What Is netCDF?
NetCDF (network Common Data Form) is a set of interfaces for array-oriented data access and a freely-distributed collection of data access libraries for C, Fortran, C++, Java, and other languages. The netCDF libraries support a machine-independent format for representing scientific data. Together, the interfaces, libraries, and format support the creation, access, and sharing of scientific data. NetCDF data is: • Self-Describing. A netCDF file includes information about the data it contains. • Portable. A netCDF file can be accessed by computers with different ways of storing integers, characters, and floating-point numbers. • Direct-access. A small subset of a large dataset may be accessed efficiently, without first reading through all the preceding data. • Appendable. Data may be appended to a properly structured netCDF file without copying the dataset or redefining its structure. • Sharable. One writer and multiple readers may simultaneously access the same netCDF file. • Archivable
