netCDF v3.5
Overview
netCDF is a system for producing and accessing portable
datasets, principally containing dense arrays. A more detailed impression
of its purpose is best provided by two quotes. The first is from ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/README.
The Unidata network Common Data Form (netCDF) is
an interface for scientific data access and a freely-distributed software
library that provides an implementation of the interface. The netCDF
library also defines a machine-independent format for representing
scientific data. Together, the interface, library, and format support
the creation, access, and sharing of scientific data. The current
netCDF software provides common C, FORTRAN, and C++, and perl interfaces
for applications and data. It has been tested on various common platforms.
NetCDF files are self-describing, network-transparent,
directly accessible, and extendible. `Self-describing' means that
a netCDF file includes information about the data it contains. `Network-transparent'
means that a netCDF file is represented in a form that can be accessed
by computers with different ways of storing integers, characters,
and floating-point numbers. `Direct-access' means that a small subset
of a large dataset may be accessed efficiently, without first reading
through all the preceding data. `Extendible' means that data can be
appended to a netCDF dataset without copying it or redefining its
structure.
NetCDF is useful for supporting access to diverse
kinds of scientific data in heterogeneous networking environments
and for writing application software that does not depend on application-specific
formats. A variety of analysis and display packages have been developed
to analyze and display data in netCDF form.
Restrictions on Use
Only upto 2 GB of data can be contained in a single
netCDF dataset because 32-bit offsets are currently used for storing
positions within the file.
Only one unlimited dimension (FORTRAN 77 '*') is permitted per dataset.
Set Up Procedure
In order to gain access to the necessary files the
netcdf modulefile should be loaded. You will also need to include the
necessary include file or USE the netcdf module (for fortran 90).
Running the Code
Once appropriate calls have been put in the code
the program can simply be run and the netcdf files will be created.
Further Information
Futher information is available
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