NetCDF (network Common Data Form) is a file format for storing multidimensional scientific data (variables) such as temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, and direction. Usually, there is one n-dimensional (latitude, longitude, level, and/or time or others) record per variable. Dimensions are also treated as variables. And then there are attributes for each variable, for example the name and unit of the variable or a grid or time description, etc. Have a look at the official website if you like:
...
There are several sets of tools to view and manipulate NetCDF netCDF files. We have several of them installed on our UQAM servers. to get access to them you need to load the following module:
...
These are the tools you will have access to after executing the above command:
- ncviewncdump
- ncgen
- ncview
- panoply
- NCO
- CDO
Check content of a netCDF file
ncdump
The ncdump is a command-line utility that converts the content of a netCDF file to ASCII text on standard output. It is a quick tool to look at the content of a netCDF file. Since netCDF files can get fairly large and with the the text output of ncdump I recommend to either just look at the header information (description of variables but not the actual data) with:
| Volet |
|---|
| ncdump -h netCDF_file |
or you can redirect the output into, 'less' to view it page by page and to be able to search in the text output with:
| Volet |
|---|
| ncdump netCDF_file | less |