Trying to open L3 files without sucsess

[maratus]

Hi everyone,

I am new to SeaDAS and I am trying to open L3 file with monthly chlorophyll concentration without luck. SeaDAS makes a warning: "No appropriate reader found <path to the file>". Do I need to install something else? What could be a problem?

OS: windows10. SeaDAS 7.3.2

Best regards,
Marat

[OB SeaDAS - dshea]

SeaDAS can not open L3 bin files, but can view L3 mapped files.  The command line program "l3mapgen" is used to convert a bin file into a mapped file.  Unfortunately, the command line programs only work on linux or a mac. We also have SMI (Standard Mapped Image) files on the website that you can download instead.

don

[OB.DAACx - SeanBailey]

Marat,

The L3 bin file format is not a raster format, so SeaDAS does not read it.  We have plans to make a reader for a future release (in fact we used to have one, but it was so inefficient as to make it unusable that we removed it).  You can process the bin file to a L3 map (SMI) file (or download the versions available on the OB.DAAC data distribution servers), which the SeaDAS GUI can read and display.

Regards,
Sean

[maratus]

Thanks a lot. Is there any dedicated software to extract data from L3 files?

Marat

[OB SeaDAS - dshea]

Yes, we distribute many command line programs with SeaDAS that work with L3 bin files.

don

[OB WebDev - norman]

Hi Marat,

There is the l3bindump program that is distributed as part
of the processing code.  I use this program occasionally to
read level-3 bin files into other packages such as GMT.

l3bindump 3.0.0-r12992 (May 11 2016 19:30:27)
Usage: l3bindump argument-list

  The argument-list is a set of keyword=value pairs. The arguments can
  be specified on the command line, or put into a parameter file, or the
  two methods can be used together, with command line overriding.

  return value: 0=OK, 1=error, 110=requested bin(s) not found
  file data.

  There are 3 use cases:
    1) bin_number
    2) region defined by lat, lon, and radius (in km)
    3) region defined by north, south, west, east
The list of valid keywords follows:

   -help (boolean) (alias=-h,--help) (default=false) = print usage information
   -version (boolean) (alias=--version) (default=false) = print the version
        information
   -dump_options (boolean) (alias=--dump_options) (default=false) = print
        information about each option
   -dump_options_paramfile (ofile) (alias=--dump_options_paramfile) = print
        information about each option to paramfile
   -dump_options_xmlfile (ofile) (alias=--dump_options_xmlfile) = print
        information about each option to XML file
   par (ifile) = input parameter file
   ifile (ifile) = input L1 file name
   oformat (string) (default=txt) = output file format
        txt:  plain text columnar format
    seabass:  SeaBASS format
   l3bprod (string) (default=Unspecified) = binned product to extract
   bin_number (int) (default=-1) = bin number
   north (float) (default=-999) = north boundary
   south (float) (default=-999) = south boundary
   east (float) (default=-999) = east boundary
   west (float) (default=-999) = west boundary
   lat (float) (default=-999) = latitude
   lon (float) (default=-999) = longitude
   radius (float) (default=-999) = radius in km
   verbose (boolean) (default=0) = verbose output

Norman

[maratus]

Thanks a lot for the reply, I will run virtual machine with linux and try what you have suggested. Again thanks a lot!

[OB SeaDAS - dshea]

Once you get the VM setup follow these instructions to get the command line tools.

https://seadas.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/#manual-installation

don