How to visualize a NetCDF Dataset

Question

Suppose I have a rather large NetCDF file that I open as a dataset using xarray.

import xarray

nc_in = r"....\D_P_WGS84_comp.nc"
nc_ds = xarray.open_dataset(nc_in)

It is composed of multiple raster variables, each with a single band, x, y coordinates and a crs (4326):

nc_ds

Suppose I want to visualize this very simply in my Python Notebook. I don't really want to add basemaps or legends or anything like that. I tried simply running show(nc_ds) but throws an errors AttributeError: 'Dataset' object has no attribute 'shape'`. I also noticed that the dimensions are frozen. What is the simplest way to visualize this dataset or a single variable of it in Python? Is there a mod or package extension that would do this?

Answer 1

Since a Dataset can contain more than one variable, it would not be trivial for software to know what you want it to display. If you select one of its variables as DataArray however, that can easily be displayed (if it is in an appropriate format).

The variables of a Dataset are available via its data_vars attribute. This exposes the variables as DataArrays in a dict with the variable names as keys.

Step by step:

variables = nc_ds.data_vars
f02_nbr_e0002 = variables['F02_NBR_E0002']
show(f02_nbr_e0002)

Efficient oneliner:

show(nc_ds.data_vars['F02_NBR_E0002'])