Deprecated 2016. Visit the [1.2 Metadata Profile](./ioos-metadata-profile-v1-2.html) page for the current version.
Edit me
This page provides description of the deprecated IOOS NetCDF Metadata Profile.
Caveats
- NOAA NODC NetCDF Templates v1.1 is required; the NOAA NCEI NetCDF Templates v2.0 is not recommended at the moment.
- Attribute Conventions for Dataset Discovery (ACDD) v1.1 is required. The ACDD v1.3 is not recommended at the moment, except for the
platform_vocabulary
attribute. - Each attribute in the Profile is either required or recommended.
- All required attributes must have meaningful values assigned to them in accordance with the rules prescribed by the corresponding Convention or Template.
- Each and all of the recommended attributes may be omitted; however, it is highly desirable that these attributes are included into the NetcDF metadata AND have meaningful values assigned to them.
- The
platform_variable:ioos_code
andplatform_variable:short_name
are the only interchangeable attributes - either a singleplatform_variable:ioos_code
or a combination ofplatform_variable:short_name
withnaming_authority
is required to ensure that ncSOS will be able to produce the IOOS SOS Asset Identifier for the specific platform (see the NetCDF to IOOS SOS Crosswalk for details). The rest of attributes may not be substituted for one another. - The
platform_vocabulary
attribute is at the moment the only pure ACDD v1.3 attribute that is included in the Profile. - This document only describes a fraction of the Profile:
- attributes that are IOOS-specific;
- attributes with a different role in the Templates; for example, the attribute
_FillValue
is required by the NODC Template; however, the Profile just recommends to use it because it is optional in the IOOS SOS metadata set (whether the Template requirement should prevail, is beyond the scope of the Profile description); - attributes that are required by the Profile regardless of their role in the Templates.
- Other Profile attributes are described in the NOAA NODC NetCDF Templates v1.1. A set of “Gold Standard” example NetCDF files, which precisely follow the NODC/NCEI Templates, may be found here or here.
- The U.S. IOOS National Glider Data Assembly Center currently uses a slightly different NetCDF Metadata Profile; work is in progress to harmonize the NGDAC and IOOS NetCDF Profiles.
IOOS NetCDF Metadata Profile Attributes
Name | Convention | Description | Type | Role |
---|---|---|---|---|
contributor_name | ACDD | The name of any individuals or institutions that contributed to the creation of this data. Combined with the contributor_role , it provides the full description of the contributor. |
global | required |
contributor_role | ACDD | The role of any individuals or institutions that contributed to the creation of this data. For the IOOS ncSOS, contributor_role = "sponsor" defines a person, group, or organization’s full or partial support of an IOOS activity, asset, model, or product. |
global | required |
creator_address | IOOS | Street address of the person or organization that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_city | IOOS | City of the person or organization that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_country | IOOS | Country of the person or organization that operates a platform or network, which collected the observation data. | global | required |
creator_email | ACDD | Email address of the person or institution that collected the data. | global | required |
creator_name | ACDD | Name of the person or organization that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_phone | IOOS | The phone number of the person or group that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_sector | IOOS | IOOS classifier that best describes the platform (network) operator’s societal sector. Example: creator_sector = "academic" |
global | required |
creator_state | IOOS | State of the person or organization that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_url | ACDD | The URL of the institution that collected the data. | global | recommended |
creator_zipcode | IOOS | ZIP code of the person or organization that collected the data. | global | recommended |
featureType | CF | CF attribute for identifying the featureType, e.g. featureType = “timeSeries”. | global | required |
geophysical_variable:_FillValue geospatial_variable:_FillValue |
CF | This value is considered to be a special value that indicates undefined or missing data, and is returned when reading values that were not written:
|
variable | recommended |
geophysical_variable:standard_name | CF | Standardized field which uses the CF Standard Names. If a variables does not have an existing standard_name in the CF-managed list, this attribute should not be used. In these cases, a standard name can be proposed to the CF community for consideration and acceptance. | variable | required |
id | ACDD | An identifier for the data set, provided by and unique within its naming authority. 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. |
global | required |
institution | ACDD | The institution of the person or group that collected the data. | global | required |
instrument_variable:discriminant | IOOS | The value of a discriminant applies to the like-named field in the IOOS SOS Asset Identifier URN; it ensures that in case of multiple sensors measuring the same observedProperty , each sensor has a unique ID. Examples:
|
variable | required, if applicable |
