NCSS parameters table
Parameter Name |
Required |
Constraints |
Description / possible values |
default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
var |
yes |
Variables must be in the dataset description. Only requests on variables with same vertical levels are supported |
Name of variables, separated by ',' (comma). |
|
latitude |
no |
Must be within the data. Note the lat/lon bounding box declared in the dataset description is an approximated rectangle to the actual lat/lon boundaries so there may be valid points within the data but ouside of the declared bounding box in the dataset description. If latitude is provided longitude must be provided too |
In Grid As Point requests latitude of the point |
|
longitude |
no |
Must be within the data. Note the lat/lon bounding box declared in the dataset description is an approximated rectangle to the actual lat/lon boundaries so there may be valid points within the data but ouside of the declared bounding box in the dataset description. If longitude is provided latitude must be provided too |
In Grid As Point requests longitude of the point |
|
north |
no |
lat/lon bounding box must have north > south |
Used to define a lat/lon bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: north, south, east and west |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
south |
no |
lat/lon bounding box must have north > south |
Used to define a lat/lon bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: north, south, east and west |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
east |
no |
lat/lon bounding box must have east > west; if crossing 180 meridian, use east boundary > 180 |
Used to define a bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: north, south, east and west |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
west |
no |
lat/lon bounding box must have east > west; if crossing 180 meridian, use east boundary > 180 |
Used to define a bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: north, south, east and west |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
minx |
no |
projection bounding box must have minx < maxx |
Used to define a projection bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: minx, miny, maxx, maxy |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
maxx |
no |
projection bounding box must have minx < maxx |
Used to define a projection bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: minx, miny, maxx, maxy |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
miny |
no |
projection bounding box must have miny < maxy |
Used to define a projection bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: minx, miny, maxx, maxy |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
maxy |
no |
projection bounding box must have miny < maxy |
Used to define a projection bounding box. Bounding box must have all 4 parameters: minx, miny, maxx, maxy |
If no bounding box is specified returns the whole grid |
time |
no |
Must be a time within the dataset time range |
Time as a W3C date or "present". The time slice closest to the requested time is returned |
If no time or time range is provided returns the closest to the current time |
time_start |
no |
The provided time range must intersect the dataset time range |
Used to specify the starting time of a time range. Time as a W3C date or "present". Two of time_start, time_end, time_duration must be present to define a valid time range. |
If no time or time range is provided returns the closest to the current time |
time_end |
no |
The provided time range must intersect the dataset time range |
Used to specify the ending time of a time range. Time as a W3C date or "present". Two of time_start, time_end, time_duration must be present to define a valid time range. |
If no time or time range is provided returns the closest to the current time |
time_duration |
no |
The provided time range must intersect the dataset time range |
Used to specify the time duration of a time range. Duration as a W3C time duration. Two of time_start, time_end, time_duration must be present to define a valid time range. |
If no time or time range is provided returns the closest to the current time |
temporal |
no |
Must be equal to "all" to have effect |
Shorthand to request all the available time range |
If no time or time range is provided returns the closest to the current time |
timeStride |
no |
Only for grid requests |
Take only every nth time in the available series |
1 |
horStride |
no |
Only for grid requests |
Take only every nth point (both x and y) |
1 |
vertCoord |
no |
Requested variables must have the same vertical levels otherwise ambiguous results are likely. |
|
If the requested variables have vertical levels, all the vertical levels will be returned |
accept |
no |
Accepted values for grid request are netCDF and for grid as point requests csv, xml, netCDF |
Used to specify the returned format. Supported formats are netCDF for grid requests and csv, xml and netcdf for grid as point |
Grid requests netcdf, Grid as point requests csv |
NCSS Use Cases and Request Strings for Grid Requests
Single Variable Requests
Note that these single variable requests can be easily extended to multivariable request by simply passing a comma separated list of variables in the var= parameter. Please note that only requests on variables with same vertical levels are supported
Basic Request:
"Give me all of the data for the variable Temperature_pressure"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure
var |
Spatial |
Coordinate |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
not set |
not set |
1 |
temporal=all |
1 |
not set |
* blank cells indicates parameter is not set (i.e. horStride=) or is not included in request string
Single variable request within a lat/lon bounding box:
"Give me all of the data for the variable Temperature_pressure from the Global GFS model over the state of Colorado"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure&north=41&west=-109.05&east=-102.05&south=37
var |
Spatial |
Coordinate |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
north=41& |
not set |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
north=41& |
|
1 |
temporal=all |
1 |
not set |
Single variable request with an even horizontal stride across the entire grid:
"Give me the variable Temperature_pressure for every 5th data point on the grid (deltax = deltay = 5), on all vertical levels (if any exist)"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure&horStride=5
var |
Spatial |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
|
5 [integer > 0] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
not set |
5 [integer > 0] |
temporal=all |
1 |
not set |
Single variable request with an even horizontal stride inside a bounding box:
"Give me every 5th data point in (deltas = deltay = 5), on all vertical levels (if any exist), from the Global GFS model over the state of Colorado"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure&north=41&west=-109.05&east=-102.05&south=37&horStride=5
var |
Spatial |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
north=41& |
5 [integer > 0] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
north=41& |
5 [integer > 0] |
temporal=all |
1 |
not set |
Single variable request with on a particular vertical level:
"Give me all of the data for the variable Temperature_pressure at 1000 mb"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure&vertCoord=1000
var |
Spatial |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
|
|
|
|
1000* |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
not set |
1 |
temporal=all |
1 |
vertical level (value |
* note that the vertical level value must be in the same units used in the dataset - in this example we assume millibars but you will need to check the dataset description to be sure.