CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool Help: Data files

In this section:

Opening and closing data files

Open a new data file using the File→Open menu item or by clicking the Open button on the tool bar.

Once the file has been selected, choose the variables to view from the list of variables. Use Ctrl-click (⌘-click on the Mac) or Shift-click to select multiple variables or click Select all. Click OK, and a new tab is added to the file tabs and the first variable is shown in the data view. Close a file by clicking the x symbol on the file tab or File→Close from the menu.

File information

You can display a variety of file information by clicking the Info button or by using the Tools→File Information menu item. Details include the satellite and sensor (or data source), date and time, projection information, spheroid, data origin, file format, variable names and attributes, and earth location boundary data. A second tab in the file information window also shows the raw metadata attribute values.

Supported file formats

CDAT currently supports the following file formats:

CoastWatch HDF and netCDF
HDF 4 and netCDF 3/4 with CoastWatch HDF or CF metadata (.hdf, .nc, .nc4).
SeaSpace HDF
SeaSpace TeraScan files that have been converted to HDF using tdftohdf. Only the rectangular, polarstereo, mercator, and emercator projections are supported, along with sensor_scan if latitude and longitude angles have been included in the file.
NOAA 1b
NOAA 1b AVHRR data, format versions 1 through 5, GAC or LAC resolutions, 8-bit, 10-bit, and 16-bit sensor word sizes with or without archive header.

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