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>From: "Sousounis, Peter" <address@hidden> >Organization: WSI >Keywords: 200303311910.h2VJAdB2018136 McIDAS TeraScan Peter, Sorry this took awhile to get to... >I am interested in finding a program or programs to convert TeraScan files >(TDF) to McIDAS files. I understand that there is a routine to convert TDF >files to HDF files. Can you tell me what the status is of the effort to >convert HDF to AREA files (see below from >http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/tom/user_20020314.html) ?Any help would be >greatly appreciated. Since the TeraScan TDF file format is a black box, and since one must be licensed for TeraScan in order to have the necessary libraries to link against for a direct TDF -> AREA converter, a different approach was taken: Darien Gallant decided to create a converter for the HDF files that TeraScan can output. This approach is useful, but has some limitations, the most serious of which is the information put into the HDF. Instead of being able to dump raw counts, the HDF files contain calibrated values like temperature for IR channels, and albedo for the VIS channel. The conversion utility then uses the inverse of the "standard" McIDAS conversions to create a file of equivalent raw values. Comparisons of the IR channels (e.g., 10.7 thermal IR and 6.8 um Water Vapor) with imagery created by McIDAS ingestors shows very good correlations. The visible imagery, however, is markedly different. It has been my opinion that the major difference in the reconstructed VIS is a result of filtering done on the TeraScan side to create the HDF file of albedos. Quite frankly, the reconstructed VIS images look a LOT cleaner than the VIS images ingested directly into McIDAS AREA format! So, the question back to you is whether or not the code for doing the reconstruction is what you need/want? If yes, I will contact Darien to see if he is willing to let you have his code (I consulted with him on various aspects of his development, but the code is all his). I have to think that he will not be eager to support other's use of this code, however. Depending on what your objective is (i.e., how much you will be wanting to do conversions), there may be a cheaper (in the long run) approach. The AMRC group at SSEC has shown that one can tap the sync and data off of a TeraScan receiver and feed it into a SSEC SDI ingestor. You would then have a direct GOES ingest system that can provide output in McIDAS AREA format (through ADDE access to the holdings). Information on the cost of an SSEC SDI box can be found in the McIDAS User Group pages: McIDAS Users' Group http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mug Year 2003 MUG Fees http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mug/STD_CHG2003TOP.html >UCAR/JOSS >* TerraScan (tm) to AREA imagery converter (effort in progress and >showing advances: conversion is not from TDF files directly, but, rather >from HDF files created by TeraScan and GOES navigation information provided >by SSEC) (Gallant, Yoksas) Tom Yoksas >From address@hidden Mon Apr 7 08:21:54 2003 >Cc: "Hutchinson, Todd" <address@hidden>, "Marshall, Steve" <address@hidden> >Subject: RE: 20030331: TDF to McIDAS Tom, Thanks for your reply. I will consult with some folks here at WSI to decide how we should proceed. Regards. Peter PS - Peter Neilley says hello.