[netCDF #WQO-446012]: NetCDF

Greetings Roger!

The "no gridded data found" message indicates that the data inside the netCDF 
file is not recognized as gridded model data. This could be due to some missing 
information in the netCDF file, such as metadata to indicate which variable 
would be the latitude, longitude, altitude, or time coordinate. The IDV will 
read and display gridded datasets that conform to the Climate and Forecast 
standards (CF), but the data provider must make sure that their files conform 
to those standards (it should not be something that the end user, like 
yourself, should worry about).  In the end, if you would like to take advantage 
of the IDV,  we'll need to provide some additional information so that the data 
can be read. Luckily, it's  not too big of an issue for most files, and I'd be 
glad to help, but I'll need a sample data file. Let me now if you'd like to go 
down that path.

For a list of 3rd party software that can read netCDF (many of which do not 
need the netCDF file to conform to CF standards), check out the following page 
on our site:

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

Note that there are a two entries for netCDF plugins for Excel, but both 
require Office 2007 (the latest 2010 version is not supported).

If you'd like to use netCDF in your FORTRAN 95 programs, things get a little 
more complicated, especially if you wish to compile and run your programs on 
Windows. The netCDF developer most familiar with building and using netCDF on 
the Windows platform recently took a new job, and we are currently searching 
for a new developer with Windows experience as to help support users in the 
community whom use Windows. Unfortunately, I do not have much Windows 
experience, so I won't be able to help much in that area. However, if you do 
you analysis on a machine using another OS, I could probably help out.

Cheers,

Sean

> 
> 
> Sean:-
> Many thanks for your reply.
> It sounded like IDV was the logical route, so I downloaded
> idv_3_Ou1_windows64_installer.exe.
> I then clicked on the desktop icon and went to the Data dropdown
> menu > Choose data > From the file system. I then navigated to one
> of the files I wanted to open. When I double-clicked on the file, I got a
> message, "No gridded data found for:..." and when I tried to
> specify a different data source type, I kept getting the same message. I
> tried  "netCDF files" which seemed to be the obvious
> choice for these files, and also "Adde text,"  "Grid
> files (netCDF?...," and a few others.
> When I tried "Adde" I got a page with a few words in English
> that seemed to describe the location and so forth. Then the rest was in
> Computereze.
> The file I was trying to open was unzipped. When I accidentally clicked
> on the zipped version, I got a map, but could not seem to manipulate it
> to see anything useful on it.
> Any suggestions would be welcomed.
> In answer to two of your specific questions:
>  
> 1. I use FORTRAN (G95) and also Excel fairly extensively.
> 2. I downloaded the files from the World Data Center for Climate in
> Hamburg, Germany (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum ). They referred me to
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetCDF, but there I found only
> definitions and no software, so I went to your website, and then to
> you.
> Cheers, Roger
> 
> 
> At 07:03 AM 1/15/2012, you wrote:
> Greetings!
> There are several ways to open netCDF files, but it really depends on how
> you wish to access the data contained within. What language or analysis
> package do you plan on using? We support the C, FORTRAN, C++, and Java
> languages, and have a visualization and analysis program called the
> Integrated Data Viewer that can read and view netCDF files (as well as a
> number of other weather and climate data formats), although there are
> several other languages and packages that will read/write netCDF through
> 3rd party support (e.g. Python, Matlab, Excel, IDL, etc.).
> Another question: where did you download the data? Depending on the type
> of dataserver, you may be able to get the data in a format that is more
> readily useable for you.
> Cheers!
> Sean
> > Support team:-
> >
> > I recently downloaded some data files with an NC extension, and
> have
> > been told that these datasets are written in NetCDF Data Format.
> All
> > I want to do is to open the files and be able to read them.
> >
> > I have downloaded and unzipped netcdf.tar, and also downloaded
> > netcdf-4.2 and netcdfAll-4.2.
> >
> > However, I am still unable to open the files, and whenever I go
> to
> > FAQ or Usersguide on your website, I get deluged with
> information
> > using jargon that I don't understand. Is there any simple way to
> open
> > these files?
> >
> >
> > Roger LeB. Hooke
> > Research Professor
> > Department of Geological Sciences and Climate Change Institute
> > 5790 Bryand Global Sciences Center
> > University of Maine
> > Orono, ME 04469-5790
> >
> > Phone: 207-581-2203
> > FAX:    207-581-2202
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
> Ticket Details
> ===================
> Ticket ID: WQO-446012
> Department: Support netCDF
> Priority: Normal
> Status: Open
> 
> Roger LeB. Hooke
> P.O. Box 640
> Deer Isle, ME 04627
> 207-348-6933
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WQO-446012
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Open