Download McIDAS-X v. 2021.1

McIDAS software releases are distributed as a total replacement of the core system.  Since May 2009 SSEC has been distributing McIDAS-X updates as fully supported Fastrack releases. This means that the software is fully supported by SSEC, and that each change to the software has been tested on all of the supported system configurations. Full system testing occurs at least once on each platform during each calendar year. Prior upgrade versions were distributed once a year, normally in late-May.

The SSEC McIDAS Help Desk provides full assistance for McIDAS software questions pertaining to the current or previous version. The Help Desk will still assist those sites that are two issues behind the current version at a reduced capability. A complete description of your MUG support is detailed in the SSEC McIDAS Users’ Group Policy Document.  If you are upgrading from an older version, please see the past versions page for links to download files and other materials from past versions.

A login name and password is required to download any software. Once you’ve entered your valid login name and password, you can obtain any other McIDAS software your site is licensed to receive (e.g., McIDAS-X and McIDAS-XCD).

McIDAS-X 2021.1 – released 30 Dec 2021

McIDAS-X Software

2021.1 Installation Instructions

Download Software

Download (e.g., right-click and select Save) the following files to the ~mcidas directory on your McIDAS-X workstation.

McIDAS-XRD

See -XRD Information Page for more information on McIDAS-XRD.

Past Versions

See the past versions page for links to download files and other materials from past versions.

System Requirements

2021.1 Operating Systems

Apple – supported on macOS 11.6
  1. Tested on macOS 11.6 Intel:
    1. gcc & gfortran 11.2
    2. XQuartz X server
Red Hat – supported on RHEL 7.x and 8.x
  1. Tested on:
    1. Enterprise Linux 8.5 Intel w/ gcc & gfortran 8.5
    2. Enterprise Linux 7.9 Intel w/ gcc & gfortran 4.8.5
Microsoft Windows – supported on Windows®10 with WSL
  1. Tested on Windows®10:
    1. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
    2. Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS
    3. gcc & gfortran 9.30

Complete System Requirements

Future OS Support Plans

OS User Survey Results

Note: The installation will fail if the names of the downloaded files do not exactly match those listed. If your web browser changes the names of the files during download (e.g., mcidas2021.1.tar.Z becomes mcidas2021_1_tar.Z), you must rename the files before installing.

What's New in McIDAS-X 2021.1

The Top Ten

  1. Added support for McIDAS-X on macOS 11 systems. See the Installing McIDAS-X page in the McIDAS-X User’s Guide for the complete list of supported system configurations.
  2. Updated GOES-R Series ABI and GLM servers with additional bug fixes and enhancements, including preparations for future GOES-18 and GOES-19 satellites, adding support of database search capabilities for improved performance in the SDS ABI archive, and access to 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.
  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 for 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), and 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 RGB recipes use IMGOPER with GAMMA= to calculate the red, green, and blue channels, and then RGBDISP to display the products.
  10. Changes were made to the McIDAS-XRD Python Package to better handle single quotes in McIDAS-X commands.  Each user must redo the mcxpyinstall installation step to utilize this new feature.

See 2021.1 Significant Changes to see a more complete listing of the significant changes, or see 2021.1 – All Software Changes to see a list of all of the code changes included in the release.

If upgrading from an older version, see the past versions page for links to download files and documentation from past versions.