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Global Attributes

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John Kerfoot edited this page Feb 3, 2023 · 23 revisions

Global Attributes

The following is the list of global attributes required and recommended in the NetCDF specification. The goal of the NetCDF specification is to align with and adhere to the following conventions where possible:

Where applicable, we use NERC Vocabulary Server Controlled Vocabularies to standardize attribute values used by cataloging services to harvest data set metadata, which improves data set discovery and archiving.

Descriptions of required and recommended global attributes are found below.

Global Attribute Quick Reference

Attribute Role
acknowledgment required
Conventions required
contributor_name required
contributor_role recommended
creator_email required
creator_institution required
creator_url required
creator_name required
date_created required
date_issued recommended
date_modified recommended
gts_ingest required
history required
id required
institution required
keywords required
keywords_vocabulary required
license required
mode required
naming_authority required
platform_type required
processing_level required
project recommended
publisher_email required
publisher_name required
publisher_url required
references required

acknowledgment

Acknowledgement of funding agencies and sources used to produce the data

  • Example: "Funding provided by NOAA"
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References:

comment

Additional information about the deployment not captured elsewhere. Typically includes deployment information including, but not limited to the deployment team, shoreside support, deploying boat, marine, etc.

  • Example: "Glider deployed by Bill Graham aboard the R/V Furthr out of San Francisco, CA. Shoreline support provided by Dick Latvala"
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References:

Conventions

Comma separated list of conventions followed in creation of the file.

contributor_name

First and last names of all persons contributing the production of the data set. Multiple contributor names are separated by commas

  • Example: "Jerry Garcia,Bob Weir,Phil Lesh,Mickey Hart,Bill Kreutzmann,Keith Godchaux,Ron McKernan,Dick Latvala"
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References:

contributor_role

The roles of all individuals or institutions that contributed to the creation of the data set, including glider preparation, deployment, shoreside support, data processing, etc. Multiple contributors are separated by commas. We recommend using the contributor roles provided in the NERC Vocabulary Server Contributor Roles G04 Collection as this controlled vocabulary provides standardized contributor roles.

  • Example: "principalInvestigator,collaborator,collaborator,collaborator,collaborator,collaborator,processor"
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: NERC contributor roles

contributor_role_vocabulary

URL for the vocabulary used to describe contributor_role. Multiple vocabularies are separated by commas.

creator_email

Email address(es) of the person or institution that collected the data. Multiple email addresses are separated by commas.

creator_institution

Institution(s) responsible for the collection and processing of the data. Multiple institutions are separated by commas. Current approved institution names can be found in the NCEI/GDAC Approved Institutions Authority Table. You may request adding a new/missing institution by Contacting the Glider DAC administration team.

creator_institution_url

URL of the institution responsible for the collection and processing of the data. Multiple URLs are separated by commas.

creator_name

Name(s) of the individuals responsible for the collection and processing of the data. Multiple names are separated by commas.

date_created

ISO-8601 formatted date and time at which the file was created.

date_issued

ISO-8601 formatted date and time at which the file was issued

date_modified

ISO-8601 formatted date and time at which the file was modified.

  • Example: "1977-05-09T08:00:00UTC"
  • Role: recommended if applicable
  • Conventions/References: ISO-8601 dates/times|

gts_ingest

Specifies whether the data is intended to be harvested by NDBC for release on the Global Telecommuncation System. Data released to the GTS are available for assimilation into local, regional and global ocean models to increase the accuracy of the forecasts and hindcast validation. In order for NDBC to harvest the dataset, this attribute must have a value of "True". If not included, the Glider DAC will automatically set this attribute to "True", indicating that the data is available for GTS release.

history

A string containing the processing and modification history for the data set. Each entry should begin with the ISO 8601:2004 Extended Date/Time Format (EDTF) and the name and command line parameters of the program used to create or change the data and/or other information about the change.

  • Example: “1977-05-08T20:00:00Z: Raw data processed to NetCDF with /bin/writeIoosNc.py
    1977-05-10T00:00:00Z: conductivity corrected for thermal lag with /bin/correct_thermal_lag.py”
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: CF Conventions

id

A unique identifier for data set. We recommend using the trajectory variable string name, which must have the following format:

  glider-YYYYmmddTHHMM-mode

Where glider is the name of the glider and YYYYmmddTHHMM is the deployment date/time and the mode is either "rt" or "delayed". The combination of the naming_authority and the id should be globally unique, but the id can be globally unique by itself also. IDs can be URLs, URNs, DOIs, meaningful text strings, a local key, or any other unique string of characters. The id should not include blanks.

institution

Institution(s) responsible for the collection and processing of the data. Multiple institutions are separated by commas. Current approved institution names can be found in the NCEI/GDAC Approved Institutions Authority Table. You may request adding a new/missing institution by Contacting the Glider DAC administration team.

keywords

A comma separated list of keywords in a keyword vocabulary collection. We do not require a specific keyword_vocabulary, but do suggest using one of the vocabularies contained in the Conventions/References. If no keywords are specified, the DAC will attempt to add pertinent keywords, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy or inclusion of all relevant keywords.

  • Example: “AUVS > Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Oceans > Ocean Pressure > Water Pressure, Oceans > Ocean Temperature > Water Temperature, Oceans > Salinity/Density > Conductivity, Oceans > Salinity/Density > Density, Oceans > Salinity/Density > Salinity”
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: GCMD Keywords, NERC Vocabulary Service

keywords_vocabulary

The unique name or identifier of the vocabulary from which keywords are taken. If more than one keyword vocabulary is used, each may be presented with a prefix and a following comma, so that keywords may optionally be prefixed with the controlled vocabulary key. If no keywords are specified, the DAC will attempt to add pertinent keywords, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy or inclusion of all relevant keywords.

license

Description of the restrictions to data access, distribution and citation.

  • Example: "This data may be redistributed and used without restriction. Data provided as is with no expressed or implied assurance of quality assurance or quality control."
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: ACDD Conventions, IOOS Metadata Profile

mode

Identifies the data set as realtime ("rt") or delayed ("delayed"). Real-time data sets are typically decimated, lower resolution as compared to a delayed mode data set which is undecimated and high resolution. If omitted, the mode is set by the type of the data set specified on the data set registration page.

  • Example: "rt"
  • Role: required

naming_authority

The organization that provides the id for the dataset. The combination of the naming_authority and the id should be a globally unique identifier for the dataset. A reverse-DNS naming is recommended; URIs are also acceptable.

platform_type

Glider make and model.

processing_level

Description of the processing and quality control level of the data.

  • Example: "Level 0 data extracted from raw Slocum glider data files with QARTOD quality control algorithms applied."
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: ACDD Conventions

project

The name of the project(s) principally responsible for originating this data. Multiple projects are separated by commas.

  • Example: "LTER,CONVERGE"
  • Role: required
  • Conventions/References: ACDD Conventions

publisher_email

Email address of the publisher of the data. Multiple values are separated by commas. Individuals or group email addresses are allowed.

  • Role: required

publisher_name

Name of the publisher of the data. Multiple values are separated by commas. Individual or group names are allowed.

  • Role: required

publisher_url

A URL for the publisher of the data.

  • Role: **recommended, if available. Multiple values are separated by commas.

references

Published or web-based references that describe the data or methods used to produce it. Recommend URIs (such as a URLs, DOIs or Accession Records) for papers, references or archived records. Multiple references are be separated by commas.

sea_name

The names of the water body(s) in which the data were collected.

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