Re: [netcdf-java] Detecting dimensional and dimensionless vertical coordinates

• To: Jon Blower <jdb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: Re: [netcdf-java] Detecting dimensional and dimensionless vertical coordinates
• From: John Caron <caron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:05:01 -0700

Hi Jon:

The most straightforward way is to examine the CoordinateAxis objects. There 
should only be zero or one with AxisType = Height, Pressure, or GeoZ. Usually 
GeoZ is dimensionless, often with a VerticalTransform implementing a CF 
dimensionless vertical coordinate. The units of the vertical CoordinateAxis 
should also be useful.

Of course, theres lots of files in the wild that will only partially follow 
this pattern, but CF files should.

Jon Blower wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> In a GridCoordSystem, is there a way of detecting whether the vertical
> axis (assuming it exists) is dimensional or dimensionless (e.g.
> sigma)?  I guess I could manually look for the long_name or
> standard_name attribute, but is there a way that's built-in to
> Java-NetCDF (I'm on version 4.0)?
> 
> Cheers, Jon
> 

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    • From: Jon Blower