MISR abstract

Ritchey, N.A., and Hunt, L.A. (2002). New Tools Available for MISR Instrument Data. Eos Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meet. Suppl. 2002, Abstract # OS51B-0181

Several tools have been developed to aid in the visualization and analysis of MISR data products. Among the latest are the MISR Browse Tool and a second, as yet unnamed, tool which provides access to structural information and individual components (parameters) of any MISR file as well as visualization, analysis, and output of the parameters. The MISR Browse Tool provides web-based viewing of the MISR browse image files. The browse images are true color JPEG format images for each camera derived from the red, green and blue bands of the MISR Level 1B2 ellipsoid radiance product at 2.2 km resolution. The radiances are clipped and gamma-stretched to provide overall visibility of cloud, ocean and land features. Image selection begins with the specification of a particular MISR path, one of the 233 distinct repeating orbits, from a table or map. The selection is refined using scrolling lists to choose the actual orbit number (a count of the revolutions since launch, with the latest orbit shown first in the list), the camera, and the block number position along the orbit where the displayed image will be centered (180 blocks per orbit). The selected image is then displayed in a new scrolling window. Additional tools aid in choosing images by date and latitude/longitude coordinates. The second new tool provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for working with any of the MISR data product files (Levels 1, 2 and 3). It is written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL) software from Research Systems, Inc., so it is portable to any of the platforms supported by IDL. When a file is opened, information about the content of the file is displayed and the GUI is populated with buttons for accessing functionality based on the file's content. The MISR files are written in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) or HDF-EOS (HDF with added geolocation structures), so those components are exposed for access and may be saved to separate files. The visualization options included mapped display of geolocated parameters and creation of RGB images from separate wavelength bands. Many other features for working with MISR files have been incorporated in this tool, including scaling of raw data parameters. The MISR Browse Tool may be accessed at http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/MISRBR/ . Additional information about all of the available MISR tools can be obtained at http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/misr/misr_tools.html

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