Choose your date of interest.

Choose the region that you would like to see. You may choose specific coordinates or select a predefined region. With the global viewer you may specify the longitude from -180 to 360. This may seem a little strange, but it allows you to see the entire pacific or atlantic without a break. For example, specifying a region from -180 to 180 will give you a global plot centered about the prime meridian, while specifying 0 to 360 will give you a global plot centered about the 180th meridian.

The picture width pull down menu sets the width of the picture in centimeters. Note that if you choose PostScript as the output format you will not be able to control the picture width.

The grid lines option allows you to include grid lines on the plot. The spacing interval is defined by the pull down menu. Choose zero for no grid lines

Choose the minimum and maximum data range for the plot. Any value above or below is set to the min/max. If this is the Gulf of Mexico viewer you may also choose to reference the data to the model mean instead of the mean sea level by checking the include model mean radio button.

Choose whether or not the data is trimmed based on bathymetry. If the bathymetry option is set to true you may specify the cut-off depth. Data will be removed in regions below the cut-off depth.

Choose whether or not to overlay the SSH as contours over the either of the following data sets. If you choose the overlay option SSHA contours will be included with the default settings. You may modify the contour settings manually.

If you add an overlay you will have to choose some options for the second data set. If you need details on the settings for the second data set, please see the respective data viewer for that data set.

A note about the MODIS data: If this is the global viewer then the MODIS data is the Level-3 product. If this is the Gulf of Mexico viewer then the MODIS data is the Level-2 product.

Choose whether or not to include contours. If the contours are to be included, specify their format. The annotation interval must be a multiple of the contour interval. You may choose the contour line weight (thickness) and the color. The color is specified by the RGB levels.

IMPORTANT: If you check an overlay option you must specify the contour information. The SSH is displayed as contours with the overlay.

Choose the output image format (PNG or PostScript). If you choose to plot a PostScript the picture width will be selected for you. The PostScript may have some uneccessary white space depending on what region you choose, and we will leave it up to you to trim the image. If you need a free PostScript editing program try Inkscape. Note that the PostScripts are generated with 600 dpi, which should be enough for most publications.