diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 940d4e1e04fad0c79acec281e882fc14db27c78d..5478d07a9e7dc005d41ba9dc407649163c068da0 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -123,29 +123,17 @@ RUN mkdir -p ${BUILD} ${OPT}/nco && cd ${BUILD} && \
     make && make install && \
     rm -rf ${BUILD}
 
+# use miniconda for python dependencies
+RUN mkdir -p ${BUILD} && cd ${BUILD} && \
+    curl -O https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda2-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh && \
+    bash Miniconda2-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -b -p ${OPT}/miniconda && \
+    export PATH="${OPT}/miniconda/bin:$PATH" && \
+    conda install -c conda-forge numpy scipy matplotlib basemap pyhdf netcdf4 && \
+    rm -rf ${BUILD}
+
 ## add uwglance for verifying data, etc.
-RUN apt-get install -y python-setuptools python-numpy python-scipy python-matplotlib python-mpltoolkits.basemap
 RUN easy_install -f http://larch.ssec.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/repos.cgi uwglance
 
-## add pyhdf for glance to read hdf4 files
-RUN mkdir -p ${BUILD} && cd ${BUILD} && \
-    wget -q http://hdfeos.org/software/pyhdf/pyhdf-${PYHDF_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
-    tar xzf pyhdf-${PYHDF_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
-    cd pyhdf-${PYHDF_VERSION} && \
-    INCLUDE_DIRS="${OPT}/hdf4/include/" \
-    LIBRARY_DIRS="${OPT}/hdf4/lib/" \
-    python setup.py install && \
-    rm -r ${BUILD}
-
-## add netcdf4-python for glance to read netcdf4 files
-RUN mkdir -p ${BUILD} && cd ${BUILD} && \
-    wget -q https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf4-python/archive/v${NETCDFPY_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
-    tar xzf v${NETCDFPY_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
-    cd netcdf4-python-${NETCDFPY_VERSION} && \
-    PATH="${OPT}/netcdf4/bin:$PATH" \
-    python setup.py install && \
-    rm -r ${BUILD}
-
 # throw in some shell niceties
 RUN echo 'alias ls="ls --color=auto"' >> ~/.bashrc && \
     echo 'alias ll="ls -lGh $@"' >> ~/.bashrc