[CF-metadata] Query on multiple variables with same standard names

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 15:49:08 +0100

Dear Helen

> - is it permissible to have more than one variable in a CF compliant
> file with the same standard name?

Yes, it is permissible, but you may indeed include other metadata to
distinguish them. For instance, you could use a "source" attribute of the
data variable to distinguish between model and measurement (CF 2.6.2), and
you could add a scalar coordinate variable of radiation_wavelength or
radiation_frequency (recently proposed, but not in the standard name table
yet) to distinguish the radar frequencies. If you don't need to distinguish
in a standardised way, you could use the long_name attribute to do it
descriptively. The spatial resolution will be clear from the spatial
coordinate variables.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Tue Jun 02 2009 - 08:49:08 BST