Panoply netCDF, HDF and GRIB Data Viewer

Version 3.x Changelog

The current version of Panoply is 5.5.5, released 2024-11-09.

Version 3.9: A series of beta versions labeled 3.9.x was circulated but not publicly released.

Version 3.2.1: Released 2013-09-30.

  • Re-designed plot type selection dialog.
  • Bugfix: (OS X) Last character or two of JCheckbox and JLabel text sometimes clipped in plot controls.
  • Bugfix: On lon-lat plot with black background, background color of map section of plot reset to white if projection was changed.
  • Added preferences handling for long-lat map grid labelling option.
  • Info panel in Sources datasets panel now shows CDL description in "unenhanced" form.
  • Bugfix: Bookmarks menu showed all bookmarks twice.

Version 3.2: Released 2013-08-30.

  • Open-file dialog allows for selecting multiple files.
  • Revisited how auxiliary lon-lat array handler tests for global wrap-around.
  • Data export in CSV or "labeled text" format uses operating system's EOL character rather than "\n".
  • Explicitly test for AbsoluteTime dimension, as NJ library convention handler may not report one if present.
  • Watch for case of mismatched array rank info reported by NJ library for auxiliary lon-lat grids, as has occurred with some WRF datasets.
  • When getting a plot variable's independent dimensions, watch out for coordinate variables that may have been specified via the coordinate attribute.
  • Try to watch and adapt for cases where NJ library reports that an HDF datasets variable's dimensions have zero-length names.
  • Bugfix: Contours and vectors not drawn correctly when exporting KMZ file from lon-lat map plot.
  • Added control widget and preference for spacing of vectors on a vector plot.
  • Added some ability to plot "reduced horizontal grids".
  • Bugfix: Data on a projected Mercator grid cut off if more than 180° from longitude of projection orgigin.
  • Bugfix: Click-for-info in edge cells of a map plot could return null result if source data were on a projected grid.
  • Made History a top-level menu rather than a Bookmarks sub-menu.
  • Library: Updated GISSmap to 1.5, allowing for regional version of Equirectangular Oblique map projection and "zoomed" Orthographic projection.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.3.18.

Version 3.1.8: Released 2013-03-31.

  • Switched animation code to use Monte Media Library.
  • Temporary cache directory on Windows and Linux moved; location now based on environment variable values if available.
  • Preferences for saving images and animations now based on last save action.
  • Bugfix: Error in testing validity of lon-lat coordinates if auxiliary lon-lat grid variables specified a valid range.
  • Array independent dimension with length 1 shown with single-choice selector in array selection panel rather than as a simple text label.
  • Bugfix: (Windows) Preference window not wide enough to show last prefs grouping tab.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.3.16.

Version 3.1.7: Released 2012-12-31.

  • Bugfix: No response to control to change scale caption location.
  • Library: GISSmap updated to v. 1.4.9.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.3.15.
  • Bugfix: (Windows) Selecting an item in a control popup menu might be met with no response, depending on location of control and menu on screen.
  • Mac version now code-signed and should not be reported as damaged by OS X 10.8 Gatekeeper.
  • Bugfix: Default plot size of "standard" too large for some laptop displays.

Version 3.1.6: Released 2012-10-29.

  • Refactored portions of PlotMeta class for cleaner plot creation and potential manipulation by third-party wrapping code.
  • Refactored image writing code to reduce redundancy.
  • Plot graphic dimensions set to always be multiples of 16 pixels so that exported animations may more easily be rescaled.
  • Refactored plot parameters which were based on enum values.
  • Bugfix: Drawing contours could throw a exception or omit part of of the plot area when plot is resized after first being created.
  • Bugfix: Preferences with floating-point values not written with localized decimal character.
  • Bugfix: Map plots might initially appear blank (entirely invalids color) if default projection was set to Orthographic.
  • Zoom-in and -out (using command/control-click) enabled for some azimuthal projections.

Version 3.1.5: Released 2012-09-20.

