[CF-metadata] units in cf standard names

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:44:24 +0100

Dear John

> The udunits package, and the COARDS/CF "units" attribute, just deals with
> physical units, expressed as powers of base units like length, time, etc.

That's right.

> I think we should consider adding another attribute, called something like
> "quantity" or "quantity_units" that would try to cover things like "kg N".
> But can these be standardized, or are they just labels?

I can't really see an advantage in this. I feels to me like a way of avoiding
the issue of deciding properly how a quantity should be named, by moving part
of the name into the units. Surely the mass of carbon in carbon dioxide, and
the mass of carbon dioxide, are both masses, both in kg (lb, oz, g, etc.).
They are different quantities with the same physical units.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Tue Oct 10 2006 - 15:44:24 BST