Unidata netCDF
			    Version 3.5.0
			      March 2001

The Unidata network Common Data Form (netCDF) is an interface for
scientific data access and a freely-distributed software library that
provides an implementation of the interface.  The netCDF library also
defines a machine-independent format for representing scientific data.
Together, the interface, library, and format support the creation,
access, and sharing of scientific data.  The current netCDF software
provides common C, FORTRAN, Java, C++, and perl interfaces for
applications and data.  It has been tested on various common platforms.

NetCDF files are self-describing, network-transparent, directly
accessible, and extendible.  `Self-describing' means that a netCDF file
includes information about the data it contains.  `Network-transparent'
means that a netCDF file is represented in a form that can be accessed
by computers with different ways of storing integers, characters, and
floating-point numbers.  `Direct-access' means that a small subset of a
large dataset may be accessed efficiently, without first reading through
all the preceding data.  `Extendible' means that data can be appended to
a netCDF dataset without copying it or redefining its structure.

NetCDF is useful for supporting access to diverse kinds of scientific
data in heterogeneous networking environments and for writing
application software that does not depend on application-specific
formats.  A variety of analysis and display packages have been developed
to analyze and display data in netCDF form.

You can obtain a copy of the latest released version of netCDF software
using a WWW browser or anonymous FTP from

	ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/netcdf.tar.Z

Included in this distribution are: the C source for the netCDF data
access library, sources for the FORTRAN and C++ interfaces,
documentation for the netCDF library and utilities in the form of a
netCDF User's Guide, source for the netCDF utilities ncdump and ncgen,
and test programs to verify the correct implementation of the netCDF
library.

More information about netCDF, including a Frequently Asked Questions
list and access to on-line documentation, is available from the URL

       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/

A mailing list, netcdfgroup@unidata.ucar.edu, exists for discussion of
the netCDF interface and announcements about netCDF bugs, fixes, and
enhancements.  For information about how to subscribe, see the URL

       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/mailing-lists.html

An archive of past postings to the netcdfgroup mailing list is available
for searching from the netCDF home page.

Questions about netCDF may be sent to support@unidata.ucar.edu.