Panoply netCDF, HDF and GRIB Data Viewer

Additional Map Overlays

The Panoply application distribution includes several continental map "overlay" files, most as coast and border outlines plus one continental mask. We provide here additional compatible overlay files.

Coastline and border outline map overlays that begin with an "MWDB" prefix are based on the Micro World Data Bank II (MWDB II) dataset, originally created by Fred Pospeschil and Antonio Rivera. We use the version dated 2011 which is available for download from Fred Pospeschil's MWDB II website. The MWDB II database provides outlines in five levels of resolution, ranging from finest resolution at level 1 to coarsest resolution at level 5. Please note that MWDB II country overlays do not include (relatively) recent changes to international boders.

Outline overlays provided here are in either CNO or CNOB format, which are used by several NASA/GISS software applications. Panoply is also able to read overlays that have been saved as SHP shapefiles.

The following overlays are embedded within the Panoply application itself:

Earth: Outlines of Earth's continents. Resolution is low/moderate and many large islands are omitted. Also known as "Earth_aplot", this outline dataset comes from the aplot plotting application used at NASA/GISS.

Earth_mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on Earth outline.

MWDB_Coasts_1 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents, suitable for regional map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (976 kB)

MWDB_Coasts_3 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents, suitable for global map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (159 kB)

MWDB_Coasts_Countries_1 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders, suitable for regional map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (1.1 MB)

MWDB_Coasts_Countries_3 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders, suitable for global map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (213 kB)

MWDB_Coasts_Lakes_1 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents and major lakes, suitable for regional map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (1.1 MB)

MWDB_Coasts_Lakes_3 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents and major lakes, suitable for global map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (199 kB)

MWDB_Coasts_NA_1 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders and North American state and provincial borders, suitable for regional map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (1.4 MB)

MWDB_Coasts_NA_3 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders and North American state and provincial borders, suitable for continental map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (281 kB)

MWDB_Coasts_USA_1 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders and USA state borders, suitable for regional map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (1.3 MB)

MWDB_Coasts_USA_3 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents with international borders and USA state borders, suitable for continental map plots.
+ Download CNOB file (266 kB)

MWDB_Lakes_Rivers_1 outline: Outlines of major lakes and rivers but not coastlines. Best used as a secondary outline in combination with MWDB_Coasts_1 or MWDB_Coasts_Countries_1.
+ Download CNOB file (395 kB)

MWDB_Lakes_Rivers_3 outline: Outlines of major lakes and rivers but not coastlines. Best used as a secondary outline in combination with MWDB_Coasts_3 or MWDB_Coasts_Countries_3.
+ Download CNOB file (81 kB)

The following additional overlays are available as separate downloads. After downloading an overlay, open it in Panoply using the Open command in the File menu. You will then be queried whether you would like to add the overlay to Panoply's application support directory for future use.

Continents

Earth_5x4 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents approximated on a 5°×4° grid.
+ Download CNOB file

Earth_5x4 mask: 14420×720 black-and-white mask based on the Earth_5x4 outline.
+ Download GIF

Earth_10x8 outline: Outlines of Earth's continents approximated on a 10°×8° grid.
+ Download CNOB file

Earth_10x8 mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on the Earth_10x8 outline.
+ Download GIF

Paleo Continents

The following outline and mask overlays are based on data provided by Linda Sohl of the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research.

Paleo_Cretaceous_100Ma outline: Outlines of Earth's continents during the Cretaceous approx. 100 Mya.
+ Download CNOB file (200 kB)

Paleo_Cretaceous_100Ma mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on the Paleo_Cretaceous_100Ma outline.
+ Download GIF

Paleo_Paleocene_56Ma outline: Outlines of Earth's continents during the Paleocene approx. 56 Mya.
+ Download CNOB file (55 kB)

Paleo_Paleocene_56Ma mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on the Paleo_Paleocene_56Ma outline.
+ Download GIF

Paleo_Pliocene_3Ma outline: Outlines of Earth's continents during the Pliocene approx. 3 Mya.
+ Download CNOB file (78 kB)

Paleo_Pliocene_3Ma mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on the Paleo_Pliocene_3Ma outline.
+ Download GIF

Paleo_Sturtian_750Ma outline: Outlines of Earth's continents during the Sturtian glaciation approx. 750 Mya.
+ Download CNOB file

Paleo_Sturtian_750Ma mask: 1440×720 black-and-white mask based on the Paleo_Sturtian_750Ma outline.
+ Download GIF

Planets

Mars_Datum outline: Outline of the line of reference elevation on Mars.
+ Download CNOB file (90 kB)

Venus_MR_6052km outline: Outline of the line of mean radius (6052 km) on Venus.
+ Download CNOB file (69 kB)

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