netCDF  4.3.0
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Interoperability with HDF5

To create HDF5 files that can be read by netCDF-4, use the latest in the HDF5 1.8.x series.

HDF5 has some features that will not be supported by netCDF-4, and will cause problems for interoperability:

These are fairly easy requirements to meet, but there is one relating to shared dimensions which is a little more challenging. Every HDF5 dataset must have a dimension scale attached to each dimension.

Dimension scales are a new feature for HF 1.8, which allow specification of shared dimensions.

Without creation order in the HDF5 file, the files will still be readable to netCDF-4, it's just that netCDF-4 will number the variables in alphabetical, rather than creation, order.

Interoperability is a complex task, and all of this is in the alpha release stage. It is tested in libsrc4/tst_interops.c, which contains some examples of how to create HDF5 files, modify them in netCDF-4, and then verify them in HDF5. (And vice versa).


Generated on Tue Jul 9 2013 19:17:28 for netCDF. NetCDF is a Unidata library.