IMOS User Code Library
The majority of IMOS datasets are stored as netCDF files. This format was chosen because it allows data files to be self-describing (i.e. the file includes ‘metadata’, or information about the data it contains), machine-independent, and suited to the sharing of array-oriented scientific data. The IMOS THREDDS catalogue describes the inventory of available netCDF datasets.
IMOS netCDF datasets can be viewed or manipulated in various environments. They can be imported into environments such as MATLAB, Python and R, and viewed using various software packages designed for netCDF viewing. The sections below offer help in getting started with some of these options.
The IMOS user code library helps new users get started with IMOS data, offering examples of IMOS data use within some popular environments (including Python, R and MATLAB). It provides ready to go code solutions for importing and visualising the data as well as demonstrating how to access useful metadata information.
Python
The IMOS User Code Library contains detailed examples showing how to make use of IMOS data using Python Jupyter Notebooks; this is the best place to get an overview of what can be done using Python. The User Code Library makes use of the netCDF4 Python library for parsing netCDF (.nc) files as well as several other data processing libraries.
Contained within are various datasets, including Wind, Sea Surface Temperature, Waves, Argo visualisation and more. A guide is provided to demonstrate how to use the Python User Code Library.
R
The IMOS User Code Library contains examples how to make use of IMOS data using R.
The library contains several Jupyter Notebooks demonstrating IMOS data access using R. It also contains a NetCDF parser function that us used to open and read NetCDF (.nc) files. A guide is provided to demonstrate how to use the R User Code Library.
MATLAB
The IMOS User Code Library contains examples showing how to process IMOS data using MATLAB. A guide is provided to demonstrate how to use the R User Code Library.
The core of the library is a parser for netCDF files in MATLAB: that is, a function that takes a URL or local netCDF file and parses them into the environment in a useable data structure.
MATLAB itself provides a library of functions for both high and low level access to netCDF files. If you wish to make use of these, see the MATLAB help documentation on netCDF functions.
Viewer applications
There is a large array of software applications that can be used to view netCDF files (see the extensive list on Unidata’s site).
Six applications that we recommend are: