SimSat v0.3.0 — Earth colors and satellite rendering
This release brings the improved cloud/surface rendering work since v0.2.1 into Windows Studio. It adds unshaded seasonal Earth maps, measured MODIS land colors, and repeatable local cases with automatic PNG export.
- Studio exposes the NASA unshaded monthly Earth-map source and optional MODIS NBAR land input, with the same measured reflectance and snow handling as the renderer. Natural sRGB and the established ABI display transform are selectable.
- Test-case JSON files appear in Open > Test cases. A case can open interactively or render/save automatically through Studio. CPU workers and CI build jobs are capped at six.
- The underlying visible path includes the verified ocean-glint normalization fix, terrain and low-sun lighting work, and cloud-fraction/particle-optics experiments documented in the repository.
- Research adds explicit per-band ABI first-order and all-order scalar Monte Carlo CLIs, official spectral-response inputs, independent transport checks, and checked-in case scoreboards. Monte Carlo remains optional, CPU-only at scene level, noisy at low sample counts, and unsuitable as the default Studio appearance.
- Day/night thermal products and cached-run support remain available; workspace and standalone Python versions are synchronized.
The measured land input is a nadir/noon MODIS RGB display proxy with strict source-grid/date checks. It is not arbitrary-angle BRDF or ABI per-band reflectance. The 1974 demonstration uses an explicitly labeled 2024 seasonal land analogue. Display intent still has appearance adjustments and must not be scored as an unmodified radiometric operator.
Known scientific limits: the cold-cloud IR residual remains roughly +8 to +11 K in the evaluated case, and forecast cloud placement/temperature limits remain. This release does not claim complete ABI retrieval fidelity or state-of-the-art certification. See the committed scoreboards and transport notes for the measured improvements and remaining regressions.
Extract the portable Windows zip. The optional Earth-map zip supplies the earth-basemap folder beside the EXE. Model simulations and personal case manifests are not bundled publicly. See docs/STUDIO-CASES.md for case creation and compatible inputs.
This stable release promotes the tested v0.3.0-rc.1 renderer. The release transition changes version metadata and packaging; rendering and scientific limitations are unchanged. Previous releases remain available.
Assets: simsat-studio-v0.3.0-windows-x86_64.exe is the standalone app. The Windows portable zip includes matching CLIs and notices. The optional NASA Earth-map zip extracts beside the EXE. The Linux CLI archive and abi3 Python wheel are built from this same source commit. Personal simulation files, case manifests, and per-case measured data are excluded.
Studio case guide · Diagnostic scoreboard
Validation: all four CI jobs passed, including strict Clippy, formatting, workspace tests, Windows/macOS engine builds, and Python import/render. All three release-artifact jobs passed. The exact published Windows EXE has version 0.3.0 and reproduced all three checked release-candidate images pixel-for-pixel. Checksums and build verification are attached.
