How add standard_name to attributes NetCDF file in NCO

Question

How can add variable name and units to NetCDF attribute in NCO.

dimensions:
lat = UNLIMITED ; // (34 currently)
lon = 42 ;
time = 360 ;

float precip(lat,lon,time) ;
  precip:_FillValue = 1.e+20f ;
  precip:missing_value = 1.e+20f ;
  precip:cell_methods = "time: sum" ;

C:\nco>ncatted -a units,'precip',c,c,'mm day-1' nclimgrid_lowres_prcp_ncpdq5.nc ncatted: overwrite nclimgrid_lowres_prcp_ncpdq5.nc (y/n)? y The system cannot find the path specified. ncatted: ERROR File contains no variables or groups that match name 'precip' so attribute units cannot be changed

Welcome to SO. The error messages supplied by NCO here seem very clear. Have you checked the command? — Robert Wilson, Jan 15 '23 at 19:54
hope you don't mind me tagging cdo, as I offered a parallel soln with that — ClimateUnboxed, Apr 14 '23 at 09:53

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 16 '23 at 19:59

1

Your command looks correct. Too bad it does not work :) Add -O to automatically overwrite the output file. Single quotes only needed around the whitespace. I have no Windows machine to test on, but try this and post any error messages:

ncatted -O -a units,precip,c,c,'mm day-1' nclimgrid_lowres_prcp_ncpdq5.nc

If that does not work try this

ncatted -O -a units,precip,c,c,'mm day-1' nclimgrid_lowres_prcp_ncpdq5.nc out.nc

answered Jan 16 '23 at 19:59

Charlie Zender

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ncatted -O -a name,precip,c,c,precip nclimgrid_lowres_prcp4.nc nclimgrid_lowres_prcp5.nc ncatted -O -a unite,precip,c,c,millimeter nclimgrid_lowres_prcp5.nc nclimgrid_lowres_prcp6.nc – mjh1366 Jan 22 '23 at 05:39

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 14 '23 at 09:52

To offer an alternative using cdo you can also set any attribute for variables in the following way

cdo setattribute,var@attr="stuff" in.nc out.nc

for example:

cdo -setattribute,precip@long_name="Precipitation" -setattribute,precip@units="mm day-1" in.nc out.nc

How add standard_name to attributes NetCDF file in NCO

2 Answers2