Isosurface Contours

This example demonstrates add_contour() — the method for extracting and rendering an isosurface from a 3-D spherical scalar field.

Internally, add_contour() builds a SphericalMesh from the supplied coordinate arrays and scalar data, then calls pyvista.DataSet.contour() to extract the isosurface at the requested value before converting the result to Cartesian coordinates for rendering. Multiple isovalues can be passed as an array.

import numpy as np
from pyvisual import Plot3d

Magnetic Current Sheet

The heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is the surface in the corona and heliosphere where the radial magnetic field \(B_r\) reverses polarity. In a pure dipole, this surface is the flat equatorial plane; in a tilted or warped dipole, it becomes the “ballerina skirt” structure traced by spacecraft in situ measurements.

Below, a synthetic tilted-dipole field is constructed by adding a small azimuthal perturbation to a pure dipole \(B_r \propto \cos\theta\). The \(B_r = 0\) isosurface then reveals the wavy current sheet.

r = np.linspace(1, 5, 30)
t = np.linspace(0, np.pi, 60)
p = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 120)
R, T, P = np.meshgrid(r, t, p, indexing='ij')

# Tilted dipole: pure cos(theta) plus a longitude-dependent tilt
Br = np.cos(T) + 0.4 * np.cos(P) * np.sin(T)

plotter = Plot3d(off_screen=True, window_size=(500, 500))
plotter.show_axes()
plotter.add_sun()
plotter.add_contour(r, t, p, Br, isovalue=0, color='white', opacity=0.8)
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Contour with Radial Shell Context

Overlaying the isosurface on a radial shell of \(B_r\) at \(r = 1\,R_\odot\) provides context: the shell shows the signed field strength at the solar surface while the white isosurface traces the polarity-inversion boundary through the corona.

plotter = Plot3d(off_screen=True, window_size=(500, 500))
plotter.show_axes()
plotter.add_sun()
plotter.add_2d_slice(r[0], t, p, Br[0], cmap='seismic', clim=(-1, 1),
                     show_scalar_bar=False)
plotter.add_contour(r, t, p, Br, isovalue=0, color='white', opacity=0.9)
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene

Multiple Isovalues

Passing an array to isovalue extracts several isosurfaces in a single call. Here three nested surfaces are extracted at \(B_r \in \{-0.3, 0, +0.3\}\), colored by value to distinguish the positive-polarity, neutral, and negative-polarity boundaries.

plotter = Plot3d(off_screen=True, window_size=(500, 500))
plotter.show_axes()
plotter.add_sun()
plotter.add_contour(r, t, p, Br, isovalue=[-0.3, 0.0, 0.3],
                    cmap='seismic', clim=(-0.3, 0.3), opacity=0.7)
plotter.show()

Static Scene

Interactive Scene