In preparation for working with free, publicly available Himawari and GOES satellite data first you will need to install Python on your system. Python is a high-level programming
language, but let me stress that you will not need to do any coding yourself; the necessary scripts will be provided in subsequent blog posts.
This tutorial is for Windows 10 but Python is available for other operating systems. The installation procedure is relatively straightforward even when installing in a sandbox environment.
We will be using a free minimal version of Anaconda—a Python data science platform—called Miniconda, along with a few necessary packages needed to read and work with the satellite data.
DOWNLOAD MINICONDA
Download Miniconda3 Windows 64-bit (Python 3.7 version) here:
Run the installer you just downloaded. You can choose to install Miniconda for all users or just the current user. I chose Just Me from the menu.
In Advanced Options you will be asked if you want to add Miniconda3 to your PATH environment variable. For my installation I checked this option. Not doing so caused problems later on but it may have been because I installed Miniconda in a sandbox.
Continue the rest of the installation process. If all goes well we can add the additional packages next.
INSTALL SPYDER
Spyder is the integrated development environment (IDE) that you will be using to run the Python scripts. From the Start Menu, run
This will open a command prompt with your username (mine is shown, obviously).
Type the following command and press Enter.
INSTALL NETCDF4
Himawari and GOES use the netCDF data format so we will need to install the library to read it. While still in the command prompt, type the following and press Enter.
INSTALL OPENCV
The last package we need to install is openCV for Python. It is a computer vision library but we will be using it for more mundane image editing functions. In the command prompt, type the following and press Enter.
START SPYDER
From the Start Menu, run
The first time you run Spyder you will be asked if you want to install Kite. I suggest you do not do so unless you are familiar with it.
And that is it! We now have all the tools we will need to begin working with Himawari and GOES satellite data once we acquire it. That information will be coming in the next blog posts.
This tutorial is for Windows 10 but Python is available for other operating systems. The installation procedure is relatively straightforward even when installing in a sandbox environment.
We will be using a free minimal version of Anaconda—a Python data science platform—called Miniconda, along with a few necessary packages needed to read and work with the satellite data.
DOWNLOAD MINICONDA
Download Miniconda3 Windows 64-bit (Python 3.7 version) here:
https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.htmlRun the installer you just downloaded. You can choose to install Miniconda for all users or just the current user. I chose Just Me from the menu.
In Advanced Options you will be asked if you want to add Miniconda3 to your PATH environment variable. For my installation I checked this option. Not doing so caused problems later on but it may have been because I installed Miniconda in a sandbox.
Continue the rest of the installation process. If all goes well we can add the additional packages next.
INSTALL SPYDER
Spyder is the integrated development environment (IDE) that you will be using to run the Python scripts. From the Start Menu, run
Anaconda3 (64-bit) > Anaconda Prompt (miniconda3)
This will open a command prompt with your username (mine is shown, obviously).
Type the following command and press Enter.
conda install spyderINSTALL NETCDF4
Himawari and GOES use the netCDF data format so we will need to install the library to read it. While still in the command prompt, type the following and press Enter.
conda install netCDF4INSTALL OPENCV
The last package we need to install is openCV for Python. It is a computer vision library but we will be using it for more mundane image editing functions. In the command prompt, type the following and press Enter.
pip install opencv-pythonSTART SPYDER
From the Start Menu, run
Anaconda3 (64-bit) > Spyder
The first time you run Spyder you will be asked if you want to install Kite. I suggest you do not do so unless you are familiar with it.
And that is it! We now have all the tools we will need to begin working with Himawari and GOES satellite data once we acquire it. That information will be coming in the next blog posts.
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