A common useful display technique for digital terrain topographic maps is to have a shaded relief layer than can be overlaid as a layer on a altitude contour map to more easily visualize the peaks and valleys.

It seems to me that the same thing could be done for upper air constant-pressure-height or surface pressure charts to easily see the highs and lows and relative iso-height/pressure contour levels. This doesn't seem to be done within the meteorology community, but I wonder why not? A "ridge" or a "trough" would take on intuitive visual meaning in such a depiction, as would the relative depths of cutoff lows, etc., aiding in insight into the general weather pattern. Maybe it's already done somewhere? Any insight would be appreciated.

Jeff Harrang

Example (courtesy of Caltopo):