GOAT (Geophysical Observational Analysis Tool) is a free MATLAB based tool designed to simplify the access to geophysical data, by providing a central management, retrieval, visualization, and analysis tool for various geophysical datasets. GOAT integrates with online OPeNDAP sources and NetCDF archives (such as CMIP5 archives) as well as *.mat files.
By applying a uniform archiving standard to all geophysical data, GOAT enables the use of generic functions for all datasets. This reduces code and data-conversion redundancies, and simplifies inter-model comparisons and surveys. GOAT can be applied to any gridded geophysical data, such as observations, reanalyses, and climate-model data.
GOAT is free for non-commercial use. It is intended for researchers, teachers, or anyone interested in accessing climate data. An intuitive graphic user interface allows browsing through geophysical data with minimal user background. The user interface is also useful as a teaching aid, for creating data subsets, or for quick and elementary analysis.