Tips: Import MATLAB MAT-files

You want to import the “.mat” file:

Import[“Helheim.mat”]

Import::fmterr: Cannot import data as MAT format. >>

Don’t panic. Since the version 7.3 (2006b), Matlab actually saves mat files using the HDF5 format by default. So pretty much every mat file you work with nowadays is in HDF5 format. Let’s try it again.

Import["Helheim.mat", "HDF5"]

{"/Data", "/Depth", "/Distance", "/Latitude", "/Longitude",  "/UTC_time"}

data = Import["Helheim.mat", {"HDF5", "Datasets", "/Data"}];

Then we can generate a beautiful plot in Mathematica.

For who may wonder what this image is, it is the radar image shows underground ice-thickness, more information can be found at The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS)