ncBrowse is a Java application. It can be obtained at
This application allows the contents of variables and global attributes to be viewed graphically. It can run on UNIX (and Linux), Windows and the Macintosh OSX provided the Java Virtual Machine has been installed. To get the JVM see the above web site or the Java web sites
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/ and http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/
ncBrowse has been extended beyond the earlier versions. It now works with both COARDS and EPIC compliant netcdf files. The WOCE Global Data V3 set is COARDS compliant and therefore should allow the automatic display of plot elements such as labels and variable names and units. The interface is largely self-explanatory and provides a wonderful method for browsing generic netCDF files.
ncBrowse allows the user to export part or all of a file in the same ascii format as the ncdump command described elsewhere in this document. Thus, for many users who require the analysis of relatively few data files, ncBrowse can provide the first quick look at the records, and, should the data require further calculation, will allow export of the data to a flat ascii file.
The WOCE Global Data V3 data also will be made available on the world wide web. ncBrowse includes the capability to browse the WOCE netcdf files over the web using the OPenDAP protocol (formerly know as DODS). This feature means that the WOCE Global Data V3 data set does not need to be resident on your local hardware.
Installation of JAVA is straightforward under Windows and Linux, and ncBrowse installs very easily on top of this. In sum, the product is well worth installing for its ablility to quickly plot and export netCDF files.
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