diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 3eb91b66..667be1b2 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ Common flags:
 Required environment (see `src/lib/config.py`):
 - `PSC_PLOT_DATA_DIR` — directory containing the data files (must be set; `set_data_dir.sh <dir>` is a convenience script that exports it)
 - `PSC_PLOT_FFMPEG_BIN` — optional, falls back to `which ffmpeg`; needed for saving animations
-- `PSC_PLOT_DASK_NUM_WORKERS` — optional, defaults to 1
-- `PSC_PLOT_DASK_CHUNK_SIZE` — optional, rows per dask partition for particle loads (default 1_000_000); reduce to bound peak memory on large files                         
+- `PSC_PLOT_DASK_NUM_WORKERS` — optional, defaults to `os.cpu_count()`
+- `PSC_PLOT_DASK_CHUNK_SIZE` — optional, rows per dask partition for particle loads (default 1_000_000); reduce to bound peak memory on large files
+- `PSC_PLOT_DASK_SCHEDULER` — optional; if set to `"processes"`, uses dask's processes scheduler; if `"distributed"`, spins up a `dask.distributed.LocalCluster` with `n_workers=dask_num_workers, threads_per_worker=1, processes=True`. Unset = dask default (threads).
 
 `PSC_PLOT_DATA_DIR` is read at module-import time (`CONFIG = PscPlotConfig._load()` in `src/lib/config.py`), so it must be set in the environment before any `lib.*` import. In tests, `tests/conftest.py` sets it before importing `lib`.
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 214b2182..c1f2cfdf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "xrft>=1.0",
     "pandas>=2.0",
     "dask>=2024.0",
+    "distributed>=2024.0",
     "h5py>=3.0",
     "tables>=3.10",
     "scipy>=1.10",
diff --git a/src/lib/cli.py b/src/lib/cli.py
index a821ed9b..926fa935 100644
--- a/src/lib/cli.py
+++ b/src/lib/cli.py
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ def _resolve_save_format(args: Args) -> SaveFormat | None:
 
 def main():
     dask.config.set(num_workers=CONFIG.dask_num_workers)
+    if CONFIG.dask_scheduler == "distributed":
+        from dask.distributed import Client, LocalCluster
+
+        cluster = LocalCluster(n_workers=CONFIG.dask_num_workers, threads_per_worker=1, processes=True)
+        Client(cluster)
+    elif CONFIG.dask_scheduler:
+        dask.config.set(scheduler=CONFIG.dask_scheduler)
 
     args = parsing.get_parsed_args()
     # resolve format BEFORE applying pipeline in order to fail early
diff --git a/src/lib/config.py b/src/lib/config.py
index 388a4686..820c664f 100644
--- a/src/lib/config.py
+++ b/src/lib/config.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import os
 import shutil
-import warnings
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Callable, Self
@@ -9,6 +8,7 @@
 _FFMPEG_BIN_KEY = "PSC_PLOT_FFMPEG_BIN"
 _DASK_NUM_WORKERS_KEY = "PSC_PLOT_DASK_NUM_WORKERS"
 _DASK_CHUNK_SIZE_KEY = "PSC_PLOT_DASK_CHUNK_SIZE"
+_DASK_SCHEDULER_KEY = "PSC_PLOT_DASK_SCHEDULER"
 
 
 def parse_optional[T](s: str | None, parser: Callable[[str], T]) -> T | None:
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ class PscPlotConfig:
     ffmpeg_bin: Path | None
     dask_num_workers: int
     dask_chunk_size: int
+    dask_scheduler: str | None
 
     @classmethod
     def _load(cls) -> Self:
@@ -35,15 +36,15 @@ def _load(cls) -> Self:
 
         dask_num_workers = parse_optional(os.environ.get(_DASK_NUM_WORKERS_KEY), int)
         if not dask_num_workers:
-            dask_num_workers = 1
-            message = f"Number of dask workers not specified; defaulting to {dask_num_workers}. Set {_DASK_NUM_WORKERS_KEY} to specify."
-            warnings.warn(message)
+            dask_num_workers = os.cpu_count() or 1
 
         dask_chunk_size = parse_optional(os.environ.get(_DASK_CHUNK_SIZE_KEY), int)
         if not dask_chunk_size:
             dask_chunk_size = 1_000_000
 
-        return cls(data_dir, ffmpeg_bin, dask_num_workers, dask_chunk_size)
+        dask_scheduler = os.environ.get(_DASK_SCHEDULER_KEY) or None
+
+        return cls(data_dir, ffmpeg_bin, dask_num_workers, dask_chunk_size, dask_scheduler)
 
 
 CONFIG = PscPlotConfig._load()
diff --git a/src/lib/data/loaders/field_bp.py b/src/lib/data/loaders/field_bp.py
index 3b9765d6..2f1a3836 100644
--- a/src/lib/data/loaders/field_bp.py
+++ b/src/lib/data/loaders/field_bp.py
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ def _get_path(prefix: str, step: int) -> Path:
     return CONFIG.data_dir / f"{prefix}.{step:09}.bp"
 
 
+def _decode_psc(ds):
+    return pscpy.decode_psc(ds, ["e", "i"])
+
+
 @loader
 class FieldLoaderBp(Loader):
     @classmethod
@@ -34,7 +38,8 @@ def get_data(self) -> Field:
             paths=[_get_path(self.prefix, step) for step in self.steps],
             combine="nested",
             concat_dim="t",
-            preprocess=lambda ds: pscpy.decode_psc(ds, ["e", "i"]),
+            preprocess=_decode_psc,
+            parallel=True,
         )
         if self.active_key is not None:
             derive_field_variable(ds, self.active_key, self.prefix)
diff --git a/src/lib/derived_particle_variables/derived_particle_variable.py b/src/lib/derived_particle_variables/derived_particle_variable.py
index f400ef74..060b4550 100644
--- a/src/lib/derived_particle_variables/derived_particle_variable.py
+++ b/src/lib/derived_particle_variables/derived_particle_variable.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 import pandas as pd
 
+from lib import var_info_registry
 from lib.data.data_with_attrs import List
 
 __all__ = ["derived_particle_variable", "derive_particle_variable", "DERIVED_PARTICLE_VARIABLES"]
@@ -25,7 +26,10 @@ def __init__(
 
     def assign_to(self, data: List) -> List:
         df = data.data
-        return data.assign_data(df.assign(**{self.name: self.derive(*(df[base_var_name] for base_var_name in self.base_var_names))}))
+
+        info = var_info_registry.lookup("prt", self.name)
+        new_var_infos = {**data.metadata.var_infos, self.name: info}
+        return data.assign_data(df.assign(**{self.name: self.derive(*(df[base_var_name] for base_var_name in self.base_var_names))})).assign_metadata(var_infos=new_var_infos)
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"{self.__class__.__name__}(({', '.join(self.base_var_names)}) -> {self.name}: {self.derive!r})"
diff --git a/tests/baseline/test_hamscan.png b/tests/baseline/test_hamscan.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4a2607ee
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/baseline/test_hamscan.png differ
diff --git a/tests/test_plots.py b/tests/test_plots.py
index 3881d74c..bd8e4782 100644
--- a/tests/test_plots.py
+++ b/tests/test_plots.py
@@ -151,6 +151,12 @@ def test_static_scatter_bp():
     return make_plot("prt.e -i t=-1 -v y z time= --grid y=0.0625 z=0.0625".split(), data_dir="test-3d")
 
 
+@pytest.mark.mpl_image_compare(**MPL_KWARGS)
+def test_hamscan():
+    """Archetypal scan for hammerhead distributions ("hams")."""
+    return make_plot("prt.e -i t=-1 --derive pzx --bin y py=20 pzx=20 t= -v py pzx time=y --compute".split(), data_dir="test-2d")
+
+
 # --- Particle moments ---