---

name: opendap description: Understanding OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) for accessing remote scientific data via HTTP, including DAP2/DAP4 protocols, constraint expressions, data models, and client integration. Use when working with OPeNDAP URLs, writing data access code, or integrating with NetCDF. metadata: author: opendap-documentation version: "1.0" date: "2026-01-19"

OPeNDAP Skill

This skill provides comprehensive knowledge of OPeNDAP to help you access, serve, and work with remote scientific data effectively.

Overview

OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) provides a way for researchers to access scientific data anywhere on the Internet from a wide variety of programs. It uses a client/server architecture built on HTTP and provides flexible data subsetting through constraint expressions.

Key Features:

• Network-transparent data access via URLs
• Data subsetting at the server (reduces bandwidth)
• Format-independent data model
• Compatible with NetCDF, HDF5, and other formats
• Supports gridded data, sequences, and complex structures

Core Concepts

1. Client/Server Architecture

OPeNDAP uses a web-based client/server model similar to the World Wide Web:

• Server (Hyrax): Translates data from storage format to DAP format for transmission
• Client: Requests data via URLs and translates DAP format to local API format
• Protocol: HTTP-based Data Access Protocol (DAP)

Data Flow:

User Program → OPeNDAP Client Library → HTTP Request → OPeNDAP Server
                                                              ↓
User Program ← Translated Data ← DAP Response ← Read Local Files

2. OPeNDAP URLs

An OPeNDAP URL identifies a dataset and optionally includes a constraint expression:

Basic URL Structure:

http://server.domain/path/to/dataset.nc

URL with Constraint Expression:

http://server.domain/path/to/dataset.nc?variable[start:stop]&selection_clause

URL Suffixes (Service Endpoints):

• .dds - Dataset Descriptor Structure (DAP2 - data shape)
• .das - Data Attribute Structure (DAP2 - metadata)
• .dmr.xml - Dataset Metadata Response (DAP4 - combined structure)
• .dods - Binary data (DAP2)
• .dap - Binary data (DAP4)
• .ascii - ASCII representation of data
• .html - Web form interface
• .info - Combined DDS + DAS in HTML

3. Data Access Protocol (DAP)

DAP2 (Older, widely supported):

• Separate DDS and DAS responses
• Binary data in .dods format
• Simpler data model

DAP4 (Newer, enhanced):

• Unified DMR (Dataset Metadata Response) in XML
• Enhanced data model with groups
• Better support for complex types
• Improved performance

OPeNDAP Data Model

Base Types

• Byte, Int16, Int32, Int64 - Integer types
• UInt16, UInt32, UInt64 - Unsigned integers
• Float32, Float64 - Floating-point numbers
• String - Character strings
• URL - Uniform Resource Locators

Constructor Types

• Array - Multi-dimensional arrays with indexing
• Structure - Collection of related variables
• Sequence - Ordered collection of instances (like database rows)
• Grid - Array with coordinate map vectors

Example Grid:

Grid {
  Array:
    Int16 sst[time=1857][lat=89][lon=180];
  Maps:
    Float64 time[time=1857];
    Float64 lat[lat=89];
    Float64 lon[lon=180];
} sst;

Constraint Expressions

Constraint expressions allow you to subset data on the server before transmission.

Syntax

URL?projection&selection

• Projection: Comma-separated list of variables to return
• Selection: Boolean expressions to filter data (prefixed with &)

Array Subsetting

Single element:

?variable[index]
?sst[0][10][20]

Range (start:stop):

?variable[start:stop]
?sst[0:10][20:30][40:50]

Stride (start:stride:stop):

?variable[start:stride:stop]
?sst[0:2:100]  # Every 2nd element from 0 to 100

Selection Clauses

Comparison operators: <, >, <=, >=, =, !=

Examples:

?station&station.temp>20.0
?station&station.lat>0.0&station.lon<-60.0
?station&station.month={4,5,6,7}  # List for OR

Server Functions

Hyrax servers support functions for advanced operations:

geogrid() - Subset by geographic coordinates:

?geogrid(sst, 62, 206, 56, 210, "19722<time<19755")

linear_scale() - Scale data values:

?linear_scale(sst, 0.01, 0)  # y = 0.01*x + 0

version() - List available functions:

?version()

Call any function with no arguments to see its documentation.

