[netCDF #EPM-179737]: Looking for COARDS NetCDF conventions

Hi Guillaume,

COARDS is very old, the 1995 date you mention may be the last update.
You might want to take a look at the CF (Climate and Forecast) Convention
for netCDF [1] which generalizes and extends COARDS. CF also works hard
to maintain backward compatibility with COARDS. Also, CF is being actively
developed.

If you need to stick with COARDS, I believe the Ferret COARDS page [2]
that you mention is the correct source for information on COARDS and that
the details at the bottom of that page are the complete description of
the COARDS convention. I am trying to confirm that what is there matches
the contents we had on our FTP site. I will let you know if I find any
additional information in our old FTP pages.

Some years back we stopped hosting the netCDF conventions documents
listed on the NetCDF Conventions page [2], instead referencing the
official page for each convention. We also plan to stop hosting an
FTP server. I will reach out to the Ferret group and ask if they can
remove the link to our old FTP pages.

Hope that helps. Let us know if you have any further questions.

Best,

Ethan

[1] https://cfconventions.org/
[2] https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/coards-netcdf-conventions
[3] https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/conventions.html

> Hello,
> 
> I am working at the Fench hydrographic Office SHOM.
> I am interested in the COARDS conventions to chek the compatibility of my 
> NetCDF files.
> 
> I have found the NOAA ferret support webpage that seems to be the official 
> webpage : [ 
> https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/coards-netcdf-conventions | 
> https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/coards-netcdf-conventions ]
> It says that the full documentation (dated 1995) is available at [ 
> ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/Conventions/COARDS | 
> ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/Conventions/COARDS ] but this directory 
> no more exists on your FTP.
> 
> Even the unidata webpage that lists the NetCDF conventions ( [ 
> https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/conventions.html | 
> https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/conventions.html ] ) send the 
> COARDS users to the same NOAA ferret support webpage.
> 
> Do you know if the COARDS documentation has been stored elsewhere on the 
> unidata FTP?
> 
> Thank you very much for your help,
> Best Regards,
> Guillaume


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: EPM-179737
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Open
===================
NOTE: All email exchanges with Unidata User Support are recorded in the Unidata 
inquiry tracking system and then made publicly available through the web.  If 
you do not want to have your interactions made available in this way, you must 
let us know in each email you send to us.