Welcome! This course is about using the CoastWatch Utilities software package to help with processing satellite imagery and derived data products. The course covers working with data files (i) visually using a graphical user interface, and (ii) by typing commands at the Unix or Windows command prompts. No programming experience is needed, though it can be helpful when automating data processing.

Introduction to the CoastWatch Utilities Course (7 mins)

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Prerequisites

The course material requires that you have the CoastWatch Utilities software installed so that you can follow along on your own computer and work with the example data provided. You can install the CoastWatch Utilities by visiting the NOAA CoastWatch central operationsLinks to an external site. web site and downloading the software (available in the Data Tools section). There are separate packages for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The command line tools in the software are more easily used if you also set the command line path (see Chapter 1 in the user's guide below on how to do that). The course material and user interface images are based on version 4.0.0 of the software released in May, 2024, but other versions can also be used.

Resources

Throughout this course, we'll refer to sections of the CoastWatch Utilities User's Guide documentation. You'll also need to download the cw_utils_sample_data.zip Download cw_utils_sample_data.zipfile that contains all the sample data for the course. Inside the ZIP file is a table of contents 00-Contents.txt that describes all the data files — we'll use a subset of the data files in each unit.

Feedback

You can email questions, comments, and suggestions on this course or the CoastWatch Utilities software to the CoastWatch help desk at coastwatch.info@noaa.gov.

For feedback on the software itself and/or bug reports, you should include the following information:

Version and operating system — for example CoastWatch Utilities 3.7.1 on Windows 10.
Data file format and origin — for example CoastWatch NetCDF files obtained from the CoastWatch web site. If the data origin is unknown, include some example data filenames.
How to reproduce the issue — if sending a bug report or asking for clarification, we also need:
- Command line tool — a transcript of the terminal session. You can cut and paste the contents of the command used and the output directly into the email.
- Graphical interface tool — a list of steps to reproduce the problem. For example, Open data file X, click this button, then that button, etc.

Content

This tutorial is composed of 5 units:

Unit 1 - Introduction to the CoastWatch Utilities

Unit 2 - Basics of the CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool

Unit 3 - Command Line Tools for Extracting File Information

Unit 4 - More in Depth with the CoastWatch Data Analysis Tool

Unit 5 - Command Line Tools for Data Manipulation