mjaehn / netcdf-metadata-extractor

NetCDF Metadata Extractor

Overview

The NetCDF Metadata Extractor is a Python script that extracts metadata information from NetCDF files, focusing on specific variables. It outputs the metadata in CSV format, sorted by variable name.

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• Required Python packages: xarray

Usage

Running the Script

Run the script using the following command:

python netcdf_metadata_extractor.py [file_path or folder_path] [--output_file OUTPUT_FILE]

    [file_path or folder_path]: Path to the NetCDF file or folder containing multiple NetCDF files. It can be a relative or absolute path.
    --output_file OUTPUT_FILE (optional): Specify the output CSV file name. Default is output_metadata.csv.

Example Usage

python netcdf_metadata_extractor.py /path/to/netcdf/files --output_file extracted_metadata.csv

or for a single file:

python netcdf_metadata_extractor.py /path/to/netcdf/file.nc

Output

The script generates a CSV file containing the following columns:

    File: The name of the NetCDF file.
    Variable: The variable name within the NetCDF file.
    Standard Name: The standard name attribute of the variable.
    Long Name: The long name attribute of the variable.
    Units: The units attribute of the variable. If not available, it is set to "-".

The output CSV file is sorted by the variable name.

Notes

The script excludes certain variables (e.g., dimensions, coordinates) specified in the code. If a variable has already been processed for a file, it is skipped to avoid duplicates.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.