BowEcho v0.32.0

BowEcho v0.32.0 — "The Satellite Release"

BowEcho v0.32.0 makes simulated and international satellite imagery first-class
parts of the application. It ships the completed SimSat v0.1.6 integration,
public Meteosat-12 imagery and lightning, a substantially cleaner radar and
model workspace, and signed macOS updates that can install from inside BowEcho.

SimSat v0.1.6 inside BowEcho

Windows > SimSat now opens the embedded simulated-satellite workspace.
BowEcho accepts local WRF/NetCDF files, extensionless wrfout files from any
domain, folders and multi-time files, previously downloaded HRRR native-level
files, or an HRRR wrfnat download requested directly in the pane. The smaller
pressure-and-surface model pair cannot reconstruct the native cloud volume, so
SimSat keeps its full-native HRRR inputs in a separate reusable cache.

The first release includes visible true color, GeoColor, sandwich imagery,
band-13 infrared, the three ABI water-vapor bands, precipitable water,
cloud-top temperature, and cloud optical depth. Normal renders use SimSat's
full CPU path, enter BowEcho's Satellite player, group frames from one source
run into one loop, follow onto the radar map, and retain their native plot and
PNG-export path. The optional visible-only GPU preview renders one frame,
reports every compatibility substitution, and deliberately does not enter a
saved Satellite loop.

The pane exposes the released atmosphere and cloud controls: aerosol optical
depth, humidity swelling, aerial-veil and terrain-height atmosphere, model
fractional clouds, visible cloud-OD scaling, exposed-domain edge feathering,
legacy/single/delta-flux cloud transport, granulation, land visibility and
highlight calibration, what-if lighting, and the opt-in top-down stratiform
reconstruction. Defaults match SimSat v0.1.6, including fractional clouds on,
cloud-OD scale 0.15, exposed-edge feathering on, and granulation off. Top-down
output now honors Model native, ABI 1 km, and ABI 2 km resolution while
preserving aspect ratio at the output cap.

SimSat's brick format advanced from v3 to v5. BowEcho uses a versioned engine
cache so old bricks cannot be mistaken for current data; retained WRF or HRRR
source files re-ingest normally without another HRRR download.

Meteosat-12 imagery and MTG lightning

The Satellite window now includes Meteosat-12, backed by EUMETSAT's public
EUMETView service. No EUMETSAT account or API key is required. BowEcho discovers
the current MTG-I1 layers and times, loads the latest frame or a loop, and
supports true color, infrared and provider-rendered RGB products over a saved
regional window or the normal sector.

MTG Lightning Imager Accumulated Flash Area is available in the Meteosat tab
and from the map's lightning shortcut. Meteosat imagery and lightning share the
same Satellite store, player, map-follow, native plot, and PNG route as GOES and
Himawari. Equal product, grid and UTC-day frames join one loop instead of
creating one run entry per frame.

BowEcho keeps the required attribution visible on modified map and plot output:
Contains modified EUMETSAT Meteosat data YEAR. The year follows the frame's
UTC date. This integration uses EUMETView's rendered public products rather
than raw FCI radiances.

Satellite workspace improvements

• Provider tabs now use their full GOES, Himawari and Meteosat names instead of
  truncating them to four characters.
• Live download and ingest progress remains visible regardless of the selected
  provider tab.
• Himawari true-color composition accepts the full 5500 × 5500 source grid and
  applies a bounded, aspect-preserving output policy instead of rejecting the
  frame as oversized.
• Real and simulated satellite products share the native plotting and Save PNG
  workflow, including physical Kelvin or derived-field colorbars where
  appropriate and RGB output without a false scalar legend.

Cleaner radar and model workspaces

The radar top bar now has a single Timeline surface for live/archive/player
work instead of overlapping Archive, Sweeps and Advanced menus. Archive loop
selection stays open while its controls are edited, the command strip is less
crowded, and the responsive AWIPS-style site/product/time readouts retain their
priority at narrower window widths.

The Model window now treats WRF as a first-class workflow rather than burying it
under a generic data menu. Open WRF/NetCDF, full diagnostics, simulated radar,
Formula Lab, fields, plotting and output are grouped into clearer surfaces. The
quick ingest path is intentionally narrow: latest HRRR f00, optional f01, and a
choice between sounding processing and full processing without the heavy/eCAPE
path. Custom model, cycle and hour selection remains available separately.

Loop settings no longer close when a dropdown is used. Recording resolution
defaults to Native, and frame limit, RAM budget, recording size/format/speed and
capture FPS persist across restarts.

In-app macOS updates

Signed and notarized Intel and Apple Silicon builds now know their exact release
asset and can offer Install update in BowEcho. Before replacing an app,
BowEcho verifies the published SHA-256, Apple signature, Gatekeeper acceptance,
bundle identifier and signing-team continuity. The swap uses a private staged
bundle, retains the prior signed app for rollback, and restores it if the new
bundle cannot be installed.

v0.31.1 Mac builds do not contain the architecture-specific asset identity, so
moving from v0.31.1 to v0.32.0 is the one-time manual bootstrap. After v0.32.0
is installed in /Applications, later compatible releases can install in-app.
Windows retains its signed in-app updater; Linux retains the browser-based
release flow.

Platform and data notes

• Windows, macOS and Linux builds contain the same desktop import and SimSat
  workflows. Linux native dialogs continue to use GTK 3.24.
• GPU preview requires a compatible local wgpu adapter. Its failure never
  silently falls back to a stored CPU frame.
• SimSat's top-down stratiform reconstruction and delta-flux transports are
  explicitly labeled experimental and remain opt-in.