Opening NetCDF file in QGIS with corresponding coordinate system

Question

I have a NetCDF file with 3 variables:

• a 2D lat grid (degrees)
• a 2D lon grid (degrees)
• a 2D data grid

I am having troubles opening this file in QGIS with its corresponding latitude and longitude coordinates (see pictures below).

Format:
           netcdf4_classic
Dimensions:
           X12_251 = 240
           Y20_465 = 446
Variables:
    LON
           Size:       240x446
           Dimensions: X12_251,Y20_465
           Datatype:   single
           Attributes:
                       _FillValue = NaN
    LAT
           Size:       240x446
           Dimensions: X12_251,Y20_465
           Datatype:   single
           Attributes:
                       _FillValue = NaN
    SMB
           Size:       240x446
           Dimensions: X12_251,Y20_465
           Datatype:   single
           Attributes:
                       _FillValue = NaN

I am however able to open it in Matlab with the following script:

clear all
close all

ncdisp('nc_example.nc');
Z = ncread('nc_example.nc','SMB');
lat = ncread('nc_example.nc','LAT');
lon = ncread('nc_example.nc','LON');

geoshow(lat, lon, Z, 'DisplayType', 'texturemap')

I created a Google Drive with the .nc file here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pbmmDjMaw0eWM1XIBk_px3piaAUtDi2f/view?usp=sharing

Answer 1

May not be the most elegant solution but the file can be converted to CSV with the following python code:

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

from netCDF4 import Dataset

ds=Dataset('nc_example.nc')

arr_lat=ds['LAT'][:].flatten()
arr_lon=ds['LON'][:].flatten()
arr_data=ds['SMB'][:].flatten()

arr_all=np.c_[arr_lat,arr_lon,arr_data]

df= pd.DataFrame(data=arr_all,columns=['lat','lon','smb'])
df.to_csv('nc_example.csv',index=False)

and then loaded to QGIS as Delimited Text and styled

Here's the file converted to geopackage, just in case..