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[netCDF #YXX-769727]: Fwd: program called NCDUMP

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  • Subject: [netCDF #YXX-769727]: Fwd: program called NCDUMP
  • Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 06:16:16 -0700
Hi Al,

> We use old VB6 code on NCAR grid data that makes use of an NCAR
> utility that runs in the background to do the decoding.  That
> program is called NCDUMP.exe.  It is the NCDUMP code that is
> generating current errors.  All the decode routines are usually
> stored at the UCAR web site.
> 
> When I looked online at the www.CDC.gov webpage where the reanalysis
> grids are stored I noticed there is an announcement that the format
> of the NCAR grids were changed in October to something new.

Yes, CDC began using netCDF-4 classic model format files, because they
can be compressed transparently without changing the programs that
read the data.  There was a discussion of this recently on the netCDF
mailing list, with several solutions offered:

  
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/mailing_lists/archives/netcdfgroup/2014/msg00307.html

> Unfortunately I cannot find any Windows update to the NCDUMP program
> that recognizes the new grid format.  There are instructions on how
> to recompile the program but the instructions are for Linux, not
> Windows.  I did finally find a 2001 version of NCDUMP at that time
> that was for Windows and fortunately it worked back then.  But right
> now I am not finding anything so far that is an NCDUMP code update
> for Windows machines.

To get a working version of ncdump.exe that can handle the compressed
data from netCDF-4 classic model files, select either the 32-bit or 64-bit
pre-built software from the "Latest Stable Release (netCDF-C 4.3.2)" for
either netCDF-4 or netCDF-4+DAP (the DAP versions support remote
access to data from servers that support OPeNDAP protocols), from the
following site:

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

As explained there (and in the netCDF mailing list discussion), you may 
have to move some of the pre-built libraries from the deps/32/bin or
deps/w64/bin directory to a folder on the system PATH or have the 
folder added to the system PATH.

Please let us know if you need additional information to get a working
ncdump utility.

--Russ



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



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: YXX-769727
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed