McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM McIDAS-V User's Guide Version 1.6 http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 1 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Table of Contents What is McIDAS-V? Overview Release Notes System Requirements Downloading and Running McIDAS-V Data Formats and Sources Documentation and Support License and Copyright Getting Started Displaying Satellite Imagery Displaying Hyperspectral Satellite Imagery Using HYDRA Displaying Level II Radar Imagery Displaying Level III Radar Imagery Displaying Surface and Upper Air Point Data Displaying RAOB Sounding Data Displaying Gridded Data Displaying Fronts Displaying Local Files Displaying Files from a URL Using the Globe Display Data Explorer Data Sources Choosing Satellite Imagery Choosing Hyperspectral Data Choosing NEXRAD Level II Radar Data Choosing NEXRAD Level III Radar Data Choosing Point Data Choosing Upper Air Sounding Data Choosing Gridded Data Choosing Front Positions Choosing Data on Disk Choosing Cataloged Data Choosing a URL Choosing Flat File Data Field Selector Data Sources Fields Displays Data Subset Layer Controls Gridded Data Displays Plan View Controls Flow Display Controls 3D Flow Display Controls Value Plot Controls Vertical Cross Section Controls 3D Surface Controls Volume Rendering Controls Point Volume Controls Sounding Controls Hovmoller Controls Grid Trajectory Controls Satellite and Radar Displays Image Controls HYDRA Layer Controls MultiSpectral Display Controls Linear Combination Controls 4 Channel Combination Controls WSR-88D Level III Controls Level 2 Radar Layer Controls http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 2 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Radar Sweep View Controls Radar RHI Display Controls Radar Cross Section Controls Radar CAPPI Display Controls Radar Volume Scan Controls Radar Isosurface Controls Probes Data Probe/Time Series Time/Height Controls Vertical Profile Controls Data Transect Controls Mapping Controls Map Controls Topography Controls Shapefile Controls Observation and Location Controls Point Data Plot Controls Point Data List Controls Gridded Point Data Sounding Display Controls Front Controls Location Controls Track Controls Miscellaneous Controls Scatter Analysis Controls Grid Table Controls Omni Controls Jython Controls Contour Properties Editor Properties Dialog Color Scale Charts Ensemble Grid Controls Main Display Window Menu Bar Main Toolbar Drag and Drop Tabs Display Menus Properties Dialog Visibility Animation Time Animation Legend Modify the Color Bar Interactively Status Bar Zooming, Panning and Rotating Transect Views Display Controls Range Ring Controls Range and Bearing Controls Transect Drawing Controls Drawing Controls Location Indicator Controls Web Map Server(WMS)/Background Image Controls Image and Movie Capture Controls Timeline Controls Tools User Preferences General Preferences Display Window Preferences Toolbar Options Preferences Data Sources Preferences ADDE Servers Preferences Available Displays Preferences http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 3 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Navigation Controls Preferences Formats and Data Preferences Advanced Preferences Remote ADDE Data Manager Local ADDE Data Manager Weather Text Product Controls Storm Track Controls Color Table Editor Layout Model Editor Parameter Alias Editor Parameter Defaults Editor Parameter Groups Editor Projection Manager Data Analysis Formulas Derived Data Native Formulas Description of Formulas - Maps Description of Formulas - Grids Description of Formulas - Miscellaneous Description of Formulas - Image Filters Description of Formulas - Export Description of Formulas - Imagery Jython Methods Jython Shell Jython Library Display Settings Plugin Creator Plugin Manager Miscellaneous Bundles Time Matching Adaptive Resolution Scripting Create an Object Create an Object - Imagery Create an Object - Grids Modify the Display Object Modify the Layer Object Modify the Layer Object - Point Data Analysis Save the Display Environment Sharing Site Configuration Plugin Jar Files Configuring Image Defaults Adding in New GRIB Tables McIDAS-V Special Data Formats Text (ASCII) Point Data Format Location XML Files Image XML Files Image Movie Files XGRF Symbols Actions Command Line Arguments Data Source Types Performance Tuning Building McIDAS-V from Source Message Console Support Request Form Appendices Examples of Display Types http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 4 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Plan Views 3D Surface Cross Sections Probes Hovmoller Display Imagery Radar - Level II WSR-88D Data Displays Soundings Flow Displays Observations Miscellaneous Display Types FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions General FAQ Using McIDAS-V FAQ Data FAQ Video Cards FAQ Common Installation Errors FAQ Common Run-Time Errors FAQ Reporting Problems FAQ McIDAS-X Commands in McIDAS-V http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 