Describe any ERDDAP griddap dataset, so it can be read like a built-in one

ERDDAP servers host thousands of gridded datasets, and erddap_datasets() ships three. This is how to reach any of the rest: give it a server and a dataset id, and it reads the dataset's own metadata to work out the axes, the variables and the period covered.

Usage

erddap_dataset(
  server,
  dataset_id,
  variables = NULL,
  label = NULL,
  reference = NA_character_
)

Arguments

server: the ERDDAP base URL, e.g. "https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap"
dataset_id: the griddap dataset id
variables: named vector mapping the names you want to this dataset's variable names, as c(SST = "analysed_sst"). When NULL, every data variable is offered under its own name.
label: a human-readable name; defaults to the dataset id
reference: the citation for this product, if there is one

Value

a list in the shape erddap_datasets() entries take, ready to pass to accessERDDAP() as dataset

What it checks

The dataset's .das is fetched and parsed once, so a wrong id, an unreachable server, or a dataset that is tabular rather than gridded fails here — with the reason — rather than part-way through a fetch. Whether the dataset carries a singleton altitude axis is detected rather than assumed, because that changes the shape of every request.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
mine <- erddap_dataset("https://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap",
                       "jplMURSST41", variables = c(SST = "analysed_sst"))
str(mine)
} # }