Depending on the difference between the minimum and maximum and the value resolution of a netcdf variable, a smaller sized integer variable like short or byte can be used to compact the data. A scale factor and offset will be used to fit the data in the smaller sized variable and will added to the netCDF variable as attributes. All standard netCDF viewers will take these attributes into account automatically, but other tools and especially scripts might not.
Compacting netCDF variables for different export from FEWS:
- available in archive export (applied whenever possible)
- available in Time Series Export Module if property tryCompactingNetCDFData is set to true (applied when possible)
- NOT available in General Adapter Export NetCDF and exportPlaceholderFile option in importNetcdfActivity
