Release Notes for Unidata McIDAS-X/-XCD v2021

September 9, 2022

Unidata McIDAS-X v2021 is a combination of SSEC McIDAS-X v2021.1 and XCD v2021.1, including additional bugfixes developed by the UPC, and various applications and enhancements from the UPC and others. The v2021 release of Unidata McIDAS-X is, in essence, a Unidata modified/updated version of SSEC McIDAS-X/-XCD 2021.1.

SSEC McIDAS-X v2021.1 Notes (all apply to Unidata McIDAS v2020)

1. Changed supported system configurations and build requirements as follows:
   • On Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, changed support from 8.2 Intel and 7.7 Intel to 8.5 Intel and 7.9 Intel.
   • On Apple macOS systems, changed support from 10.14 Intel and 10.13 Intel to 11.6 Intel and 10.15 Intel.
   • On Windows systems, added full support of McIDAS-X on Windows 10 with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

   See the 2021.1 Supported System Configurations for the complete list of system configurations where McIDAS-X 2021.1 is supported.

2. Updated GOES-R Series ABI and GLM servers with additional bug fixes and enhancements. The changes include:
   • preparations for future GOES-18 and GOES-19 satellites
   • adding support of database search capabilities for improved performance in the SDS ABI archive.
   • updated for support of ABI L2 Cloud and Moisture Imagery (CMIP) data

3. Updated the VIIRS and MSG servers and calibration modules to allow IMGPROBE to return VIIR REF and NREF values and MSGS/MSGT RAD values with more precision. This change improves output for VIIRS SVM and SVI visible, Near IR, and Shortwave IR bands, and MSG RAD in bands 4-6.

4. Updated the ADDE servers to honor both the client’s and the server’s ADDETIMEOUT environment variable. ADDETIMEOUT now overrides the 600 second timeout of the default ADDE server.

5. The GVAR servers were updated for EWS-G1 satellite data. GOES-13 became EWS-G1 on 8 September 2020. McIDAS-X checks that date to appropriately set the SS number correctly for each satellite.

6. The grib servers and GRD* commands were updated to list and display GRIB data with:
   • decimal pressure levels between 0 and 1 hPa
   • levels in potential vorticity units (PVU)
   • soil temperature levels in units of meters below ground (MBG)

7. The mcinet.sh script was updated allow the McIDAS-X system service to be controlled by systemd or xinetd.

8. Improvements were made to the IMGPROBE command. The new NORM option enhances the displayed image with a histogram normalization by taking the min/max of the specified unit in the defined region and having the displayed BRIT values stretched from 0 to 255. IMGPROBE was updated so the BOX region has a limit of 30,000,000 points, and the BOX CONT (contouring) option has a limit of 10,000,000.

9. The GAMMA= keyword was added to the IMGOPER command to apply gamma values to output AREA files, and RGB.MCB was added to -XRD, along with many RGB recipes for current real-time satellites. The recipes use IMGOPER with GAMMA= to calculate the red, green, and blue channels, as well as the RGBDISP command to display the products.

10. The MATCH= and CASEMATCH= keywords were added to the DATALOC and DSINFO commands. Use these keywords to list datasets with an exact match of the specified MATCH= string.

11. The CM command was updated to correctly circulate the graphics color table on all supported platforms.

12. The BAR command was updated to work better by default on large frames. The labels and BAR size are more legible. The WIDTH= keyword was added for more control of label line width. The BORDER= keyword was added for control of the grayscale value of the outer and inner borders of the BAR. The user can also turn off the borders with BORDER=.

13. Updated station database (file STNDB.CORE) with new and corrected METAR, TAF and NAMMOS stations, and new Antarctica stations.

14. Updated USCOUNTY.MAP and USZONE.MAP files with the most recent National Weather Service GIS-AWIPS Shapefile database updates. The US*.MAP files are used by the WWDISP command and the MAP command’s COUNTY=, MARINE=, STATE= and ZONE= keywords.

15. Updated the McIDAS-XRD Package (which is included in the McIDAS-X installation files) to include:
    • one new command (RGB, which displays an RGB image from pre-defined equations or user-defined GAMMA values)
    • seven new scripts (RGB-*.MCB, which include pre-defined RGB equations for ABI, AHI, MSG, etc. for use with RGB.MCB)
    • 13 new data files (NOAA-*.ET, which are the standard NOAA Enhancement files for imagery displays where the * represents the enhancement type (e.g. AVN, IR2, WV, etc.)
    • changes to the McIDAS-XRD Python Package to better handle single quotes in McIDAS-X commands.

    See the McIDAS-XRD Instructions and Software page for the complete list of software included in McIDAS-XRD 2021.1.

SSEC McIDAS-XCD v2021.1 Notes (all apply to Unidata McIDAS v2021)

• Added the listing and display of GRIB data with: decimal pressure levels between 0 and 1 hPa levels in potential vorticity units (PVU) soil temperature levels in units of meters below ground (MBG)

• Increased the maximum number of text block characters to allow for the listing of large .xml file messages coming across NOAAPORT

• Updated McIDAS-XCD code and configuration files to accommodate the updated McIDAS-X station database file STNDB.CORE that was released in McIDAS-X 2021.1. Most updates are related to Antarctic stations as supplied by the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC).

Please send all questions/comments to Unidata McIDAS Support <support-mcidas@unidata.ucar.edu>.