  • Bugfix: Not catching central projection longitude if data correctly follow CF Convention for polar sterographic lon-lat grid.
  • Bugfix: If projection note visible in map plot, text did not change if projection was changed.
  • Added NC3 to list of supported netCDF filename extensions.
  • Added "All Files" option to open-file dialog for users whose datasets don't use any of the expected dataset filename extensions.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.3.13. Several third-party library jars are now included in the NJ library jar rather than kept separate.
  • Bugfix: When viewing array data panel, Copy and Select All commands in menu did not work even though associated keystrokes did work.

Version 3.1.4: Released 2012-06-28.

  • Bugfix: Constructing axes for auxiliary lon-lat grids with implicit dimensions failed if x and y dimensions were the same length.
  • Bugfix: (Non-Mac) Focused item in custom popup menu UI drawn with null background color.
  • Added control to manipulate position of scale colorbar caption.
  • Re-factored handling of pop-up menus based on enum choices.

Version 3.1.3: Released 2012-05-23.

  • Added option to label lon-lat gridlines on map plots, provided that the selected projection is cylindric.
  • Bugfix: Watch out for rotated-pole lon-lat grids for which the pole is still at 90°
  • Wrote custom UI to improve appearance of comboboxes with long lists of items.
  • Bugfix: Multi-dimension vertical coordinate might be reported as plottable.
  • Bugfix: Layout of combine-plot dialog messed up if any popup menu items are very long.
  • Try to better estimate external corner locations for 2D auxiliary lon-lat grids that do not have border variables to provide them.
  • Added zoom-in and zoom-out menu commands to plot menu. Enabled when viewing a map plot using an equirectangular projection.
  • Improved keystroke behavior in color value section popup menus.
  • Library: GISSmap updated to v. 1.4.7.

Version 3.1.2: Released 2012-03-31.

  • Bugfix: Cached secondary image was not also resized if a map plot was resized and a mask overlay had been applied.
  • Abbreviate display of really long URLs in Bookmarks menu.
  • Watch for projected-grid variables without a grid_mapping attribute but using a _CoordinateSystems attribute in conjunction with a variable which has a _CoordinateTransforms attribute.
  • Try to match up dimension with corresponding coordinate variable if they have different names (i.e., coordinate variable is not "classic").
  • Library: netCDF-Java and associated jars updated (v. 4.3.9). This should result in improved GRIB dataset handling
  • GRIB-1 datasets opened in "strict mode" by default unless disabled in preferences.
  • Local GRIB-1 parameter tables may be opened directly and applied to specific data center, subcenter, and version IDs.
  • Bugfix: Drag gesture with a variable in the Sources window failed if variable was a child of a grouping within a dataset.
  • Added option to use transparent invalid/missing fill when exporting map plots as KMZ files.

Version 3.1.1: Released 2012-01-30.

  • Further improvement to handling of auxiliary lon-lat grids with longitude values straddling ±180°E.
  • Bugfix: Sources tree-table would not accept two datasets with same name, even if located in different locations.
  • Export to KMZ option for lon-lat map plots now available no matter what map projection has been applied.
  • Watch out for file metadata that has HTML-escape characters.
  • Able to open local GRIB-1 table lookup lists.
  • Reduced time for initial scan of data by up to 75%, which significantly reduced time to create plot window if array is extremely large (i.e., more than 50 million values). Shifted secondary scan off of event thread in order to avoid initially blank plot window in such cases.
  • Use actual_range attribute for data min and max if array is of rank 2 and if attribute is present.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated (v. 4.2.29).
  • Library: JDOM updated (v. 1.1.2).
  • Library: Apache Commons Lang added (v. 3.1).

Version 3.1: Released 2011-11-29.

