Difficulties of dealing with large image cubes

Image cubes are three-dimensional image datasets, in which the third dimension, typically spectral, is of the same order of magnitude as the line and sample dimensions. Image cubes are more difficult to manipulate than two-dimensional images, both because of their increased data volume, and because of the significant additional information they contain. Conventional image processing system often do not deal gracefully with images with a significant third dimension. Preprocessing to reduce data volume, concentrate on regions of interest, and accommodate existing systems occupies a considerable amount of effort in image cube analysis. With the exception of software and hardware for image display, current trends in the computing industry are optimistic for the future effective utilization of image cube datasets that will be available in the EOS era.