NCSS parameters table
Parameter Name |
Required |
Constraints |
Description / possible values |
default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
var |
yes |
Variables must be in the dataset description |
Name of variables, separated by ',' (comma). |
|
point |
no |
|
Means a grid will be treated as a point dataset making the request a Grid As Point request and allowing the extraction of point data from grids |
false |
latitude |
no |
Must be provided if point=true and must be within the lat/lon box declared in the dataset description |
In Grid As Point requests latitude of the point |
|
longitude |
no |
Must be provided if point=true and must be within the lat/lon box declared in the dataset description |
In Grid As Point requests longitude of the point |
|
north |
no |
bounding box must have north > south |
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 |
south |
no |
bounding box must have north > south |
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 |
east |
no |
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 |
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 |
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 all the times within the dataset |
time_start |
no |
|
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 all the times within the dataset |
time_end |
no |
|
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 all the times within the dataset |
time_duration |
no |
|
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 all the times within the dataset |
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 variables in the list must have the same vertical coordinate when using the vertCoord parameter (requesting data from a single vertical level) - if they do not have the same vertical coordinate, then the data returned will be incorrect (yes, you will get numbers, but they will not all be contained on the level you are requesting).
Basic Request:
"Give me all of the data for the variable Temperature_pressure"
Most simple request: ?var=Temperature_pressure
var |
Spatial |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature_pressure |
spatial=all |
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 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 |
Horizontal Stride |
Temporal |
Temporal Stride |
Vertical Coordinate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Temperature_pressure |
north=41& |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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 |
spatial=all |
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 |
spatial=all |
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.