BEAM Overview

BEAM Version 4.7

Overview

BEAM, the Basic ENVISAT Toolbox for (A)ATSR and MERIS, 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. The purpose of the BEAM is not to duplicate existing commercial packages, but to complement them with functions dedicated to the handling of ENVISAT MERIS and AATSR products.

The main components of the BEAM are:

Supported Product Formats

This following table lists the data product formats which are supported by BEAM using the reader modules provided in the standard installation. Information about access to these products is given on the Data Sources page.

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
NASA Ocean Color (OBPG) MODIS A/T, SeaWiFS, OCTS, CZCS HDF
GETASSE DEM N/A  

Standard Product Format

VISAT and the scientific data processors use a simple data input/output format, which makes it easy to import ENVISAT data in other imaging applications. The format is called DIMAP® and has been developed by SPOT-Image, France. The BEAM software uses a special DIMAP profile called BEAM-DIMAP, which has the following characteristics:

Source Code

The complete BEAM software has been developed under the GNU public license and comes with full source code (JavaTM).

Supported Platforms

BEAM is programmed in pure Java™ to allow a maximum portability. The BEAM 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.