Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17634)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/applyoptions.py	(revision 17635)
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
+import numpy as npy
+
 try:
 	from matplotlib.ticker import MaxNLocator
@@ -153,6 +155,8 @@
 	if options.exist('clim'):
 		lims=options.getfieldvalue('clim')
+	elif options.exist('caxis'):
+		lims=options.getfieldvalue('caxis')
 		if len(lims)!=2:
-			print 'WARNING: clim should be passed as a list of length 2'
+			print 'WARNING: clim/caxis should be passed as a list of length 2'
 		else:
 			p.clim(lims[0],lims[1])
@@ -167,5 +171,7 @@
 	#}}}
 
-	#colormap
+	#colormap {{{
+	cmap=options.getfieldvalue('colormap',mpl.cm.gnuplot2)
+	#}}}
 
 	#wrapping
@@ -180,9 +186,15 @@
 			cax = divider.new_horizontal("5%", pad=0.05, axes_class=mpl.axes.Axes)
 			fig.add_axes(cax) 
-			cmap = mpl.cm.jet
 			norm = mpl.colors.Normalize(vmin=lims[0], vmax=lims[1])
 			cb = mpl.colorbar.ColorbarBase(cax, cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
 		else:
-			cb=p.colorbar()
+			# build custom colorbar (does not yet allow customizing the location)
+			fig = p.gcf()
+			ax = p.gca()
+			divider = make_axes_locatable(ax)
+			cax = divider.new_horizontal("5%", pad=0.05, axes_class=mpl.axes.Axes)
+			fig.add_axes(cax) 
+			norm = mpl.colors.Normalize(vmin=npy.min(data.flatten()), vmax=npy.max(data.flatten()))
+			cb = mpl.colorbar.ColorbarBase(cax, cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
 		cb.locator=MaxNLocator(nbins=5) # default 5 ticks
 		cb.update_ticks()
Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plot_unit.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plot_unit.py	(revision 17634)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/plot/plot_unit.py	(revision 17635)
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 try:
 	import pylab as p
+	import matplotlib as mpl
 except ImportError:
 	print "could not import pylab, matplotlib has not been installed, no plotting capabilities enabled"
@@ -21,4 +22,7 @@
 	colorlevels=options.getfieldvalue('colorlevels',256)
 
+	#colormap
+	cmap=options.getfieldvalue('colormap',mpl.cm.gnuplot2)
+
 	if datatype==1:
 		#element plot
@@ -32,5 +36,5 @@
 		#node plot
 		if is2d:
-			p.tricontourf(x,y,elements,data,colorlevels)
+			p.tricontourf(x,y,elements,data,colorlevels,cmap=cmap)
 			if edgecolor != 'None':
 				p.triplot(x,y,elements,color=edgecolor)