ncvar {ncvar}R Documentation

High-level R Interface to NetCDF Datasets

Description

This package provides a high-level R interface to Unidata's NetCDF data files. Using this package NetCDF datasets, and all their associated metadata, can be read and written in one go. It is also easy to create datasets including lots of metadata. This package supports both the CF and the default NetCDF (user guide) metadata conventions. This package supports more general NetCDF files and conventions than the ncdf package by David Pierce. It uses the low-level NetCDF package RNetCDF by Pavel Michna.

NetCDF is an abstraction that supports a view of data as a collection of self-describing, portable objects that can be accessed through a simple interface. Array values may be accessed directly, without knowing details of how the data are stored. Auxiliary information about the data, such as what units are used, may be stored with the data. Generic utilities and application programs can access NetCDF datasets and transform, combine, analyze, or display specified fields of the data.

The NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions are designed to promote the processing and sharing of files created with the NetCDF API. The conventions define metadata that provide a definitive description of what the data in each variable represents, and of the spatial and temporal properties of the data. This enables users of data from different sources to decide which quantities are comparable, and facilitates building applications with powerful extraction, regridding, and display capabilities. The CF conventions generalize and extend the COARDS conventions.

See examples for some examples of using the package.

Note

This package requires the RNetCDF package by Pavel Michna.

Author(s)

Juerg Schmidli

References

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cms/eaton/cf-metadata/


[Package ncvar version 1.0-3 Index]