NASA's Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) | NASA's Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF)

Download/Launch ViSBARD

ViSBARD is written in the Java programming language and is able to run under Macintosh OS X 10.3+, Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (Vista/7 untested), and many Linux-based operating systems. It also supports stereoscopic hardware for 3-D viewing.

This Java Web Start version of ViSBARD allows you to run the software without needing to perform a traditional download and installation. It ensures you are running the latest version of ViSBARD and can create a shortcut to the application on your desktop, if desired.

For common problems with Web Start, check this link or the Support tab.

AlternativeDistributions

ViSBARD can also be installed using the alternative format below:

Publications Policy

Please credit the ViSBARD project at NASA/GSFC when using its images in publications and also let us know. We’d be happy to hear about it.

Sample Data

Currently supported data can be loaded from your local file system or via ViSBARD’s remote repository browser (“File | Load Data | Add Remote File…”). MHD data can be generated by the CCMC’s Runs on Request system, then converted to CDF via this form. Sample data packages are provided here for your convenience.
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THEMIS 5-Spacecraft Sample (14.7MB): Start here! This saved ViSBARD session is pre-loaded with all five THEMIS spacecraft orbits along with data from the ESA and FGM instruments for three days. Once ViSBARD is launched, go to File | Load Session… Once you choose the ViSBARD-THEMIS.session file included in this sample package, you will be prompted for the location of the packaged data. Select the ThemisSession/data/ThemisA_2008-02_ESA-FGM_10s.vba file included in this package, and the session will load.

Heliospheric Sample (34.0MB): Includes all COHOWeb data available (Helios 1, Helios 2, OMNI M, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Pioneer Venus Orbiter, Ulysses, Voyager 1, Voyager 2), reformatted into Cartesian coordinates for ViSBARD. It contains density, temperature, magnetic field, and velocity data, hourly-averaged.

Magnetospheric Sample (63.5MB): A sampling of Ace, Cluster, Geotail, IMP-8, Polar, and Wind data taken from CDAWeb. It also contains a composite set from a storm during 2002/10/01 - 2002/10/10. The data includes magnetic field, velocity, density, and temperature information.

Orbit Sample (180MB): Orbits of 24 spacecraft taken from the SSCWeb at 1min-12min resolution, depending on its distance from the Earth — enough to make the orbits smooth. Higher-resolution data can be generated and downloaded from the SSCWeb if needed. Includes data from Ace, Cluster 1-4, Equator-S, FAST, Geotail, GOES 8-11, IMAGE, IMP-8, Interball Tail, LANL 90,91,94,97, Polar, SAMPEX, SOHO, TIMED, and Wind.

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Sample #1 (44.5MB): Four time steps of OpenGGCM MHD data spanning 2001/08/03 03:39:00 - 2001/08/03 03:57:00; generated by the CCMC.

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Sample #2 (217.7MB): One time step of BATS-R-US MHD data from 2000/01/01 00:10:00; generated by the CCMC.

Version History

2009/10/15 Implemented new capability to visualize MHD data generated by the CCMC; currently-supported models include OpenGGCM and BATS-R-US. The data can currently be visualized as 2-D cutplanes, 3-D streamlines, or interpolated along the orbit trajectories of loaded spacecraft for model-observed data comparison. It also includes a vortex detection algorithm that finds and clusters flow vortices. See the images section for sample usage.

2009/09/21 Updated Java Web Start JNLPs to support 64-bit Mac environments

2009/08/12 Now supporting THEMIS FGM and ESA data; implemented new unit, “sec1970”, to handle 1970-based epoch in seconds (instead of 0000-based epoch in ms); updated to CDF 3.3.0; fixed VSPO DOY entry problem; recompiled all JNI libraries to be 64-bit compatible, allowing ViSBARD to run under JRE 1.6.

2009/01/12 Enabled the Virtual Space Physics Observatory (VSPO) to directly view certain products in 3-D with ViSBARD via Java Web Start; implemented SingleInstanceService to automatically intercept any new requests for data retrieval from the VSPO in the currently-running ViSBARD instance.

2008/09/18 Converted application to allow launch via Java Web Start; updated settings and custom RDF handling to use a preference rooted in user’s home directory; updated SSC JAX-RPC stubs to most recent version; now able to import data whose vector components are in three separate variables.

2007/10/14 Fixed intermittent problems when auto-merging orbit data from SSCWeb.

2007/10/12 Fixed data import problem when loading non-CDAWeb CDFs that don’t include FIELDNAM tags for its variables; also fixed case when FILLVAL is a UCHAR, but detected as a FLOAT.

