[CF-metadata] generalizing forecast_reference_time and forecast_period

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 17:17:38 +0100

Dear Benno

> CF has standard names forecast_reference_time, forecast_period and
> time which are interrelated in a particular way.
>
> I have a trajectory dataset which also has reference_time, period,
> and time which are interrelated in the same way, but forecast is not
> an appropriate descriptor: the reference_time is the start of the
> trajectory, the period is the time relative to the start_time along
> the trajectory.

I would say that the existing standard names are specific to forecasts. By
being specific they are potentially informative about the application. You
could say that "time" is too vague in this case and it should be called
verification_time or some other forecast-specific term.

Therefore I think it would be sensible to add some more general names which
you could use, such as reference_time and elapsed_time. You might say that
a "time" is expressed by udunits as an elapsed_time since a reference_time.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Tue May 17 2011 - 10:17:38 BST