Visualizing Multi- and Hyper-Spectral Environmental Satellite Data with the Next Generation of McIDAS

New imaging and sounding sensors under development for future geostationary and polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites will offer exciting new challenges to the design of the data structures and to the capabilities of current visualization tools. Innovative techniques for visualizing and developing algorithms with these new data types are needed. The Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), a reference application based on the VisAD library that is being developed by the Unidata Program, demonstrates the flexibility that is needed in this evolving environment, using a modern, object-oriented software design approach. A project is underway at the University of Wisconsin-Madison SSEC/CIMSS to transition the current McIDAS- X (Man computer Interactive Data Access System for X-Windows) users into an IDV-based, open-source system to be known as McIDAS-V. The McIDAS-V will provide multi-spectral and hyper-spectral researchers and algorithm developers with the data manipulation and visualization tools to work in this data rich environment. This poster describes the IDV and McIDAS-V software, data structures and data access, and demonstrates its' powerful 4-dimensional data analysis, product generation and display capabilities. NASA EOS MODIS and AIRS as well as GOES data are used in conjunction with other in situ and gridded data to develop these new tools, techniques and products in the prototype McIDAS-V environment.