The data types supported by netCDF are character, byte, short, long, float, and double. These data types are maintained in the netCDF raster layer, feature layer, or table created from a netCDF file.
According to the CF conventions, variables representing time must always explicitly include the units attribute. The units attribute is a string value formatted as per the recommendations in the Udunits package. If a variable has one of the acceptable units for time, the data is represented as a date in ArcGIS.
The following table shows the netCDF data types and corresponding Esri field types.
| NetCDF data type | ESRI field type |
|---|---|
character | esriFieldTypeString |
byte | esriFieldTypeSmallInteger |
short | esriFieldTypeSmallInteger |
long | esriFieldTypeInteger |
float | esriFieldTypeSingle |
double | esriFieldTypeDouble |
data with time units | esriFieldTypeDate |