Question

I’m using a loop to generate vector fields on a basemap as such:

for i in range(365):
     barbs = m.quiver(x, y, u[i, :], v[i, :], scale = 100)
     plt.draw()
     barbs.remove()

The program takes drastically more memory with every loop. Is there a way to get around this? Such as deleting barbs entirely at the end of each loop?

Answer 1

If you only need to reset the (u,v) components you can use barb.set_UVC(newU,newV,newC) inside the loop.

barbs = m.quiver(x, y, u[0, :], v[0, :], scale = 100)
for i in range(365):
     barbs.set_UVC(u[i,:],v[i,:])
     #save the figure or something

Also see Python: copy basemap or remove data from figure, Visualization of 3D-numpy-array frame by frame,

If you are trying to create an animation, look in to the animation module of matplotlib, it takes care of a lot of the details for you.