Added the ability to customize the vertical scale labeling around the wireframe box in the Main Display window. This feature is available in the Vertical Scale tab of the Properties window for the display panel, as well as from the 'Set the vertical range' button in the Main Display. The new features include adding the ability to set the axis label, the increment of the labels, minor division tick marks, as well as setting the font. Note that this vertical scale will be visible only if the Show Display Scales option is turned on in the display panel.

Added the ability to set an interval for how many contour lines are labeled. In the Contour Properties Editor window, there is a new Label Every Nth Line item that allows you to set a contour line labeling interval. By default this is set to a value of 2, which means that every other contour line will be labeled. Decrease this value to increase the number of contours with labels, and increase this number to decrease the number of contours with labels.

Added the ability for users to subset entire granules of MODIS and Suomi NPP data. In previous McIDAS-V versions, there were limitations to how close a subset box could be made to the edge of the data. This subsetting occurs in the Region tab of the Field Selector using Shift+click+drag over the data before creating the display.

Improved probe output for Level III Hydrometeor Classification products and the Suomi NPP Quality Flag fields. For Level III Radar data once a Hydrometeor Classification product is added, an Image Display of the 'Hydro class' field now creates a display with actual text output. Examples of this text output are 'Dry Snow', 'Light-Moderate Rain' and 'Biological'. For Suomi NPP Quality Flags listed in the Field Selector, an Image Display will also provide text output. An example of this output for a 'Fire' QF field would be 'True' or 'False'. An example of this output for a 'Cloud Phase' QF field would be 'Clear', 'Water', or 'Ice'.

Added support for GEMPAK Upper Air files (*.gem) through the Point Observations -> Soundings -> Local chooser.

Added local servers for AMSR-E L2a and the AMSR-E Rain Product. These server formats are available in the Local ADDE Data Manager and can also be accessed through scripting.

Added a new feature called Time Matching that is designed to create loops that accommodate data with differing temporal frequencies. An example where time matching would be useful is if a user wants to create a loop of satellite data overlaid with radar data but they have different frequencies (e.g., the satellite data comes in twice an hour while the radar data comes in eight times an hour). In the past, a user would have to use the Absolute Times tab of the radar data and individually select the times closest to those of the satellite data. With time matching, this is no longer necessary. Now, a user can set one layer to be the time driver, and other layers can then be selected to match the time driver times. For more on time matching, see Time Matching.

Added a new Match Display Region option to the dropdown menu in the Region tab of the Field Selector. When this option is used, the data being displayed will automatically be spatially subsetted to match the geographical domain of the active panel in the Main Display. This helps create efficient displays of data by not displaying more data than necessary. This Match Display Region mode can be used with the Gridded Data and Point Observations choosers.

An example use case of this feature is if a user is working with global gridded data, but is only interested in displaying data over the United States. First, the user would change their display to over the United States, and then choose the Match Display Region mode in the Region tab of the Field Selector when creating the display. In doing this, only data over the United States would be displayed.

Changed the name of getADDEImage to loadADDEImage. The name change was made for consistency with other functions in both naming as well as what is returned from the function. In the past, getADDEImage returned two objects: metadata, and one object containing both data and metadata. Now, loadADDEImage only returns the one object containing both the data and metadata. Users can call the single object returned from loadADDEImage in the same way the metadata object from getADDEImage was returned in the past. Scripts using getADDEImage will continue to work, though we recommend transitioning to loadADDEImage as this is the documented function, and any new functionalities will be added to loadADDEImage, not getADDEImage. For more information, see loadADDEImage.

Added new functions for working with gridded data, including netCDF, hdf, and grib formats. This function is called loadGrid. There are also a variety of new lister functions to give users information about the file loaded in via loadGrid, including loadGridFieldsInFile, loadGridLevelsInField, and loadGridTimesInField. For more information, see loadGrid.

Added additional features to captureImage. This includes a new bgtransparent keyword to set the background of the image transparent, as well as a variety of new formatting options for the output image. These formatting options include adding a matte, colorbar, image overlay and text overlay to the output image. New output formats are also now supported, including *.pdf, *.ps, *.svg, *.kml, and *.kmz. For more information, see captureImage.

Added a new transparency keyword to setEnhancement. This allows for setting a transparency value across an entire enhancement. For more information, see setEnhancement.

Updated Java version from 1.6.0_31 to 1.7.0_60. Updated Java 3D version from 1.5.2 to 1.6.0.

Added a variety of sample bundles to the Main Toolbar of McIDAS-V, under a button labeled Current WX. These sample bundles are referred to as system bundles. Clicking on Current WX opens a dropdown with a variety of bundles that display real-time weather from data sources including grids, satellite, and point data. These bundles are designed to give an easy starting point for those new to McIDAS-V to create displays. These bundles can be removed through either the Local Favorite Bundles Manager or the General tab of the User Preferences window. For more information on these bundles, see the Main Toolbar page of the User's Guide.

