[CF-metadata] Composite area types in CMIP6 data

From: martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk <martin.juckes>
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2017 11:43:57 +0000

Hello,

In CMIP6 we have a request for some data on pasture land with C4 functional type. We already have CF area types for pasture and c4 plants in general. We could construct the required information as follows:

    float pastureFracC4(time, lat, lon) ;
        pastureFracC4:coordinates = "type ftpye" ;
        pastureFracC4: standard_name = "area_fraction";
        ......
    char type(strlen) ;
        type:long_name = "Pasture Land" ;
        type:standard_name = "area_type" ;
    char ftype(strlen) ;
        ftype:long_name = "Plant Functional Type" ;
        ftype:standard_name = "area_type" ;
data:
 type = "patsures" ;
 ftype = "c4_plant_functional_types";

This would provide the information that the variable pastureFracC4 refers to areas that are both "pastures" and "c4_plant_functional_types". An altenative would be to add a new area type, but I have the feeling that the area_type list will become unmanagable if we keep adding new terms for combinations of existing terms. Can anyone see a problem with using two area_type coordinates?

regards,
Martin
Received on Fri Jan 06 2017 - 04:43:57 GMT