CDL Files

CDL is a data directory which contains examples of files that use the CDL format, a text file created by the NCDUMP program from a NETCDF file.

NETCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of software libraries and machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data.

Usage:

ncdump -h file.nc > file.cdl

reads the NETCDF file file.nc and prints out only the header information in CDL format.

ncdump -c file.nc > file.cdl

reads the NETCDF file file.nc and prints out the header information and the values of coordinate variables in CDL format.

ncdump file.nc > file.cdl

reads the NETCDF file file.nc and prints out the header information and the values of all variables in CDL format.

Licensing:

The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the GNU LGPL license.

Related Data and Programs:

GFD2, a dataset directory which contains geophysical data, stored in NETCDF format.

NETCDF, a data directory which contains files stored in NETCDF format.

NETCDF_MPAS, a data directory which contains examples of MPAS grid data stored as NETCDF files.

Reference:

Russ Rew, Glenn Davis, Steve Emmerson, Harvey Davies, Ed Hartney, The NetCDF User's Guide,
Unidata Program Center, March 2009,
netcdf.pdf,

Sample Files:

For most of the following examples, the original NETCDF file is available in the the NETCDF data directory.

foo.cdl, a tiny example with named dimensions "lat", "lon", "time", and variables "z", "t", "p", "rh", "lat", "lon", "time", variable attributes "units", "_FillValue", "valid_range", and some data;
pres_temp_4D.cdl;
sfc_pres_temp.cdl;
simple_xy.cdl;
x1.2562.grid.cdl an MPAS grid file for a mesh on the sphere, using 2562 nodes, 5120 vertices, 7680 edges.

You can go up one level to the DATA page.

Last revised on 27 December 2010.