[netCDF #DGU-225935]: Conversion from NETCDF to ASCII

Hi Michele,

> I need to convert NETCDF files (future climate scenarios, at world level)
> into ASCII or .txt file. I am not able to use LINUX, only Windows platform.
> 
> Using ARCGIS 9.2 I have converted some files (190 MB for each zip file!!),
> but I need more than 1 hour per file to obtain the conversion from NETCDF
> and the related table.
> 
> I have tried with IDL VM 7.1, using netcdf_widget.sav as sav file, but the
> conversion is impossible (the message indicates me this error: "Please
> select a file with level 3 data"). Do you know other .sav file able to
> operate this conversion with IDL VM 7.1?

Sorry, we don't know how this is done in IDL.

> Using PANOPLY I have visualised all variable data (latitude, longitude,
> time, pressure, dew point temp., precipitation, radiation, max and min
> temp., max wind speed), but is not possible to export the files in ASCII
> format.
> 
> Otherwise, can you indicate me the easiest software I can use in order to
> have this conversion?

One way to convert netCDF data to text is to use the "ncdump" tool
that is part of the netCDF software distribution.  It is a command
line tool that provides a text representation of all the netCDF data,
just the structure of a netCDF file, or just the data for specified
variables, depending on what arguments you use.  For more information,
see the ncdump documentation at:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/ncdump-man-1.html

Another good tool for conversion of netCDF data to text is the "ncks"
program that's one of the utility programs in the NCO software:

  http://nco.sourceforge.net/nco.html#ncks-netCDF-Kitchen-Sink

From the User's Guide:

  ncks will print netCDF data in ASCII format to stdout, like ncdump,
  but with these differences: ncks prints data in a tabular format
  intended to be easy to search for the data you want, one datum per
  screen line, with all dimension subscripts and coordinate values (if
  any) preceding the datum. Option "-s" (or long options "--sng_fmt"
  and "--string") lets the user format the data using C-style format
  strings. 

  Options "-a", "-F" , "-H", "-M", "-m", "-P", "-Q", "-q", "-s", and
  "-u" (and their long option counterparts) control the formatted
  appearance of the data.

More about NCO and where to download it is here:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/software.html#NCO

Other tools that provide textual representations for netCDF data
include ANAX, cdf2asc, the FAN nc2text utility, and NOESYS.  These are
all "third party" netCDF utilities developed and supported by other
organizations, but you can find information about them here:
 
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/software.html

--Russ

Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                     http://www.unidata.ucar.edu



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: DGU-225935
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed