Removing just one layer in pyplot

Question

I'm using matplotlibs basemap to plot some wind barbs on top of a pcolor over multiple days using a loop. I can easily change the pcolor by using set_data() but now I'm not sure how to replace the barbs.

Is there a way to just remove the barbs without clearing the entire figure?

Answer 1

When you create the barbs object save the reference it returns and use it's remove function when you are done with it. The draw forces the canvas to re-draw with out the barbs. Assume that m is the basemap object.

 barbs1,barbs2 = m.barbs(...)
 # some code
 barbs1.remove()
 barbs2.remove()
 plt.draw()