Unidata | NetCDF

Network Common Data Form (NetCDF)

NetCDF NetCDF is a set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data.

See the netCDF package overview

Citing NetCDF

If you use netCDF and want to provide a DOI/citation, see How to Acknowledge Unidata.

NetCDF Fact Sheet

A netCDF fact sheet provides a brief overview of the netCDF package and supported languages and platforms.

View the netCDF fact sheet

NetCDF Support

How To Get NetCDF Support

Didn't find a solution in the netCDF documentation? Try the following:

Check the FAQ, which provides answers to many Frequently Asked Questions
Search the archive of previous support answers and mailing list responses
Request Support from Unidata developers at the appropriate email address: support-netcdf@unidata.ucar.edu (for C-based netCDF libraries or utilities) or support-netcdf-java@unidata.ucar.edu (for NetCDF Java)
View Current Support Questions being asked of the netCDF developers
Use the NetCDF Group Mailing List to query experts in the Unidata community

Training and Tutorials

Attend the annual netCDF training workshop at the UPC in Boulder
A basic tutorial gives an overview of netCDF capabilities
View the tutorial from the latest netCDF training workshop

Note: Much netCDF support is about installing on new combinations of platforms, compilers, and settings. If we don't have the platform or compiler required to reproduce the problem, we may not be able to provide much help.

For NetCDF Developers

NetCDF is an Open Source project led by developers at the Unidata Program Center. If you're interested in contributing to the project, you might be interested in these resources:

The netCDF-C Library
code at GitHub
The netCDF-Fortran interface at GitHub
Git Recipes
for developers

Unidata Projects Involving NetCDF

Unidata embarks on new projects to help make its data and tools available to a broader, more diverse audience. The following are a list of netCDF-related projects between the Unidata Program Center and external collaborators.

Common Data Model

The Common Data Model (CDM) is an abstract data model for scientific datasets. It merges the netCDF, OPeNDAP, and HDF5 data models to create a common API for many types of scientific data.

More about the CDM

GALEON

GALEON Geo-interface to Air, Land, Earth, Ocean NetCDF (GALEON) is a Unidata-led interoperability experiment within the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium). The object of GALEON is to establish standards-based protocols through which other communities can access datasets provided via Unidata technologies. This approach allows Unidata to make data available to other groups (e.g., hydrology, societal impacts, hazards research, etc.) without supplying complete end-to-end support of analysis and display client applications as we do for our core user community. The OGC standardization effort is currently centered on making Unidata's netCDF technology an international data encoding standard in its own right.