Longitude Range

QUESTION: My longitude values range from -180 to 180. To be consistent with some other programs, I need them to range from 0 to 360. I can't just add 180 to each longitude value, since that will rotate my coordinate system by 180 degrees. What is the proper algorithm to use to make this conversion?

ANSWER: The answer is supplied by Ken Bowman in a 2 May 2005 article on the IDL newsgroup.

The proper way to convert the longitude values (assumed to be in the variable lon) that are in the range -180 to 180 to the range 0 to 360 (in the variable t_lon) is like this:

   t_lon = (lon + 360.0) MOD 360.0

The reverse transformation (converting data in the range 0 to 360, tlon, to the range -180 to 180) is done like this:

   lon = t_lon - (LONG(t_lon )/180)*360.0

Another formula, offered by Craig Markwardt to do the same thing, is this:

   lon = ((t_lon + 180) MOD 360) - 180

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