scheme (rle),
Lempel-Ziv-Welch compression (lzw), DEFLATE compression (deflate[,level]), or not at all (none)
[deflate,5]. When specifying deflate, the compression level (1–9) may optionally be appended.
PS_LINE_CAP
Determines how the ends of a line segment will be drawn. Choose among a butt cap (default) where
there is no projection beyond the end of the path, a round cap where a semicircular arc with
diameter equal to the line-width is drawn around the end points, and square cap where a half
square of size equal to the line-width extends beyond the end of the path [butt].
PS_LINE_JOIN
Determines what happens at kinks in line segments. Choose among a miter join where the outer edges
of the strokes for the two segments are extended until they meet at an angle (as in a picture
frame; if the angle is too acute, a bevel join is used instead, with threshold set by
PS_MITER_LIMIT), round join where a circular arc is used to fill in the cracks at the kinks, and
bevel join which is a miter join that is cut off so kinks are triangular in shape [miter].
PS_MEDIA
Sets the physical format of the current plot paper [a4 (or letter)]. The following formats (and
their widths and heights in points) are recognized (Additional site-specific formats may be
specified in the gmt_custom_media.conf file in $GMT_SHAREDIR/conf or ~/.gmt; see that file for
details):
Media width height
• A0 2380 3368
• A1 1684 2380
• A2 1190 1684
• A3 842 1190
• A4 595 842
• A5 421 595
• A6 297 421
• A7 210 297
• A8 148 210
• A9 105 148
• A10 74 105
• B0 2836 4008
• B1 2004 2836
• B2 1418 2004
• B3 1002 1418
• B4 709 1002
• B5 501 709
• archA 648 864
• archB 864 1296
• archC 1296 1728
• archD 1728 2592
• archE 2592 3456
• flsa 612 936
• halfletter 396 612
• statement 396 612
• note 540 720
• letter 612 792
• legal 612 1008
• 11x17 792 1224
• tabloid 792 1224
• ledger 1224 792
For a completely custom format (e.g., for large format plotters) you may also specify WxH, where W
and H are in points unless you append a unit to each dimension (c, i, m or p [Default]).
PS_MITER_LIMIT
Sets the threshold angle in degrees (integer in range [0,180]) used for mitered joins only. When
the angle between joining line segments is smaller than the threshold the corner will be bevelled
instead of mitered. The default threshold is 35 degrees. Setting the threshold angle to 0 implies
the PostScript default of about 11 degrees. Setting the threshold angle to 180 causes all joins
to be beveled.
PS_PAGE_COLOR
Sets the color of the imaging background, i.e., the paper [white].
PS_PAGE_ORIENTATION
(* -P) Sets the orientation of the page. Choose portrait or landscape [landscape].
PS_SCALE_X
Global x-scale (> 0) to apply to plot-coordinates before plotting. Normally used to shrink the
entire output down to fit a specific height/width [1.0].
PS_SCALE_Y
Global y-scale (> 0) to apply to plot-coordinates before plotting. Normally used to shrink the
entire output down to fit a specific height/width [1.0].
PS_TRANSPARENCY
Sets the transparency mode to use when preparing PS for rendering to PDF. Choose from Color,
ColorBurn, ColorDodge, Darken, Difference, Exclusion, HardLight, Hue, Lighten, Luminosity,
Multiply, Normal, Overlay, Saturation, SoftLight, and Screen [Normal].
TIME_EPOCH
Specifies the value of the calendar and clock at the origin (zero point) of relative time units
(see TIME_UNIT). It is a string of the form yyyy-mm-ddT[hh:mm:ss] (Gregorian) or
yyyy-Www-ddT[hh:mm:ss] (ISO) Default is 1970-01-01T00:00:00, the origin of the UNIX time epoch.
TIME_INTERVAL_FRACTION
Determines if partial intervals at the start and end of an axis should be annotated. If the range
of the partial interval exceeds the specified fraction of the normal interval stride we will place
the annotation centered on the partial interval [0.5].
TIME_IS_INTERVAL
Used when input calendar data should be truncated and adjusted to the middle of the relevant
interval. In the following discussion, the unit u can be one of these time units: (y year, o
month, u ISO week, d day, h hour, m minute, and s second). TIME_IS_INTERVAL can have any of the
following three values: (1) OFF [Default]. No adjustment, time is decoded as given. (2) +nu.
Activate interval adjustment for input by truncate to previous whole number of n units and then
center time on the following interval. (3) -nu. Same, but center time on the previous interval.
For example, with TIME_IS_INTERVAL = +1o, an input data string like 1999-12 will be interpreted to
mean 1999-12-15T12:00:00.0 (exactly middle of December), while if TIME_IS_INTERVAL = off then that
date is interpreted to mean 1999-12-01T00:00:00.0 (start of December) [off].
TIME_REPORT
Controls if a time-stamp should be issued at start of all progress reports. Choose among
TIMER_CLOCK (absolute time stamp), TIMER_ELAPSED (time since start of session), or TIMER_NONE
[Default].
TIME_SYSTEM
Shorthand for a combination of TIME_EPOCH and TIME_UNIT, specifying which time epoch the relative
time refers to and what the units are. Choose from one of the preset systems below (epoch and
units are indicated):
JD -4713-11-25T12:00:00 d (Julian Date)
MJD 1858-11-17T00:00:00 d (Modified Julian Date)
J2000 2000-01-01T12:00:00 d (Astronomical time)
S1985 1985-01-01T00:00:00 s (Altimetric time)
UNIX 1970-01-01T00:00:00 s (UNIX time)
RD0001 0001-01-01T00:00:00 s
RATA 0000-12-31T00:00:00 d
This parameter is not stored in the gmt.conf file but is translated to the respective values of
TIME_EPOCH and TIME_UNIT.
TIME_UNIT
Specifies the units of relative time data since epoch (see TIME_EPOCH). Choose y (year - assumes
all years are 365.2425 days), o (month - assumes all months are of equal length y/12), d (day), h
(hour), m (minute), or s (second) [s].
TIME_WEEK_START
When weeks are indicated on time axes, this parameter determines the first day of the week for
Gregorian calendars. (The ISO weekly calendar always begins weeks with Monday.) [Monday (or
Sunday)].
TIME_Y2K_OFFSET_YEAR
When 2-digit years are used to represent 4-digit years (see various FORMAT_DATEs),
TIME_Y2K_OFFSET_YEAR gives the first year in a 100-year sequence. For example, if
TIME_Y2K_OFFSET_YEAR is 1729, then numbers 29 through 99 correspond to 1729 through 1799, while
numbers 00 through 28 correspond to 1800 through 1828. [1950].
SEE ALSO
gmt , gmtdefaults , gmtcolors , gmtget , gmtset
COPYRIGHT
2018, P. Wessel, W. H. F. Smith, R. Scharroo, J. Luis, and F. Wobbe
5.4.3 Jan 03, 2018 GMT.CONF(5gmt)