McIDAS-X and -XCD
Version 2008
Upgrade Cover Letter

28 May 2008, 05 June 2008

The McIDAS-X 2008 upgrade is now available. You can obtain the software from the McIDAS Users' Group Web Site (https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas). Use the login and password included in your site coordinator's cover letter to download the software from the web site. See the upgrade procedure documents for complete installation instructions.

The significant changes for McIDAS-X version 2008 (distributed 28 May 2008) include the following:

• moved support of McIDAS-X on Apple systems to Mac OS X 10.5 and compilers gfortran 4.3 and gcc 4.0.1 (this is the only platform on which McIDAS-X is tested and supported on gfortran)
• promoted the ADT command from beta to fully supported on all MUG platforms; also added support for additional satellites
• updated ISFC MD file schema and McIDAS-XCD so that cloud coverage value FEW in METAR reports is now stored as a separate value (rather than combined with SCT) in ISFC schema MD files; the PT* and SFC* commands can be used to list or plot the coverage values
• added changes to allow copying of selected bands (not just one or all) of MTSAT data
• updated GVAR calibration module and servers to accommodate the increased resolution (from 8km to 4km) of band 6 GOES-O/14 and GOES-P/15 data
• updated Meteosat Second Generation calibration module and servers to accommodate the 05 May 2008 change from spectral to effective radiation
• modified AVHRR Level 1b servers to work with MetOp-A FRAC data
• updated GeoTIFF server so that files it outputs are compatible with the ArcGIS software package
• added three new commands, four new servers, and 56 new data files to McIDAS-XRD 2008 sidecar package
• fixed 38 bugs and completed 22 enhancements from the MUG Inquiry System

The significant changes for McIDAS-XCD version 2008 (distributed 05 June 2008) include the following:

• added new GRIB2 datasets and also a GRIB2 configuration file to allow the -XCD administrators to discard unwanted GRIB2 messages
• added support for the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) GRIB1 files
• updated the synoptic and METAR decoders to ignore NIL= data lines when creating MD files, and increased the size of the rapid access files to accommodate the large number of NIL= data lines
• updated the NGM MOS decoder to recognize the FOAK WMO header for Alaskan NGM MOS stations, and increased the sizes of the rapid access and MD files to accommodate the additional stations
• updated the ship/buoy decoder to file the actual time into the HMS key, instead of the nominal time
• updated the BUFR filer and decoder for continuing work with the new BUFR servers

Also, as noted in the McIDAS-X Version 2008 Upgrade Procedure document, McIDAS User Services plans to issue its future McIDAS-X software updates via fully-supported Fastrack releases (including online documentation updates) rather than via formal upgrades each May. This step is being taken so that the McIDAS programming, testing and documentation staff can focus more of its future efforts on the McIDAS-V project.

Please note that if you also subscribe to SSEC SDI, its upgrades will be available in June 2008.

If you have questions about this upgrade, call the McIDAS Help Desk at (608) 262-2455, or send email to the Help Desk.

Sincerely,

Dee Wade
Manager, McIDAS User Services and SSEC Data Center