McIDAS-V can read a variety of data formats either from local files or remote data servers (e.g., HTTP, TDS, ADDE). This page contains information about some data sources that work with McIDAS-V.

To connect McIDAS-V to data sources, see Data Sources.

• Supported Data Types and Formats
• Remote Data Servers
• netCDF files
• ASCII Text Point Data
• Miscellaneous

* The Himawari-8 (AHI), INSAT-3D, SCMI, MSG Native Format, and ABI local servers are currently supported on Linux and OS X/macOS platforms

Extensive meteorological and oceanographic data is available from remote data servers for use in research and education. Some of these data have restrictions on their use, see Using Data Acquired via Unidata for that information.

Most of the data choosers in McIDAS-V use ADDE as the access method (satellite imagery, Level III radar, surface, and RAOB). The ADDE choosers are pre-configured with a list of available servers. SSEC and the Unidata community each maintain a set of cooperating ADDE servers which serve up real-time and archived atmospheric datasets for use in McIDAS-V. You can use any of these to access the near-realtime data. For more information on accessing data on ADDE servers, see the Data Sources section.

Available servers and datasets:

• adde.ucar.edu/atm.ucar.edu/lead.unidata.ucar.edu
• BLIZZARD - Archived data from the 1993 Storm of the Century (static).
• DDSTALL - GOES East/West Debra Dust data (rolling archive).
• EAST - GOES East FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (realtime).
• EASTALL - GOES East FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (rolling archive).
• GEOCALL - GOES East/West GeoColor data (rolling archive).
• GLOBAL - Global composite IR and WV images (realtime).
• GLOBALL - Global composite IR and WV images (rolling archive).
• GOESRALL - GOES-R FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (rolling archive).
• GOESSALL - GOES-S FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (rolling archive).
• GOESTALL - GOES-T FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (rolling archive).
• IMAGEALL - GOES images, Antarctic composites and Radar (realtime).
• L2GEALL - GOES East level 2 data (rolling archive).
• L2GEAST - GOES East level 2 data (realtime).
• L2GOESR - GOES-R level 2 data (realtime).
• L2GOESS - GOES-S level 2 data (realtime).
• L2GWALL - GOES West level 2 data (rolling archive).
• L2GOESS - GOES-S level 2 data (realtime).
• L2GWEST - GOES West level 2 data (realtime).
• NEXRCALL - Composites of radar reflectivity, echo tops, and storm precipitation with different resolutions (realtime).
• NEXRCOMP - Composites of NEXRAD imagery (1km, 6km, 10 km radar coded message, 1-hour precipitation total, storm total precipitation) (realtime).
• NPGEALL - NOAAPORT GOES East data (rolling archive).
• NPGEAST - NOAAPORT GOES East data (realtime).
• NPGOESR - NOAAPORT GOES-R data (realtime).
• NPGOESS - NOAAPORT GOES-S data (realtime).
• NPGRALL - NOAAPORT GOES-R data (rolling archive).
• NPGSALL - NOAAPORT GOES-S data (rolling archive).
• NPGWALL - NOAAPORT GOES West data (rolling archive).
• NPGWEST - NOAAPORT GOES West data (realtime).
• PTSRCALL - Point data from hourly observations, planes, ships, and soundings (rolling archive).
• RTDDST - GOES East/West Debra Dust data (realtime).
• RTGEOC - GOES East/West GeoColor data (realtime).
• RTGOESR - GOES-R level 1b data (realtime).
• RTGOESS - GOES-S level 1b data (realtime).
• RTGOEST - GOES-T level 1b data (realtime).
• RTIMAGES - GOES East and West images in native view, not remapped. Also some global Mollweide images, and an Antarctic composite (realtime).
• RTSNCL - GOES East/West Cloud Snow data (realtime).
• SNCALL - GOES East/West Cloud Snow data (rolling archive).
• TOPO - Plots land elevations with different projections using the color scales relevant to the chosen descriptor. The image will remap (static).
• WEST - GOES West FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (realtime).
• WESTALL - GOES West FD, CONUS, M1, and M2 level 1b data (rolling archive).
• NEXRALL - NEXRAD imagery of a variety of products for individual sites (realtime).
• RTNEXRAD - NEXRAD imagery of a variety of products for individual sites (realtime).
• RTPTSRC - Point data from hourly observations, planes, ships, and soundings (realtime).
• RTWXTEXT - Text data used to plot front analysis and forecasts (realtime).

McIDAS-V can access gridded data (netCDF/GRIB/GEMPAK) and NEXRAD radar data stored on a THREDDS Data Server (TDS) through the OPeNDAP (formerly called DODS) protocol. See Choosing Cataloged Data for more information. Below is a listing of the default catalogs included with the different choosers that use them:

• Radar -> Level II -> Remote
• https://thredds.ucar.edu/thredds/radarServer/catalog.xml
• Gridded Data -> Remote
• https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/software/v/threddsRTModels.xml
• https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/model/model.xml
• https://thredds.aos.wisc.edu/thredds/catalog/idd/forecastModels.xml
• General -> Catalogs
• https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/software/v/catalog.xml
• https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/thredds/catalog.xml
• https://thredds.aos.wisc.edu/thredds/catalog/catalog.xml

Many of the data sources listed in the table above can read files directly from web servers (e.g. Apache) through the HTTP protocol. In most cases, the server must support the HTTP 1.1 protocol and be configured to set the "Content-Length" and "Accept-Ranges: bytes" headers. See the Choosing a URL for more information. While other choosers accept HTTP URLs, only one chooser has a default URL:

• Satellite -> Orbit Tracks
• https://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/weather.txt

The Network Common Data Form (netCDF) provides a common data access method for Unidata applications. This format can be used to store a variety of data types that encompass single-point observations, time series, regular grids, and satellite and radar images. The mere use of netCDF by itself is not sufficient to make data "self-describing" and meaningful to McIDAS-V.

Generally, McIDAS-V requires that datasets in netCDF format use metadata conventions to be able to fully understand and geolocate the dataset. These conventions provide documented "best practices". Using conventions with netCDF ensures your data is complete and self-describing, and can be used by others. We recommend you use CF, COARDS, or NUWG conventions for netCDF data files for McIDAS-V, and be sure to follow the best practices noted above.

McIDAS-V can read GOES-R Series GLM (Geostationary Lightning Mapper) data through the General->Files/Directories chooser using the GLM_EVENTS Data files, GLM_FLASHES Data files, or GLM_GROUPS Data files Data Type. Multiple files can be selected at once and they will be aggregated into one data source when Add Source is clicked. Note that each data point in the data source is its own timestep, and therefore Time Binning settings should be modified in order to create a usable loop in the Main Display window. The Point Data Plot display can be used to display the data, as well as the gridded fields.

McIDAS-V can read point data and trajectories (aircraft tracks) from comma-separated value (CSV) text files. See the documentation on the Text (ASCII) Point Data Format.

There are a couple of data formats that can be of a variety of data types (e.g. Satellite, point) that can be loaded through the local files chooser.

• GeoTIFF - GeoTIFF files can be loaded through the local files chooser with the Tiff files Data Type.
• Google Earth (KML/KMZ) - Google Earth files can be loaded through the local files chooser with the Google Earth Files KML/KMZ Data Type.