5 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM What is McIDAS-V? McIDAS-V is a free, open source, visualization and data analysis software package that is the next generation in SSEC's 40 year history of sophisticated McIDAS software packages. McIDAS-V displays weather satellite (including hyperspectral) and other geophysical data in 2- and 3- dimensions. McIDAS-V can also analyze and manipulate the data with its powerful mathematical functions. McIDAS-V is built on SSEC's VisAD and Unidata's IDV libraries, and an integrated version of SSEC's HYDRA software package. Image 1: The McIDAS-V Main Display Window This McIDAS-V User's Guide is currently under construction. Once completed, it will describe using the features available in the McIDAS-V application. For a brief description about getting started using McIDAS-V and making displays of common data available, refer to the Getting Started section. This Guide was originally developed at the Unidata Program Center by the developers of the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). The first version of the McIDAS-V User's Guide was created from the IDV User's Guide (September 2007) and has since been updated to reflect the changes that have been made to McIDAS-V, IDV, and VisAD (see the Release Notes for details on recent changes). Development of McIDAS-V is ongoing at the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The development is driven by the needs of the community of users. Suggestions, comments, and collaboration are welcomed and encouraged. See Documentation and Support for more information. The goal is to provide new and innovative ways of displaying and analyzing Earth science data, as well as provide common displays that many of its users have come to expect. How can I get McIDAS-V? See Downloading and Running McIDAS-V for information on how to download McIDAS-V, install McIDAS-V, and run McIDAS-V. For additional information, refer to the latest McIDAS-V training materials. http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 6 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Overview Release Notes System Requirements Dowloading and Running McIDAS-V Data Formats and Sources Documentation and Support License and Copyright http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 7 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM Release Notes The items below list the changes in McIDAS-V for the most recent release version. For the release notes of previous versions, see Previous Release Notes. For a current list of known bugs and requested enhancements, please see the Open Inquiries Report from the McIDAS-V Inquiry System. To view the items currently under development, see the list of Critical Bugs and Critical Development Items. McIDAS-V Version 1.6 The items below reflect the changes since the 1.5 release. Documentation Changes McIDAS-V User's Guide Display Changes Flow Display Controls 3D Flow Display Controls New Transect Tab and Window Types Automatic Depth Offsetting Data Changes Himawari Local Server INSAT-3D Local Servers GOES-16 ABI Local Servers Listing of Fields from a NetCDF Data Source Other Changes Julian Date with Archive Servers List All Images Button Animated GIF Global Color Palette Option Scripting Java Version Updates to Installation GUI Support for AWIPS II cmap Colormaps Under Development Suomi NPP Chooser Documentation Changes McIDAS-V User's Guide Updated the McIDAS-V User's Guide to contain new features and more detailed content. Display Changes Flow Display Controls Added new display types for Vector Colored by Speed, Vector Colored by Another Parameter, Wind Barb Colored by Speed, and Wind Barb Colored by Another Parameter. Additionally, if four or more timesteps are displayed, new features in the Layer Controls allow for changing the display to trajectories or curly vectors. If trajectories are chosen, then there are four options for how the trajectories are drawn. These options are Line, Cylinder, Ribbon, and Deform Ribbon. Curly vectors are the same as regular vectors, with the exception that they are multiple timesteps in http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/doc/mcv_guide/1.6/combine_all.php Page 8 of 473 McIDAS-V User's Guide 7/15/16, 3:26 PM length. 3D Flow Display Controls Added new display types for 3D Volume Vector, 3D Volume Vector Colored by Speed, 3D Volume Vector Colored by Another Parameter, and 3D Volume Trajectory. For these display types, there is the option to switch between displaying vectors and trajectories. When trajectories is chosen, there are different options for setting how the trajectories are drawn in the display. These options are Line, Cylinder, Ribbon, and Deform Ribbon. By default, the trajectories will be drawn at every vertical level included with the data at the specified Z Skip which is defined in the Layer Controls. The Trajectory Start Level dropdown menu can be used to set trajectories to originate at a single vertical level instead of all levels at once.