Color-mapping a 3D quiver function using matplotlib

Question

I have created a lovely 3D displacement vector field in python using Matplotlib and I am happy with the results. However, visually it is not very east to see the magnitude o

Answer 1

You have to calculate wind speed (or another array which you use as magnitude) then add this array to quiver function:

import matplotlib as mpl 
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from numpy import arange,meshgrid,sqrt

u,v = arange(-50,51,10),arange(-50,51,10)
u,v = meshgrid(u,v)
M = sqrt(u*u+v*v) # magnitude
x,y = u,v
qq=plt.quiver(x,y,u,v,M,cmap=plt.cm.jet)
plt.colorbar(qq, cmap=plt.cm.jet)
plt.show()