cmsaf (version 1.9.5)

read_ncvar: Read NetCDF variable.

Description

This simple function reads a variable of a NetCDF file into R.

Usage

read_ncvar(var,infile)

Arguments

var

Name of NetCDF variable (character).

infile

Filename of input NetCDF file. This may include the directory (character).

Value

The output is a list object including the variable and the corressponding time variable. The dimension of the chosen variable is most commonly a two or three dimensional array.

Examples

# NOT RUN {
## Create an example NetCDF file with a similar structure
## as used by CM SAF. The file is created with the ncdf4 package.
## Alternatively example data can be freely downloaded here: 
## <https://wui.cmsaf.eu/>

library(ncdf4)

## create some (non-realistic) example data

  lon <- seq(5,15,0.5)
  lat <- seq(45,55,0.5)
  time <- seq(as.Date('2000-01-01'), as.Date('2010-12-31'), 'month')
  origin <- as.Date('1983-01-01 00:00:00')
  time <- as.numeric(difftime(time,origin,units='hour'))
  data <- array(250:350,dim=c(21,21,132))

## create example NetCDF

   x <- ncdim_def(name='lon',units='degrees_east',vals=lon)
   y <- ncdim_def(name='lat',units='degrees_north',vals=lat)
   t <- ncdim_def(name='time',units='hours since 1983-01-01 00:00:00',
   vals=time,unlim=TRUE)
   var1 <- ncvar_def('SIS','W m-2',list(x,y,t),-1,prec='short')
   vars <- list(var1)
   ncnew <- nc_create('CMSAF_example_file.nc',vars)
   ncvar_put(ncnew,var1,data)
   ncatt_put(ncnew,'lon','standard_name','longitude',prec='text')
   ncatt_put(ncnew,'lat','standard_name','latitude',prec='text')
   nc_close(ncnew)

## Load the data of variable 'SIS' of the example file into R.
## To access the data use e.g., my.data$SIS
   my.data <- read_ncvar('SIS','CMSAF_example_file.nc')
# }