gz <- gzfile(“HadISST_sst.nc.gz”, “rb”)
data <- readBin(gz, “raw”, 104857600)
close(gz)
tempfile <- file(“temp.nc”, “wb”)
writeBin(data, tempfile)
close(tempfile)
library(ncdf)
nc <-open.ncdf(“temp.nc”)
nc2 <-open.ncdf(“ucHadISST_sst.nc”)
library(RNetCDF)
nc3 <-open.nc(“temp.nc”)
nc4 <-open.nc(“ucHadISST_sst.nc”)
print.ncdf(nc)

R version 2.8.1 (2008-12-22)
Copyright (C) 2008 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
ISBN 3-900051-07-0
…
> gz data close(gz)
> tempfile writeBin(data, tempfile)
> close(tempfile)
> library(ncdf)
> nc nc2 library(RNetCDF)
> nc3 nc4 print.ncdf(nc)
[1] “file temp.nc has 4 dimensions:”
[1] “lon Size: 360″
[1] “lat Size: 180″
[1] “time Size: 1671″
[1] “nv Size: 2″
[1] “————————”
[1] “file temp.nc has 2 variables:”
[1] “double time_bnds[nv,time] Longname:time_bnds Missval:1e+30″
[1] “float sst[lon,lat,time] Longname:Monthly 1 degree resolution SST Missval:-1.00000001504747e+30″
> print.ncdf(nc2)
[1] “file ucHadISST_sst.nc has 4 dimensions:”
[1] “lon Size: 360″
[1] “lat Size: 180″
[1] “time Size: 1671″
[1] “nv Size: 2″
[1] “————————”
[1] “file ucHadISST_sst.nc has 2 variables:”
[1] “double time_bnds[nv,time] Longname:time_bnds Missval:1e+30″
[1] “float sst[lon,lat,time] Longname:Monthly 1 degree resolution SST Missval:-1.00000001504747e+30″
> print.nc(nc3)
dimensions:
lon = 360 ;
lat = 180 ;
time = 1671 ;
nv = 2 ;
variables:
float lon(lon) ;
lon:long_name = “Longitude” ;
lon:standard_name = “longitude” ;
lon:units = “degrees_east” ;
lon:actual_range = -179.5179.5 ;
float lat(lat) ;
lat:long_name = “Latitude” ;
lat:standard_name = “latitude” ;
lat:units = “degrees_north” ;
lat:actual_range = -89.589.5 ;
double time(time) ;
time:long_name = “Time” ;
time:bounds = “time_bnds” ;
time:standard_name = “time” ;
time:units = “hours since 1-1-1 00:00:0.0″ ;
time:actual_range = 1638336017603232 ;
time:delta_t = “0000-00-01 00:00:00″ ;
double time_bnds(nv, time) ;
float sst(lon, lat, time) ;
sst:long_name = “Monthly 1 degree resolution SST” ;
sst:standard_name = “sea_surface_temperature” ;
sst:units = “degC” ;
sst:add_offset = 0 ;
sst:cell_methods = “time: lat: lon: mean” ;
sst:scale_factor = 1 ;
sst:_FillValue = -1e+30 ;
sst:missing_value = -1e+30 ;
sst:actual_range = -1.834.76296 ;
sst:description = “HadISST 1.1 monthly average sea surface temperature” ;

// global attributes:
:Conventions = “CF-1.0″ ;
:title = “Monthly version of HadISST sea surface temperature component” ;
:institution = “Met Office, Hadley Centre for Climate Research” ;
:source = “HadISST” ;
:history = “09/11/2006 HadISST converted to NetCDF from pp format by John Kennedy” ;
:references = “Rayner, N. A., Parker, D. E., Horton, E. B., Folland, C. K., Alexander, L. V., Rowell, D. P., Kent, E. C., Kaplan, A. Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century J. Geophys. Res.Vol. 108, No. D14, 4407 10.1029/2002JD002670″ ;
:comment = “Data restrictions: for academic research use only. Data are Crown copyright see (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/index.htm)” ;
:supplementary_information = “Updates and supplementary information will be available from http://www.hadobs.org” ;
:contact = “j” ;
> print.nc(nc4)
dimensions:
lon = 360 ;
lat = 180 ;
time = 1671 ;
nv = 2 ;
variables:
float lon(lon) ;
lon:long_name = “Longitude” ;
lon:standard_name = “longitude” ;
lon:units = “degrees_east” ;
lon:actual_range = -179.5179.5 ;
float lat(lat) ;
lat:long_name = “Latitude” ;
lat:standard_name = “latitude” ;
lat:units = “degrees_north” ;
lat:actual_range = -89.589.5 ;
double time(time) ;
time:long_name = “Time” ;
time:bounds = “time_bnds” ;
time:standard_name = “time” ;
time:units = “hours since 1-1-1 00:00:0.0″ ;
time:actual_range = 1638336017603232 ;
time:delta_t = “0000-00-01 00:00:00″ ;
double time_bnds(nv, time) ;
float sst(lon, lat, time) ;
sst:long_name = “Monthly 1 degree resolution SST” ;
sst:standard_name = “sea_surface_temperature” ;
sst:units = “degC” ;
sst:add_offset = 0 ;
sst:cell_methods = “time: lat: lon: mean” ;
sst:scale_factor = 1 ;
sst:_FillValue = -1e+30 ;
sst:missing_value = -1e+30 ;
sst:actual_range = -1.834.76296 ;
sst:description = “HadISST 1.1 monthly average sea surface temperature” ;

// global attributes:
:Conventions = “CF-1.0″ ;
:title = “Monthly version of HadISST sea surface temperature component” ;
:institution = “Met Office, Hadley Centre for Climate Research” ;
:source = “HadISST” ;
:history = “09/11/2006 HadISST converted to NetCDF from pp format by John Kennedy” ;
:references = “Rayner, N. A., Parker, D. E., Horton, E. B., Folland, C. K., Alexander, L. V., Rowell, D. P., Kent, E. C., Kaplan, A. Global analyses of sea surface temperature, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century J. Geophys. Res.Vol. 108, No. D14, 4407 10.1029/2002JD002670″ ;
:comment = “Data restrictions: for academic research use only. Data are Crown copyright see (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/index.htm)” ;
:supplementary_information = “Updates and supplementary information will be available from http://www.hadobs.org” ;
:contact = “j” ;
>

One interesting thing: the file uncompressed using Steve’s method is only 1/4 the size it should be:

ls -lh
total 720M
-rw-r–r– 1 me me 206M May 5 08:30 HadISST_sst.nc.gz
-rw-r–r– 1 me me 100M Jun 2 20:38 temp.nc
-rw-r–r– 1 me me 414M Jun 2 20:35 ucHadISST_sst.nc

I wonder if this is also an accident of using Linux.

There are lots of publicly available APIs on the web today. There are all sorts of ways of rate-limiting access to prevent denial of service attacks. Any security person that’s actually technically competent and not just a big-company bureaucrat knows about them and can implement them easily and quickly.

Mosh considers this a challenge to idiot proof an API.

Mosh, you have more pertinent things to.

Why? The data can be read-only.

Allowing access to hardware and software resources to individuals outside the institution tends to make security people very nervous. The concept of a user uploading their own code into the system just won’t be allowed.

That’s likely to create a security headache.

Why? The data can be read-only.

That’s likely to create a security headache.