Using OPeNDAP with NetCDF

NetCDF-C Library

The NetCDF-C library has built-in OPeNDAP support. Simply use an OPeNDAP URL instead of a file path:

#include <netcdf.h>

int ncid, varid;
char *url = "http://test.opendap.org/dap/data/nc/sst.mnmean.nc.gz";

// Open remote dataset
nc_open(url, NC_NOWRITE, &ncid);

// Access variables normally
nc_inq_varid(ncid, "sst", &varid);

// Read data with subsetting
size_t start[] = {0, 0, 0};
size_t count[] = {1, 10, 10};
float data[10][10];
nc_get_vara_float(ncid, varid, start, count, &data[0][0]);

nc_close(ncid);

URL with Constraint Expression

You can include constraint expressions in the URL:

char *url = "http://server.org/data.nc?sst[0:10][20:30][40:50]";
nc_open(url, NC_NOWRITE, &ncid);

Fortran Programs

program read_opendap
  use netcdf
  implicit none
  
  integer :: ncid, varid, status
  character(len=256) :: url
  real :: data(10, 10)
  
  url = "http://test.opendap.org/dap/data/nc/sst.mnmean.nc.gz"
  
  status = nf90_open(url, NF90_NOWRITE, ncid)
  status = nf90_inq_varid(ncid, "sst", varid)
  status = nf90_get_var(ncid, varid, data, &
                        start=[1,1,1], count=[10,10,1])
  status = nf90_close(ncid)
  
end program read_opendap

Common Workflows

1. Exploring a Dataset

Step 1: Get the DMR/DDS to see structure:

http://server.org/data.nc.dmr.xml
http://server.org/data.nc.dds  (DAP2)

Step 2: Get attributes:

http://server.org/data.nc.das  (DAP2)

Step 3: Use .info for combined view:

http://server.org/data.nc.info

2. Subsetting Data

Step 1: Identify variable and dimensions from DMR/DDS

Step 2: Construct constraint expression:

?variable[time_start:time_end][lat_start:lat_end][lon_start:lon_end]

Step 3: Test with .ascii to verify:

http://server.org/data.nc.ascii?sst[0:1][10:20][30:40]

Step 4: Use in your program with full URL

3. Working with Sequences

Sequences are like database tables with rows of data:

Get specific fields:

?sequence.field1,sequence.field2

Filter rows:

?sequence.field1,sequence.field2&sequence.field1>100

Multiple conditions:

?sequence&sequence.temp>20&sequence.depth<100

Client Tools

Matlab

Matlab 2012a+ has built-in OPeNDAP support via NetCDF interface:

url = 'http://test.opendap.org/dap/data/nc/sst.mnmean.nc.gz';
ncid = netcdf.open(url);
data = netcdf.getVar(ncid, varid);
netcdf.close(ncid);

Python

Using netCDF4-python or xarray:

import netCDF4
url = "http://test.opendap.org/dap/data/nc/sst.mnmean.nc.gz"
ds = netCDF4.Dataset(url)
sst = ds.variables['sst'][0:10, 20:30, 40:50]

Command-line Tools

ncdump (with OPeNDAP-enabled NetCDF):

ncdump -h "http://server.org/data.nc"
ncdump -v sst "http://server.org/data.nc?sst[0:10][20:30]"

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. URL not recognized:

• Ensure NetCDF library is compiled with DAP support
• Check URL syntax (http:// or https://)

2. Constraint expression errors:

• Verify variable names match DDS/DMR exactly
• Check array bounds (0-indexed)
• Ensure proper quoting in shell commands

3. Performance issues:

• Use constraint expressions to reduce data transfer
• Request only needed variables
• Consider server-side functions for processing

4. Authentication:

• Some servers require credentials
• Use .netrc file or URL-embedded credentials
• Check server documentation for auth methods

Quick Reference

Essential URL Patterns

# Get metadata
http://server/dataset.nc.dmr.xml  (DAP4)
http://server/dataset.nc.dds      (DAP2)
http://server/dataset.nc.das      (DAP2)

# Get data
http://server/dataset.nc?var[0:10]
http://server/dataset.nc.ascii?var[0:10]

# Multiple variables
http://server/dataset.nc?var1,var2,var3

# With selection
http://server/dataset.nc?var&var>100

Constraint Expression Operators

• Array: [start:stop], [start:stride:stop]
• Comparison: <, >, <=, >=, =, !=
• String match: ~= (regex)
• Lists: {val1,val2,val3} (OR operation)
• Structure fields: structure.field

Additional Resources

See references/PROTOCOL.md for DAP2 and DAP4 protocol details.

See references/CONSTRAINTS.md for comprehensive constraint expression examples.

See references/DATA-MODEL.md for complete data type documentation.

See references/CLIENT-USAGE.md for client integration examples.