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[netCDF #PJC-763398]: Help with ncdump ftp server

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  • Subject: [netCDF #PJC-763398]: Help with ncdump ftp server
  • Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:56:57 -0600
Hi Sam,

> I am trying to open some .nc files that contain time
> series global mean monthly temperature and precipitation
> data from NOAA's ESRL PSD (GHCN and CMAP gridded datasets
> - http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/faq.html#3, and
> http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/), in order to interpret the
> udunits time data in the .nc files.
> 
> I was trying to open Unidata softwares, such as "cdncdump" and
> "ncextract" from the user-contributed netcdf software, website (
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/Contrib.html) But I received
> errors from both links, stating that the webpages were down or moved
> permanently.
> 
> Could you please direct me to a webpage where I can download netcdf
> software, such as *ncdump *and *ncextract*, to interpret and read .nc
> udunits data and files that I have downloaded from ESRL?

Neither of those packages are Unidata software.  They were contributed by
other users who apparently moved the software or no longer maintain it.

I suggest you use our "ncdump" utility, which we maintain and make available
under an open source license.  Recent versions of "ncdump", which is a 
command-line utility, support a "-t" option that displays the time data in
human readable form, so instead of trying to figure out what something like

  time = 7776000, 15552000 ;

represents in a unit like

  time:units = "seconds since 2009-01-01" ;

using ncdump -t instead outputs the data and time in ISO-8601 form:

   time = "2009-04-01", "2009-06-30" ;

and includes hours, minutes, and seconds if needed.

There's a couple of workshop slides on ncdump here:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/workshops/2012/utilities/Ncdump.html

and reference documentation here:

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

You can get ncdump as part of the netCDF software package from a number of 
package distribution systems, as described here:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/getting.html

Its available for Windows in binary form:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs_rc/winbin.html

and for Mac OSX from MacPorts, which builds it for you from source:

  http://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=variant&substr=dap

If you have a Linux system, building it from the source distribution is
very straightforward.

--Russ

> Thank you so much for your time and help.
> I look forward to hearing from you.
> 
> Best Regards,
> Sam Ryder
> 
> Intern
> Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
> Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur PO
> Bangalore 560064, India
> address@hidden
> 
> 
Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                      http://www.unidata.ucar.edu



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: PJC-763398
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed