NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of data models, machine-independent data formats, and software libraries that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. NetCDF is a widely used community standard for sharing scientific data with a mature ecosystem of FOSS and commercial software tools that can explore, manipulate, analyze, and visualize netCDF datasets.
A netCDF dataset contains named dimensions, variables, and attributes. These components (and a few others that will be described later) can be used together to capture the meaning of data and relations among data fields in an array-oriented dataset.
NetCDF Goals and Design Principles
Data in netCDF format is:
- Self-Describing: A netCDF dataset includes information defining the data it contains.
- Portable: The data in a netCDF dataset can be accessed by computers with different ways of storing integers, characters, and floating-point numbers.
- Scalable: Small subsets of large datasets in various formats may be accessed efficiently through netCDF interfaces, even from remote servers.
- 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: Access to all earlier forms of netCDF data will be supported by current and future versions of the netCDF-C and netCDF-Java software.