In addition to these bundles, there are a variety of zipped bundles (bundles that include data) that can be added through the Plugin Manager. Under the Sample Bundles tree in the Plugin Manager, there are five separate plugins for bundles that demonstrate many of the same features as the real-time Current WX bundles. Once these plugins are added and McIDAS-V is restarted, a toolbar button called Archive WX will be added to the Main Toolbar. This button behaves similarly to the Current WX button, where clicking Archive WX opens a dropdown containing any of the sample bundle plugins that were added. Once these bundles are added, they can only be removed through the Plugin Manager.

By default, adaptive resolution is disabled. In order to use adaptive resolution, it must be enabled through the Display Window tab of the User Preferences. Adaptive resolution is still under development so there may be bugs and there could implementation changes in the future. For this release, adaptive resolution is available in the Gridded Data, Point Observations, General Files/Directories, and the Under Development > Imagery - Satellite choosers.

Adaptive resolution is a feature designed to load high resolution data efficiently by obtaining and loading only the minimum amount of data needed to display all of the observable features in the given display size and geographic domain. If the domain is subsequently changed by using either Shift+left-click+drag or the Projections menu, adaptive resolution automatically reloads the data at a higher resolution (if available) if the user zoomed in to a more detailed view, or reloads the data at a lower resolution if the user zoomed out to a wider view. For more on adaptive resolution, see Adaptive Resolution.

Improved granule subsetting to aid in subsetting an entire granule.

Added support for ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) SDR data, including ATMS SDR and ATMS Remapped to CrIS SDR data. To display the Brightness Temperature field of this data, use the MultiSpectral display type, where the channel used for the display can be set through the Layer Controls. Also, additional fields will be visible including height, latitude, longitude, and different satellite angles which can be viewed with the standard Image Display. Also added support for Terrain Corrected Day Night Band data.

Added display units for many fields. For example, SVM16 Brightness Temperature now displays with units of degrees K instead of null. This is seen when the display is probed. Along with this, adding display units gives the ability to change the display unit used in the display through the Layer Controls.

Added the ability to aggregate different single-banded granules into one data source when the bands use the same geolocation and timesteps. For example, this allows users to use Shift+click to select single banded SVM03, SVM04, and SVM05 granules and click Add Source. This merges all of the SVM03, 04, and 05 data into one data source. This change applies to VIIRS SDR (SVI and SVM) as well as EDR granules. Note that SDR and EDR granules can not be merged into one data source even if they use the same geolocation granule.

Updated the VIIRS RGB formula from the Miscellaneous > VIIRS Formulas plugin to be able to handle single-banded granules. In previous versions of McIDAS-V, this formula would only work with multi-banded granules, where the Red, Green, and Blue components came from the same file. In addition, to get a full resolution display, a user now only has to subset a region for the Red component, and this will be carried over to Green and Blue. The VIIRS RGB formula can also now handle band subtractions for a color.

This is currently located in the Under Development list of choosers in the Data Sources tab of the Data Explorer and is available for user feedback through the McIDAS-V Support Forums. As the IDPS (Interface Data Processing Segment) begins to distribute new types of NPP data, we test it in McIDAS-V and make any necessary changes to be able to get the data to display.

Changed the name of the chooser from Polar Orbit Track chooser to the Satellite Orbit Track chooser. This change was made because tracks for other low earth orbit (LEO) satellites (such as TRMM) can be plotted, as well as geostationary satellites.

Added a valid timestamp macro that prints out the beginning and ending dates and times of the track plotted in the Main Display window. Also modified the Layer Controls tab of the Data Explorer to enhance functionality. This includes additional options to turn swath edge lines on/off, individually set font, style, and size of text for swath line times and ground station lines, options for setting line style of the track, swath edge, and ground station rings, the ability to plot multiple ground stations at once, and also the ability to specify your own ground station via lat/lon values.

This is currently located in the Under Development list of choosers in the Data Sources tab of the Data Explorer and is available for user feedback through the McIDAS-V Support Forums.

The NOAA Wind Profiler Network (NPN) Data Stream ended on August, 2014. With the stations no longer receiving data, the Point Observations > Wind Profiler chooser has been removed from the list of default choosers in the Data Sources tab of the Data Explorer. If access to this chooser is necessary, it can be added through the Plugin Manager window, under Data Sources > Wind Profiler Chooser. Once this chooser is added and McIDAS-V is restarted, the Wind Profiler chooser will again be available in the Data Sources tab of the Data Explorer. For more information on the discontinued wind profiler data, see the NOAA Profiler Network webpage.

The McIDAS-X Bridge Chooser has been fully deprecated from McIDAS-V. The chooser is no longer listed as a default chooser, and it is not available as a plugin.