Re: file converter...

> I've got some funding to make a 'McIDAS AREA to netCDF' translator for
> GOES data.  While I probably won't do the bulk of the programming, I am
> doing some background work.

Interesting. I wrote one (in C) quite a while back,
and Steve Emmerson did the most recent maintenance.
It's available as
ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/utilities/unix/areatonc-2.0.tar.Z
This uses the (old) netcdf-2 C interface.

> Bill Hibbard  mentioned that you were the holder of netCDF Java
> interface classes; while we haven't decided whether to do this in Java
> or C, I thought I'd better find out what was available first.
>
> We will likely make up a new CDL for these data, since our last look
> at the current accepted 'image' one left some things out.

No doubt, it was a quick hack.
However, one might use it the existing one and the code above as a start.

> If you could drop me a note and let me know what's available Java-wise
> for writing netCDF files, I would appreciate it.

Start at
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/java/

You will find links there to the documentation and the release.
It's "100% pure" java, and does both read and write.
We have been concentrating on the interfaces at this point.
There are still some areas (like "Text" variable support) that are
stubs at this point, and the i/o is unbuffered. However, it
should be okay for your purposes.

If you already have available portable C code that knows about
mcidas area files, C might be the way to go for file creation.
One would still be able to read the data using the java netcdf.

-glenn