2007/08/15 Added ability to swap eyes in stereoscopic viewing mode; changed units of requested SSCWeb orbit data from km to Re.

2007/08/03 Remote file access updates: integrated Virtual Space Physics Observatory client into “Open Remote” panel, updated SSC Web Services to v2.0, restored feature that shows date range available for each instrument while browsing the CDAWeb repository.

           Tsyganenko magnetic field line plotting updates: increased precision of IGRF date calculations, updated to IGRF-10 (1900-2010), implemented context of neighboring field lines around an originally plotted one, cropped model output to X \> -15Re since that is its published valid extent, finished implementing Tsyganenko 2001 model, implemented adjustable color mapping.
           
           
           Miscellaneous: allowing variable names to be remapped after they are loaded, exporting all ViSBARD .class files into single JAR instead of individually, mousewheel can now be used for zooming, updated CDF & OVT libraries to be Mac "Universal", updated CDF library to v3.1, transitioned to Java 1.5; discontinuing support for Windows 98, made cross-platform session loading/saving more robust, implemented dynamic solar wind pressure (PSW) input to bow shock and magnetopause models with data from OMNI via CDAWeb.
           
           
           Bugfixes: Fixed time input bug in remote file browsing: under certain circumstances, requested date range was converted to local time; in remote file access panels, the "Retrieve Data" button was not always enabled when it should be; fixed window layering issues: now main window can be brought to front; fixed problem with "About" dialog mysteriously reappearing on Macs; fixed multi-file error when multiple S/C are selected for SSCWeb download; fixed variable mapping issues: Refined properties panel/mapper to reflect only the variables of the selected dataset; fixed bug that didn't allow MagField and Velocity to be mapped to glyph size.

2007/03/06 Completed Mac Universal testing, repackaged beta distribution

2007/02/21 Updated Intel-based Mac port with new CDF libraries.

2007/01/05 Beta release of Intel-based Mac port. Includes many soon-to-be-documented features that will be in next release.

2006/01/06 Ported OVT code to plot Tsyganenko magnetic field lines (beta); added ability to pull model’s input parameters online from OMNI via CDAWeb; using Reine Chimiak’s Java coordinate transformation routines for GSM—>GSE conversions; added option to display currently shown time as an overlay on the main 3-D window; now allowing user-specified fill values for ASCII output; changed “Open Remote” time input format to ISO; fixed lousy scrolling in OpenRemote panel; removed Java Runtime Environment 1.3.1_08 from Windows distribution; added animation option to scroll through time at even pace from start to finish of displayed time; fixed stereoscopic handling of loaded/saved sessions; updated splash screen

2005/07/08 Auto-generate RDFs for new/unrecognized data types (CDF) fully implemented; Minor fixes to this since last unofficial release: dialog is resizable, “Not Selected” option available for drop-down boxes, variables are auto-selected when chosen by drop-down box, more verbose error messages; Updated documentation to reflect auto-RDF generation; Fixed bug when restoring saved sessions: the time slider zooms in as necessary if a relatively small range was saved; When exporting data as a VBA (ViSBARD ASCII), missing data is reported as “0.0000” instead of ”---”

2005/05/06 Physical units are now taken directly from RDF files instead of being automatically converted; exceptions of Location, MagField, and Velocity, as they are automatically forced to km, nT, and km/s, respectively; Numbers are now shown in exponential notation to better handle very small or very large values; Scaling panel now allows user to adjust range to be smaller than 0.001 in length; Updated documentation and help system to reflect changes in past year, including new file input/loading; converted files to PDF; Updated Quick Start Guide to include method of installing and launching ViSBARD from the Mac GUI; Updated web page to include a gallery section

2005/03/22 Implemented ability to automatically retrieve and combine SSCWeb Orbit data when existing data does not have location info included; Fixed crash when orbit plotting enabled and time slider shrunken to < 2 data points; Made Mac/Linux launch scripts executable “out of the box”; included instructions to create an alias

2005/02/16 “Save Session” now saves “combined” datasets properly; multiple S/C can be selected simultaneously for SSCWeb remote transfers; Resource Loading Toolkit GUI streamlined for easier usage; remote transfers and operations with Web Services can be interrupted by user; minor GUI fixes

2004/12/30 Added connectivity to SSCWeb for easy access to orbit data from 70+ satellites; fixed problem loading Wind H0 SWE and Geotail H0 CPI data — bugs were in RDFs that were not specific enough, which then caused other RDFs to be used; fixed more bugs with “Add Remote” functionality

2004/02/20 Beta release with updates from Ryan Boller, including cross-platform support, orbit plotting, stereoscopic support, and more flexible animation output.

2002/11/10 Alpha release by Aquilent