CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool Help: Overview

The CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool (CDAT) is a part of the CoastWatch Software Library and Utilities package. CDAT allows you to view satellite data files in CoastWatch HDF (.hdf), NetCDF 3/4 with CF metadata and other formats, create data plots, perform data surveys, export data to other formats, and so on. The following figure shows the main components of the CDAT window:

The components are as follows (starting from the top):

Menu bar
Access to file and view operations, tools, preferences, and the help system.
Tool bar
Buttons for common operations and to add overlays, surveys, and annotations.
File tabs
Shows the currently open data file names, and allows you to select or close files (click the x symbol).
Variable selector
Shows the currently active variable in the data file. Choose another variable by clicking the button and picking a new variable from the list.
Data view
The main data view showing the variable data, color scale, view zoom controls, and the mouse cursor tracking bar (at the bottom).
Control tabs
On the right of the data view — access to the data view control panels for the view: enhancement, palette, composite, and for layers: overlays, surveys, annotations.

The following help sections contain more details on using CDAT:

Basic data display

Data analysis

Other functions