keywords | ACDD | A comma separated list of key words and phrases. | global | recommended |
license | ACDD | Describe the restrictions to data access and distribution. | global | recommended |
naming_authority | ACDD | The organization that provides the id for the dataset. The naming authority should be uniquely specified by this attribute; 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. Example: edu.ucar.unidata |
global | required |
platform | NODC Templates (ACDD 1.3) |
Name of the platform(s) that supported the sensor data used to create this data set or product. Platforms can be of any type, including satellite, ship, station, aircraft or other. The controlled vocabulary must be indicate in platform_vocabulary (see example there).The value of the attribute should be set to another variable which contains the details of the platform. There can be multiple platforms involved depending on if all the instances of the featureType in the collection share the same platform or not. If multiple platforms are involved, a variable should be defined for each platform and referenced from the geophysical variable in a space separated string. |
global | required |
platform_variable:ioos_code | IOOS | Provides IOOS asset identification similar to wmo_code and nodc_code . The attribute is a URN that should follow the “IOOS Convention for Asset Identification” with a general pattern of urn:ioos:asset_type:authority:label[:discriminant] . Examples:
NOTE: interchangeable with platform_variable:short_name |
variable | required |
platform_variable:long_name | NODC Templates | Provide a descriptive, long name for this variable. | variable | required |
platform_variable:short_name | IOOS | Provide a short name for the platform. Similar to ID, a short_name can be any unique string of characters that does not include blanks. Examples:
NOTE: interchangeable with platform_variable:ioos_code |
variable | required |
platform_variable:type | IOOS | In conjunction with a platform_vocabulary attribute, identifies platform’s type as defined in the IOOS Platform Categories vocabulary, or SeaVoX Platform Categories vocabulary, or any other vocabulary. The URL of the actual vocabulary must be published in the platform_vocabulary global attribute. Alternatively, the platform and platform_vocabulary pair of attributes may be used; however, this option is not recommended (see details in the platform_vocabulary description.) |
variable | required |
platform_vocabulary | ACDD 1.3 (NCEI Templates v2.0) |
Controlled vocabulary for the names used in the “platform” attribute. It is recommended that this attribute is used in conjunction with the platform_variable:type attribute. In that case, the recommended value for the platform_vocabulary attribute is a URL to either the IOOS Platform Category vocabulary, or SeaVoX Platform Categories vocabulary. Example: platform_vocabulary = "https://mmisw.org/orr/#http://mmisw.org/ont/ioos/platform" As an alternative (although not recommended), a NetCDF file may follow the NCEI Template v2.0, which suggests the use of “NASA GCMD Platform Keywords Version 8.1” string as the fixed value for the platform_vocabulary , and does not stipulate for the platform_variable:type . Instead, the actual type of the platform must be placed in the global platform attribute as described in the Science Keyword Rules (http://gcmd.nasa.gov/learn/rules.html) for NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords (http://gcmd.nasa.gov/learn/keywords.html). Example: platform: In Situ Ocean-based Platforms > MOORINGS |
global | required |
publisher_address | IOOS | Street address of the person or organization that distributes the data. | global | recommended |
publisher_city | IOOS | City of the person or organization that distributes the data. | global | recommended |
publisher_country | IOOS | Country of the person or organization that distributes the data. | global | required |
publisher_email | ACDD | The email address of the person or group that distributes the data files. | global | required |
publisher_name | ACDD | Name of the person or group that distributes the data files. Use the conventions described above when identifying persons and/or institutions when applicable. | global | required |
publisher_phone | IOOS | The phone number of the person or group that distributes the data files. | global | recommended |
publisher_state | IOOS | State of the person or organization that distributes the data. | global | recommended |
publisher_url | ACDD | URL of the person or group that distributes the data files. | global | recommended |
publisher_zipcode | IOOS | ZIP code of the person or organization that distributes the data. | global | recommended |
standard_name_vocabulary | ACDD | Standardized field which uses the CF Standard Names. If a variables does not have an existing standard_name in the CF-managed list, this attribute should not be used. In these cases, a standard name can be proposed to the CF community for consideration and acceptance. | global | required |
summary | ACDD | One paragraph describing the data set. | global | recommended |
title | ACDD | One sentence about the data contained within the file. | global | required |
units | CF | Required for most all variables that represent dimensional quantities. The value should come from udunits authoritative vocabulary, which is documented in the CF standard name table with it’s corresponding standard name. The udunits package includes a file udunits.dat which lists its supported unit names. |
variable | required |