[Python] NetCDF and Python: Finding the closest lon/lat index given actual lon/lat values

I'd like to be able to find the lon/lat coordinate indices of the closest location to a lon/lat tuple. This is already available in the Java API as GridCoordSystem.findXYindexFromLatLon(), but I haven't found anything comparable in the Python API.

What I'm hoping to find in the API, or write myself and contribute to the API (if useful), is something like this:

def get_indices(netcdf_dataset, lon_value, lat_value):
'''
aram netcdf_dataset an open NetCDF data set object
aram lon_value a longitude value, in degrees (-180...180)
aram lat_value a latitude value, in degrees (-90...90)
:return indices into the lon and lat coordinate variables corresponding to the closest point to the lon/lat value arguments
'''

# some (trigonometry?) code here...

return lon_index, lat_index


Maybe this isn't as complicated as I assume it is, and I can get away with just using the closest neighbor?

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