CoastWatch Utilities

Type
Software Package
Description

The CoastWatch Utilities read CoastWatch data files (NetCDF and HDF format) and contain graphical tools for interactive data viewing and command line tools for data processing.

Screenshot
Screenshot of the CoastWatch Utilities software

Table of Contents


Overview


The CoastWatch Utilities read CoastWatch data files (NetCDF and HDF format) and contain graphical tools for interactive data viewing and command line tools for data processing.  The functions include:

Information and Statistics - File contents, statistics computations on variables (for example min, max, mean, standard deviation), direct access to raw file and variable attributes.

Data Processing and Registration - Data format conversions, compositing, generic variable math, data sampling, map projection resampling.

Graphics and Visualization- Interactive visualization/analysis, batch image rendering, animation, ancillary graphics…

The software runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.  The following are screenshots from the Mac version of the CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool (CDAT):

Screenshot of CoastWatch Data Analysis ToolScreenshot of CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool
Screenshot of CoastWatch Data Analysis ToolScreenshot of CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool

 

The following are sample animations produced by the cwanimate tool: 

 

Latest Updates (Version 4.0.1)


  • The new tool cwanimate creates animations of data from either local files or datasets on ERDDAP, THREDDS, and OPeNDAP servers
  • The --optimal option in cwcomposite now supports two new function types for selecting the optimization variable data value: minabs and maxabs for the minimum and maximum absolute value respectively.
  • ACSPO geostationary data format reading is updated to handle the metadata conventions in version 2.90 files
  • A new --console option to cwgscript starts a BeanShell script console for interactive testing of script snippets. 

See the User's Guide Appendix G for a full list of changes.

 

Source Code and Downloads


The source code is available on the CoastWatch Utilities GitHub site, and is also included in all distribution packages.  Binary installation packages and supplementary data are as follows:

PlatformDownloadMD5
Windowscwutils-4_0_1_307-windows-x86_64.exe
Requires that the Visual C++ Redistributable Package is installed first.

d7201737a85bb51ae53e97e4121c185a

Linux

cwutils-4_0_1_307-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

eb089340e97ef3ce3e7ff5e72381b5a7
Linuxcwutils-4_0_1_307-linux-x86_64-novm.tar.gz
Requires that a Java Virtual Machine is installed first – OpenJDK 17 or higher is recommended, see https://jdk.java.net.
939269ce0a41093dcc641bc8c57bcc5e
Maccwutils-4_0_1_307-macosx-x86_64.dmgdbffe30e90fa96947aac3109ace229a8
Alletopo1.hdf
Optional 1 km resolution topography data used by CDAT and cwtccorrect to be copied into <INSTALLDIR>/data/noaa/coastwatch/render
2008818927ec2c470cb2afe6bc4af765

For help with installation, consult the Installation Notes section of the User's Guide. Please submit errors or bug reports to coastwatch.info@noaa.gov.

Note that the installation packages for the CoastWatch Utilities are made possible by the generous donation of a license for the install4j multi-platform installer builder by ej-technologies.

 

Quick Start Guide


  • Download and install the package for your operating system
  • Download a data file, see the Product Search Tool for datasets.  For example, search for SST and download a data file from the ACSPO Global 0.02Âş Gridded Super-collated SST dataset (eg: via HTTP)
  • Go through the steps in the Unit 2 of the online course to open and view your data file.  Export an image of your region of interest:

    Example Export Image from CoastWatch Utilities

     

Documentation and Presentations