Earthdata Forum

Hi all,

Can someone tell what dimension array is my nc file A20022132002243.MON.chlor_a.map.nc please, like f999*999 or what.

Thanks
Saia

This is the nice thing about NetCDF files.  The file tells you all you need to know about the stored data.  There are many ways to get the metadata from the file.  On the command line type this:

ncdump -h <fileName>

For example the chlor_a array is a 32 bit float with dimensions y=32, x=223:

ncdump -h A2008080.L3m_DAY.subline.nc

will output:

netcdf A2008080.L3m_DAY.subline {
dimensions:
  lat = 32 ;
  lon = 223 ;
  rgb = 3 ;
  eightbitcolor = 256 ;
variables:
  float chlor_a(lat, lon) ;
    chlor_a:long_name = "Chlorophyll Concentration, OCI Algorithm" ;
    chlor_a:units = "mg m^-3" ;
    chlor_a:standard_name = "mass_concentration_chlorophyll_concentration_in_sea_water" ;
    chlor_a:_FillValue = -32767.f ;
    chlor_a:valid_min = 0.001f ;
    chlor_a:valid_max = 100.f ;
    chlor_a:reference = "Hu, C., Lee Z., and Franz, B.A. (2012). Chlorophyll-a algorithms for oligotrophic oceans: A novel approach based on three-band reflectance difference, J. Geophys. Res., 117, C01011, doi:10.1029/2011JC007395." ;
    chlor_a:display_scale = "log" ;
    chlor_a:display_min = 0.01f ;
    chlor_a:display_max = 20.f ;
...