  • Added "Combine Plot" button to Sources window toolbar in order to make ability to create combination plots more discoverable.
  • Bugfix: "Remove all" toolbar button action did not test if datasets were in use before trying to remove them from datasets tree-table.
  • Bugfix: Lat-vert and lon-vert plots could come up blank if source data stored with unexpected ordering.
  • Basic Earth (aplot) mask for lon-lat plots upgraded to a higher resolution.
  • Bugfix: Handling of fitted scale range and reporting of data min-max when all data in source array are invalid.
  • Bugfix: Alt-click (option-click) on a lat-vert or lon-vert plot did not report info for correct coordinates if y axis had been "flipped".
  • Watch out for auxiliary lon-lat grids with discontinuities (jumps) arising from longitude values crossing ±180°E or 0°E.
  • Try to detect auxiliary lon-lat grids with global coverage, and if found account for the "seam" between opposite edges of the grid.
  • Added option to draw grid on map plots as solid, dashed or dotted.
  • Added ability to open some datasets compressed with gzip, bzip2 and Unix compress.
  • Opening of both local and remote datasets now handled through a single Task so that a progress bar is shown while opening local datasets that require uncompression.
  • "GRIB2" now accepted as a valid GRIB-2 file name extension.
  • Library: SLF4J jars updated to v. 1.6.4.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.2.27.
  • (Mac) Use Apple application handler methods introduced in "Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3".

Version 3.0.5: Released 2011-10-19.

  • Bugfix: Interpolated lon-vert plots could omit some data depending on definition of array longitude dimension and on specified endpoints of longitude acis.
  • Watch for possible floating point error in specified valid_range limits when dealing with a variable which has been scaled (i.e., non-integral values packed as ints).
  • "GR2" now accepted as a valid GRIB-2 file name extension.
  • Improved validation of fill values in unsigned integer (byte, short and int) variables due to possibility that fill value could be (errantly) reported as a negative number.
  • Bugfix: Projection favorites table in prefs window always initialized with all projections selected.
  • Bugfix: When lat-vert or lon-vert plot y-axis flipped, any contours to be drawn were not inverted along with rest of plot.
  • Bugfix: When lat-vert y-axis flipped, vector positions were not inverted.
  • Bugfix: When lat-vert x-axis shown with south at left, vector arrowheads had incorrect orientation.
  • Library: SLF4J updated to v. 1.6.2.

Version 3.0.4: Released 2011-08-09.

  • Bugfix: Arrays that had dimensions of time and latitude and no others were recognized as plottable, but could not be plotted.
  • Bugfix: Fill value in unsigned integral data array could be misinterpreted.
  • Refactored NcAxis to better trap and report bad values on array axes.
  • Re-wrote handing and display of vertical axis for lat-vert and lon-vert plots when longitudinal ticks selected.
  • Dataset treetable in sources window now shows variable groups as branches if they are present (as in, e.g., some HDF files). NcNode and subclasses refactored so that toggling show-only-plottables would carry down to all child nodes in treetable.
  • Bugfix: Creation of color tables from HDF palettes missing a step, thereby blocking subsequent creation of plot windows.
  • Library: (Mac) Quaqua FC updated to v. 7.4.2.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.2.26.

Version 3.0.3: Released 2011-06-21.

  • Bugfix: Climate model calendar class calculated bad DAY_OF_YEAR for final day of year.
  • Bugfix: Age limit on items in history list was not tested regularly.
  • Refactored lon-lat data gridding class to use secondary gridders for different types of lon-lat grids (regular, projected, auxiliary).
  • Bugfix: Alt-click (option-click) anywhere on a lon-lat map plot revealed no info if data were on a projected grid.
  • Bugfix: Alt-click (option-click) on time-lat, lat-vert and lon-vert plots used wrong offset of x-y point and reported info for wrong cell.
  • Refactored describe-point methods in plot data classes into methods in the various NcArray subclasses.
  • Modified handling of Equirectangular map plots so that one can "zoom in" via command-click (OS X) or control-click (others) and automatically switch to an Equirectangular (Regional) projection.
  • Bugfix: Extraneous text sometimes appears to the right of tabs of tabbed panes on some platforms (e.g., Win7).
  • Bugfix: Start-up crash on platforms using GTK+ due to lack of UIManager Tree.* icons for that look-and-feel.

Version 3.0.2: Released 2011-05-27.

