Tutorial: How to Display a NetCDF File as a Raster in ArcGIS Pro using NASA MERRA-2 Data

NetCDF is a commonly used data format within the scientific community. It stores multidimensional scientific data as variables such as temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, and direction. NetCDF files are commonly utilized in meteorology, climatology, and GIS applications. These files, though standard in representing some forms of scientific data, may not be initially clear how to visualize them using ArcGIS Pro. In fact, each of the available variables, depending on the specific data product, can be displayed as a raster through a dimension (such as time) in ArcGIS by making a layer or table view from the NetCDF file.

In this brief tutorial, we will use an example from the MERRA-2 satellite product (.nc4) and visualize it in ArcGIS Pro using the "Make NetCDF Raster Layer" geoprocessing tool. It is recommended to do a bit of further digging into any data product's metadata and available variables to have a good understanding of what is being shown in the map.

Relevant Links:
search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search
gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/
worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/