SeaDAS 11.0.0 Release Notes ‐ DRAFT - seadas/seadas-toolbox GitHub Wiki

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Release blurb for Software History webpage

Supports the latest PACE OCI, SPEXone, and HARP2 file formats. Revises Map Gridlines Tool to better support images which are global and/or cross the dateline. Fixes issue where the World Map Tool would not work. Fixes issue where the Mosaic Tool failed to display world map. Revises preferences options for level-2 flag masks. Adds preferences options to Angular View Tool for setting the plot colors and graphics based on wavelength groupings. Fixes image flip issue in the CZCS file reader. Integrates SNAP version 13.0.0.

Release Notes

These release notes depict the primary changes which have occurred since the previous release (SeaDAS 10.0.0).

Versioning

Users installing the non-JRE versions can refer to the detailed setup instructions in the SeaDAS 10 User Guide for Installers Without Bundled JRE: https://github.com/seadas/seadas-toolbox/wiki/SeaDAS-10-%E2%80%93-User-Guide-for-Installers-Without-Bundled-JRE

Operating Systems and Platform

  • Uses JAVA 21
  • Runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and up for Linux

Deprecation Notice: SeaDAS 9.2.0 was the final version to support Intel-based Macs. All future Mac OS releases of SeaDAS will run only on Apple Silicon.

SeaDAS Installer

Modifications to the SeaDAS application installer.

  • SeaDAS now provides both JRE-bundled installers and non-JRE installer options. The non-JRE installers allow users to rely on an existing system installation of Java 21, offering greater flexibility for environment configuration while maintaining full platform support.

Earthdata-Cloud Tools

Tools which use Earthdata cloud services.

  • **OB_CLOUD Data Browser:

    • Added option to subset the retrieved file using the Spatial Subset Tool.
    • Added "Regions" selector. These are bounded rectangular regions whereas the previous SeaDAS 10.0.0 release had a "Locations" selector which only contained single point coordinates.
    • Revised associated help page.

  • **OB_CLOUD Spatial Subset Tool:

    • This is a new tool which retrieves a spatial subset of data located in Earthdata Cloud.
    • This tool currently only subsets level-2 files.
    • This tool is accessed through the OB_CLOUD Data Browser.

File Readers

Modifications to the file readers.

  • File/Sensor Support: Support includes features such as reading a file, adding band groupings, flipping scene data, etc.
    • Bug Fix: now correctly displays flag-masks for PACE OCI CLDMASK suite L2 files.
    • Bug Fix: CZCS L2 files now correctly supported, which avoids an east-west image flip.
    • Improvement: auto-sorting capabilities of the level-2 flag-masks have been added in the preferences.
    • Improvement: several new PACE-related level-2 flag-masks have been added to the preferences.

General Tools

Modifications to the general tools.

  • Angular View Tool:

    • Adds preferences options to set the plot colors, plot symbols, plot connector line types based on wavelength groupings.
    • For mission SPEXone: added wavelength groupings for products (i, q, u, aolp and dolp) at 440nm, 550nm, 670nm and 750nm.

  • Help:

    • Fixed broken web links due to SeaDAS web page migration to Earthdata web.

  • Map Gridlines Tool:

    • Revised to better support images which cross the dateline.
    • Revised to better support global images.
    • Optimized system performance for large file cylindrical projections.
    • Added edge tolerance extrapolation feature be support including scene edge labels.

  • Mosaic Tool:

    • Bug Fix - now displays the world map (this feature broke in SeaDAS 10 due to issues with a Java upgrade).

  • RGB Image Tool:

    • Added configuration for PACE OCI which supports latest RGB wavelength selection of TC_BRS suite (620nm, 555nm, 465nm)

  • World Map Tool:

    • Bug Fix - now displays the world map (this feature broke in SeaDAS 10 due to issues with a Java upgrade).

Science Processors

Modifications to the GUI support of the SeaDAS science processors (OCSSW)

  • L2extract (CZCS) GUI:

    • TBD

  • General Issue (Mac Only):

    • Bug fix: science processors now run when launching SeaDAS via mouse-click on the application icon. Bug was first observed in tag V2025.2. Using tag 2026.0 or later fixes bug and is recommended.

Known Issues (New)

Highlights some new or newly identified known issues.

  • General:

  • Science Processors:

Known Issues (Recurring)

Highlights some known issues and offers helpful hints for users encountering stumbling blocks

  • General:
    • Time Series Tool:
      • This tool is currently unavailable as of SeaDAS 10.0.0. This is due to the merge with SNAP 12.0, where this tool has compatibility issues. We do hope to restore this tool in a future SeaDAS release.
    • Open File/Product:
      • Seems to not open a file if the directory has 400+ files with some of the files not being netCDF files.
    • Layer Editor:
      • Can get out of sync with selected layer in Layer Manager (user workaround: the layer editor still works, but it is one-layer click event behind, and the user can activate the desired layer by clicking another layer in Layer Manager)
    • Band Selection:
      • Clicking a view window tab selects the view window as the active view, but does not auto-select the corresponding band as the active band. This can lead to confusion when run band-based tools. (user workaround: click the band in the File Manager will auto-select both the band and its view window and will avoid this issue).
    • System performance:
      • This is a concern with large files and the user should adjust the settings in the "Performance" preferences page which defaults VM to 8Gig. But 8Gig virtual memory may not ideally be enough for some files, so if the user has a computer with sufficient RAM then this VM can be increased if needed.
  • GPT:
    • gpt (graph processing tool) command line entries require full file path.
    • Coastline, Land and Water mask tool operator not available at gpt command line.
    • Bathymetry tool operator not available in gpt.

Getting Started with SeaDAS

To get started see: SeaDAS Download, Installation, and Run Instructions

SeaDAS General Overview

SeaDAS 11.0.0 is an open-source comprehensive software package for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of remote-sensing Earth data. SeaDAS serves as the official distribution point of the NASA OBPG Science Software. The science processing component of SeaDAS applies the OBPG algorithms to satellite data in order to characterize and calibrate the data and generate science quality OBPG products.

The SeaDAS 11 platform (an extension of the ESA SNAP platform) serves as an application platform to the NASA SeaDAS Toolbox and the ESA Optical Toolbox. The core elements of NASA SeaDAS science processing (both command line and GUI-based) are contained within the SeaDAS ToolBox. The NASA satellite mission data file readers and the ESA processors for the Sentinel-3 missions are contained within the Optical Toolbox.

SeaDAS Legacy Software Overview

  • SeaDAS 10 series integrated the ESA SNAP 12 software .
  • SeaDAS 9 series continued an integration with the ESA SNAP software (used JAVA 11)
  • SeaDAS 8 series began an integration with the ESA SNAP software (used JAVA 8)
  • SeaDAS 7 series contained the NASA OBPG processors and the GUI is a variant of the BEAM software. This series culminated in version 7.5.3 and will no longer be revised. It won't use the latest NASA processors.
  • SeaDAS 6 series was based on IDL and is no longer supported.