[CF-metadata] Using cell methods for statistics associated with gridded observation data

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 15:03:10 +0100

Dear Randy

> The GOES-R ground system generates level 2+ products such as aerosol optical depth, for the hemispheric, continental US, and mesocale (100 km x 1000 km) regions.
>
> The NetCDF product files need to contain statistics (min, max, mean, and standard deviation) associated with ALL the gridded data associated with a region.
>
> It would seem the use of cell methods to express these statistics in the product file makes sense even though there is only one cell (i.e. the one cell that captures the statistic for the entire region).

Yes, I agree.

> It is stated in the first sentence of CF standard para. 7.3.3 that the statistical method is evaluated over the entire horizontal area of the cell. In the case of our level 2+ products, this is not always the case, so we have a need to somehow express that the statistic is associated with a subset of the cell.
>
> For example, in the case of the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product, the algorithm that generates the gridded data is has solar zenith angle and platform zenith angle constraints.
>
> Essentially, these statistics apply to a portion of the single cell. Unfortunately, the "where <area_type>" features discussed in CF standard para. 7.3.3 do not work for us because the AOD product constraints are associated with the solar zenith angle and platform zenith angle at the time of observation, not one of the area_types.
>
> Given the currently available cell method constructs, which allow for capturing the original spacing of the gridded data elements and the ability to include non-standardized information, we have applied the existing CF cell_method constructs as follow:
>
> float minimum_AOD_for_region ;
>
> coordinates = "solar_zenith_angle platform_zenith_angle time y x" ;
>
> cell_methods = "time: sum area: sum (interval: 2 km comment:solar_zenith_angle and platform_zenith_angle conforming pixels only)" ;
>
> Is the way we are applying cell methods consistent with the CF standard ?

Yes, I think that is fine, if it's OK for you to use non-standardised
information. This sort of application was the intention of the standard.

Is "sum" really the right cell_method? I would have expected "mean".

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Wed Jul 03 2013 - 08:03:10 BST