Data Distribution Centre

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File Formats

Network Common Data Format (NetCDF)

NetCDF is a set of software libraries and machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. It is widely used in climate research.

The following sample programs are provided to facilitate reading NetCDF files (there is a sample file here: demo.nc):

LanguageExample programLibraries
Python read_nc.py This code will work with any one of the following:
Fortran 90 read_nc.f libnetcdf.a

Georeferenced Tag Image File Format (GeoTIFF)

GeoTIFF is an extension of the TIFF file format which includes GIS compatible georeferencing systems. GeoTIFF files can be read by most GIS software packages.

The GeoTIFF files contain byte data, in the range 0 to 255, and a colour scale. The byte value can be converted to a physical quantity by following the rule given in the "Description" tag in the file.

File names

The data file names consist of a stem and a MIME suffix indicating the format, 'nc' for NetCDF and 'tif' for GeoTIFF.