The Sat-View program has been developed by NIWA as an easy-to-use facility, whether at sea or on land, for ordering and analysing NIWA-generated GMS satellite weather and sea surface temperature (SST) imagery. Both standard and user-selectable SST analysis areas may be ordered and, when received, these may be displayed on a Windows PC.

The principal features of the program are as follows.

• Operates on a PC running Windows 98, ME, Windows NT4.0, 2000, and later versions of these operating systems.
• Connects to the web via shipboard satellite communication systems (Inmarsat, Iridium) and / or standard telephone links from shore.
• Provides a wide range of analysis / viewing options for data generated by NIWA.
• Provides direct access (i.e., without the use of a web browser) to NIWA’s Satellite Data Services products.
• SST images (and isotherm analyses) for user-selectable areas may be obtained by simply drawing the required area on a map, specifying the period over which the data should be composited, and choosing a ground resolution that minimises transmission costs while still providing the best possible information for fisheries targeting.
• Uses standard email facilities to obtain satellite images from NIWA.

See also the full Sat-View documentation (PDF).

To become a Sat-View user register for a subscription account.

Highlights

Cross-sections – Finding Temperature Breaks

Cross-sections, or profiles of SST along a line drawn on a SST chart, are a powerful method to identify temperature breaks.

Sat-View includes a cross-section tool that allows you to simply move the pointer to the start point, then drag it to the end point while holding the left mouse button down. When the mouse button is released a new window is displayed, plotting the temperatures along the cross-section line. An arrow is drawn on the SST chart to indicate the line that you selected (see right).

The Temperature Cross-Section window (see right) indicates the temperature values read from the image versus the distance along the cross-section line (i.e., arrow). If the left mouse button is pressed down as the pointer is dragged along the cross-section window, the value and position corresponding to its distance along the line are displayed. A small diamond-shaped symbol moves along the cross-section line on the image, so that the any point on the cross-section window can be matched with its location in the main window.

Updating SST Analyses and GMS Weather Imagery

Standard NIWA SST and some weather imagery products can be ordered directly from Sat-View – without the use of a web browser, but the most important feature of Sat-View is its capability to allow users to order custom SST analyses for any area within the NIWA analysis area using a simple map tool. Additional options allow Sat-View users to specify:

• The size of the image file to be transmitted (which in turn determines transmission costs);
• The ground resolution of the analysis (from 1 km up to any value);
• The amount of cloud cover that is acceptable, and
• The compositing period. This allows Sat-View users to view the SST over some region for example, for today only, or over the last few days, or last week, or last month.

The results of requests are emailed back to the user within about 60 minutes. After the data have been imported into Sat-View the user may enlarge the image, measure the distance and heading between some fixed point (e.g., a vessel) and features on the SST analysis, and change the colour scale. If more than one image for the same area is available – then these can be animated, in order to track the motion of features of interest.

The analysis to the right shows a sample 16-kilobyte three-day analysis ordered via Sat-View – which should download via Iridium in just a few minutes.

Viewing other Data Types

Sat-View can be used to view and analyse other types of data too, such as bathymetry and ocean currents.