NetCDF'ers
We've changed many of our files from netCDF3 to netCDF4 both to take
advantage of internal packing but also because they work better in some
software (NCL). We have heard from users of problems reading the newer
format. Often they don't have their applications or netCDF library
upgraded to the latest versions but sometimes, software they relied on
isn't available for netCDF4. For example, EXCEL does not have a netCDF4
interface and a package called "FAN" probably doesn't. Should we be
assuming users and software developers ought to be netCDF4 ready or is
netCDF4 more of a language for advanced users and there is no
expectation that users use it as opposed to netCDF3? Should unidata be
facilitating the update of packages to netCDF4? I'm thinking more of
local software such as on this page
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/Contrib.html but also
packages like EXCEL.
We do suggest users can convert the files back to netCDF3 if possible
but there are downsides to that for the users.
Thanks,
Cathy Smith
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