Analyzing VIIRS and CrIS Data with HYDRA2

A toolkit for analysis of satellite multispectral data has been developed using freeware to assist research and development of remote sensing applications as well as education and training of remote sensing scientists. Called HYDRA (HYper-spectral data viewer for Development of Research Applications), it provides a fast and flexible interface that allows users to explore and visualize relationships between radiances (or reflectances and brightness temperatures) and wavelength (or wavenumber) using spectra diagrams, cross sections, scatter plots, multi-channel combinations, and color enhancements on a pixel by pixel basis with full access to the underlying metadata of location and time.

HYDRA can be used with multispectral (or hyperspectral) fields of data from selected instruments to display (a) pixel location and spectral measurement values; (b) spectral channels can be combined in linear functions as well the resulting images; (c) false color images constructed from multiple channel combinations; (d) scatter plots of spectral channel combinations; (e) pixels connected between images and scatter plots; (f) transects of measurements, and (g) soundings of temperature and moisture as well as spectra from selected pixels.

HYDRA was initially developed for MODIS, AIRS, and AMSU. The follow-on HYDRA2 has been adapted for analyzing data from VIIRS, CrIS, and ATMS. This paper presents some examples.