  • Bugfix: Saving plot settings to prefs was partially failing for lon-lat plots using map projections with extra parameters.
  • Added "Autoset Parallels" button to lon-lat plot map controls when a conic map projection is chosen. When clicked, it will fill in the standard parallels with values 1/5 of the way in from the top and bottom latitudes of the map.
  • Bugfix: Painting of lat-vert and lon-vert plots could appear blank if non-interpolated.
  • Bugfix: Plot window status bar moved to wrong position when an animation export started.
  • Better trapping of exceptions if user closes a plot window while an animation export is in progress.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.2.25.

Version 3.0.1: Released 2011-05-12.

  • Bugfix: Export KMZ option in File menu was always enabled when lon-lat plot was created, but would then fail silently if KMZ could not be created for map's projection.
  • Bugfix: Checked item in Plot Size sub-menu not updated when Larger/Smaller item used to change plot size.
  • Bugfix: Lon axis range controls for lon-vert plots did not correctly reset if entry was outside of (-180,180) range.
  • Min and max values of vertical axis range may be specified in lat-vert and lon-vert plots.
  • More informative error dialog if attempt to open a remote catalog encounters something other than parseable catalog XML.
  • Bugfix: Show min-max and show projection footnote checkbox controls were not working for lon-lat plots.
  • Added checkboxes to preferences for scale min-max footnote visibility and lon-lat map projection.
  • Bugfix: Array data panel tabs not updated correctly if a combination plot created, and a third array added to the plot frame to replace one of the prior two.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.2.24.

Version 3.0: Released 2011-04-29.

  • A Java SE 6 runtime environment is now required to run Panoply. This means the Mac OS X version will no longer run on older G5 and other PowerPC-based Macs.
  • Library: netCDF-Java updated to v. 4.2.23. This includes GRIB java update to v. 8.0.28.
  • Drop use of PlotListeners in individual PlotPieces and instead use chained parameterChanged calls from root of PlotPiece tree.
  • Replaced lon-lat plot type hierarchical menu in plot menu with menu item that toggles back and forth between map/zonal option.
  • Plot target pop-up menu removed from Datasets Browser toolbar. Now invoked by a popup-trigger click (right-click or control-click) on the Create Plot button.
  • More helpful error dialog when unable to create data array from variable previously deemed plottable.
  • Added Bookmarks menu.
  • Recent Files sub-menu in Files menu replaced by History sub-menu in Bookmarks menu.
  • Added View menu, populated mostly with items formerly in Plot menu. Toolbar icon label toggle moved from preferences to View menu.
  • Added option to flip vertical axis in lat-vert plots in case of ambiguous orientation of data.
  • Completely re-wrote TreeTable GUI component, eliminating need for a backing JTree, and correspondingly refactored TreeTableNode class and subclasses.
  • Datasets Browser window renamed Sources and re-designed so that it has three possible displays in a tabbed pane Two displays added as extra tabs are THREDDS/OpenDAP catalogs listing, and bookmarks panels as display choices.
  • Added option to change size of scale tick mark labels. Default size also increased slightly.
  • Re-designed popup color menus to offer more choices from a palette rather than a list.
  • Added ability to read sinusoidal grid mappings for lon-lat data if tagged in CF-like manner. (Sinusoidal not yet in CF spec.)
  • Added animation, allowing user to export a sequence of frames stepping along an independent dimension of a plotted variable in AVI or MOV video format or as a sequence of JPG, PNG or TIFF files.
  • Added ability to create lon-vert plots.
  • Management of several projected lon-lat data grids re-coded in order to deal with changes in NJ-4.2 projected grid handling.
  • Plot may be re-sized using the Larger and Smaller menu items in the View menu.
  • "Standard" plot size has been increased by 20% in both dimensions. (Old standard size is now "Small".) Added "Extra Small" and "Super Jumbo" pre-set options.
  • Library: (Mac) Quaqua FC updated to v. 7.3.4.
  • Library: GISSmap updated to v. 1.4.6.

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