determine T0 from Netcdf header

[Steve Knox <stevek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good day,

I'm trying to read Netcdf files with ferret.
Is there a way for Ferret to return, as a variable, the value of the time origin of a netcdf  file?

The Netcdf files use the COARDS conventions:
        int time(time) ;
                time:long_name = "Time" ;
                time:units = "days since 1895-01-01" ;
                time:time_step = "monthly" ;
but in general the time units will vary so I don't know before running my Ferret script what the time
origin is, unless I write a separate script to parse the header info and the value of time(0) from the
Netcdf file. I'd like to avoid having to do that and just let Ferret return "T0".

Thanks!



























































































        int time(time) ;
                time:long_name = "Time" ;
                time:units = "days since 1895-01-01" ;
                time:time_step = "monthly" ;

-- 
  Steve Knox
  Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
  Colorado State University
  Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499
  stevek@nrel.colostate.edu