Re: netCDF troubles

[Christof Appenzeller <christof.appenzeller@xxxxxx>]

Dear Ansley 
Are there any plans to add a 5th dimension (or what is the best work
around)?
I have (had) a similar problem concerning ensemble forecasts (I guess a
type of data set that gets more and more popular), with a variable
defined in x y z t space and an additional index for the ensemble
member.
What is the best way to define the data? Any help?

Thanks
Christof


Ansley Manke wrote:
> 
> Hi Brian,
> Ferret variables may only have 4  or fewer dimensions.  See the
> on-line
> Ferret Users Guide, Ch10 Sec3.2.2. Variables:
> 
>      Ferret variables may have from 1 to 4 dimensions. If any of
>      the axes have the special
>      interpretations of: 1) latitude, 2) longitude, 3) depth, or
>      4) time (date), then the relative order of those axes in the
>      CDL variable declaration must be T, then Z, then Y, and then
>      X, as above. Any of these special axes can be omitted and
>      other axes (for example, an axis called "distance") may be
>      inserted between them.
> 
> Ferret does adhere to the COARDS standards for NetCDF data files, but
> the Ferret
> framework allows just four dimensions and so in this case we apply a
> subset of
> those standards.  We will have to clarify the Ferret documentation.
> 
> Ansley Manke
> 
> 
> 
> Brian Schlining wrote:
> 
> > I'm trying to read a netcdf file into ferret and I get the following
> > error:
> >
> > *** NOTE: Unsupported netCDF # of axes for variable Ed_Wet
> >
> > The variable in question is dimensioned as follows:
> >
> > float Ed_Wet('wavelength2', 'time2', 'depth2', 'latitude',
> > 'longitude')
> >
> > The ordering and number of dimensions were chosen following the
> > recommendations in
> > http://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/noaa_coop/coop_cdf_profile.html which has
> > the
> > following example for 5D variables:
> >
> > float my_variables(param_value, time, height, lat, lon).
> >
> > All 5 dimensions are co-ordinate variables (i.e they have dimensions
> > of
> > the same name). Wavelength2 and time2 are both 1D arrays containing
> > sorted unique values. Depth2, latitude and longitude are all scalars
> >
> > (single values).
> >
> > Is there something I'm missing here? Can ferret handle a 5D
> > variable?
> > Any feedback is appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> > -- B
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Brian Schlining
> > Research Technician
> > Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
> > brian@mbari.org
> > (831) 775-1855
> > http://www.mbari.org/~brian
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> --
> Ansley Manke  Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory  Seattle WA
> (206)526-6246
> 

--
Dr. Christof Appenzeller       Phone +41 1 256-9388,
MeteoSwiss                     Fax +41 1 256-9278,
Kraehbuehlstr. 58,             mailto:apc@meteoswiss.ch
CH-8044 Zuerich, Switzerland   http://www.meteoswiss.ch/