I'm confused as well. Is the intent of the proposal to enable people to
have variables containing arrays of strings naming sources or institutions?
Is this why we are talking about adding "source" and "institution" to the
list of standard names?
Why are attributes named "source" and "institution" insufficient?
On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 10:10 AM, Nan Galbraith <ngalbraith at whoi.edu> wrote:
> Could someone elaborate on this? The original proposal was a bit
> confusing,
> as it proposed promoting "source/institution to a coordinate variable."
>
> It seems that, to indicate various sources for different variables within
> a file,
> one would use institution as a variable attribute instead of a global.
> This is
> the approach that NODC has used in their new NetCDF templates. That
> wouldn't
> help if there were multiple sources for a single data variable - so, is
> this meant
> to be a 2D variable? It makes a lot of sense in that context.
>
> I guess my confusion is with the term "coordinate variable" - will that be
> part of
> the definition? Does there need to be some text indicating that this
> should
> either be dimension (1) or share a dimension with one of the coordinates?
>
> Thanks -
> Nan
>
>
> There are global attribute names defined with specific meaning in 2.6.2 Description of File Contentshttp://cf-pcmdi.llnl.gov/documents/cf-conventions/1.5/ch02s06.html#description-of-file-contents
>
> Specifically the names:
> institution
> source
>
> It is a common operation to combine data from multiple sources/institutions into some form of ensemble. The natural operation is to promote source/institution to a coordinate variable.
>
> I have seen many CF NetCDF files which are not CF compliant as they have used source and/or institution as a standard_name for a coordinate variable.
>
> Thus I propose that
> institution
> source
> are added to the standard name list, with the same definition for each as is used in 2.6.2
>
> This will bring a common practice which I feel is logical into compliance.
>
> On 3/29/12 8:55 AM, alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> In September 2011 Mark Hedley proposed that the global attributes:
> source
> institution
> should be added to the standard name table http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/pipermail/cf-metadata/2011/027316.html.
>
> The definitions of the standard names would be identical to those already given in section 2.6.2 of the conventions. The reason for wanting to do this is that, in practice, many files have been written that use "source" and "institution" as values of the standard_name attribute although this is not CF compliant.
>
> Jonathan supported this proposal and no objections have been received.
>
> I also support this proposal as it will bring many currently non-compliant files into compliance. The conventions already allow source and institution to be assigned to individual variables, so this is a minor extension. Section 2.6.2 should probably be modified slightly to state that the variables can also be added as string valued standard name attributes. If there are no further comments on this proposal in the next 7 days I will accept the standard names and open a trac ticket to modify 2.6.2 of the conventions.
>
> Best wishes,
> Alison
>
> ------
> Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
> NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
> STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
> R25, 2.22
> Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> *******************************************************
> * Nan Galbraith Information Systems Specailist *
> * Upper Ocean Processes Group Mail Stop 29 *
> * Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution *
> * Woods Hole, MA 02543 (508) 289-2444 *
> *******************************************************
>
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>
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>
--
Jim Biard
Research Scholar
Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites
Remote Sensing and Applications Division
National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801-5001
jim.biard at noaa.gov
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