SeaDAS Overview | ![]() |
SeaDAS is a visualization, analysis and data processing package. The core components of the SeaDAS visualization and analysis applications are based on BEAM, the Basic ENVISAT Toolbox for (A)ATSR and MERIS. BEAM is a collection of executable tools and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) which have been developed to facilitate the utilisation, viewing and processing of ENVISAT MERIS, AATSR and ASAR data. SeaDAS extends BEAM to include support for the data products produced by NASA's Ocean Biology Processing Group. This support includes data processing capabilities to allow users to process these data between the various processing levels (i.e. Level 0 through Level 3)
The main components of the SeaDAS are:
This following table lists the data product formats which are supported using the reader modules provided in the standard installation.
Instrument | Platform | Format |
MERIS | Envisat | Envisat N1 |
MERIS Binned Level-3 | Envisat | netCDF |
AATSR | Envisat | Envisat N1 |
ASAR | Envisat | Envisat N1 |
ATSR | ERS | ERS |
ATSR | ERS | Envisat N1 |
SAR | ERS | Envisat N1 |
Chris | Proba | HDF4 |
AVNIR-2 | ALOS | CEOS |
PRISM | ALOS | CEOS |
MODIS | Aqua, Terra | HDF |
AVHRR/3 | NOAA-KLM | NOAA METOP |
TM Thematic Mapper | Landsat 5 | Fast Format GeoTIFF |
Aquarius | SAC-D | HDF5 |
SeaWiFS | Orbview-2 | HDF |
OCTS | ADEOS | HDF |
CZCS | NIMBUS-7 | HDF |
VIIRS | Suomi NPP | HDF-5 |
HICO | International Space Station | (L1B) HDF-5 |
OCM-2 | OceanSat | HDF |
GETASSE DEM | N/A | |
SPOT VEGETATION | SPOT | HDF |
Generic NetCDF/CF-products | N/A | NetCDF/CF |
HDF-EOS gridded products | N/A | HDF |
The SeaDAS/BEAM visualization software has been developed under the GNU public license and comes with full source code (JavaTM).
The SeaDAS processing components have been developed under the NASA Open Source Agreement
https://ti.arc.nasa.gov/opensource/nosa/
SeaDAS/BEAM is programmed in pure Java to allow a maximum portability. The software has been successfully tested under MS Windows XP®, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and also Mac OS X and as well as under Linux and Solaris® operating systems.