Re: String Time Axis

> Hi all,
>
> I have a variable with the time axis as a STRING, say
> (0) 1980_02_26_01_0
> (1) 1980_04_21_01_0
> (2) 1980_05_28_01_0
> .......................................
> .......................................
>
> Is is possible to write this variable into a netcdf file? I have tried the
> method 1 (http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Applications/method_1.shtml) but gives the
> following error.
>
> fatal:Attempting to write variable (time) of type (string) which is not
> representable in the format of file (./CNRM_05_TO/PATT_IND0.nc)
> fatal:Trying using a type conversion function
> warning:FileWriteVarVar: Could not write coordinate variable (time) to file
> (PATT_IND0), continuing anyway
>
> I even tried to convert the string to integer, but the result is
> (0) 1980
> (1) 1980
> (2) 1980
>
> Any tips on how to handle this time axis? Thanks in advance
> Prince
> _______________________________________________

It is not NCL that is the problem.
netCDF currently does not allow string variables.

The next release of netCDF will allow string variables.

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/netcdf-4/

  _______________________________________________

begin
      stime = (/"1980_02_26_01_0","1980_04_21_01_0","1980_05_28_01_0"/)
      ctime = stringtochar( stime )
      print(ctime) ; note: it is 2D

      ntim = dimsizes( stime )
      year = stringtoint( chartostring(ctime(:,0:3)) )
      mon = stringtoint( chartostring(ctime(:,5:6)) )
      day = stringtoint( chartostring(ctime(:,8:9)) )
      print( year+" "+mon+" "+day )

      time = year*10000 + mon*100 + day
      time!0 = "time"
      time_at_long_name = "time"
      time_at_units = "yyyymmdd"
      print( time )

end

-------------------------------------------------

You could also use ut_calendar

http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Functions/Built-in/ut_calendar.shtml

if you want units like "days/hours since ..."

If you do this I would recommend that you
also create and "auxilary time variable" , say "date" or "yyyymmdd"

      date = year*10000 + mon*100 + day
      date!0 = "time"
      date_at_long_name = "date"
      date_at_units = "yyyymmdd"

-------------------

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Received on Wed Aug 09 2006 - 09:44:15 MDT