Documentation of the U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Measurement Database

A method of reading Unidata's netCDF format is required to read the files in this database. We have taken a multiplatform, open-source approach to the storage and access of the files, to make the database accessible from PC, Mac, and UNIX operating systems. A recent computer with more than 1 gigabyte of memory is desirable for the larger files.

The simplest way to view the attributes and variables of a data file is to click the "data access via THREDDS" link above the map on each experiment page by using a web browser, then click the name of the file to display an OPeNDAP view of the attributes and variables.

The freely distributed program developed at NASA called "Panoply" provides the capability to view the CF-compliant data and metadata. A program called "ncBrowse" displays metadata and plots data stored in EPIC-compliant netCDF files.

The CMHRP employs MATLAB’s native netCDF access functions to read, write, and access netCDF data. Python modules are also available to read and write netCDF and perform mathematical analysis. ncBrowse, MATLAB’s netCDF functions, and the Python netCDF4 module, among other software, can all access data by using the uniform resource locator (URL) of the file as well as by accessing a local file. Solutions should be chosen on the basis of the user's locally installed software.