Deprecated 2019. Visit the [1.2 Metadata Profile](ioos-metadata-profile-v1-2) page for the current version.
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Revision History

Version Description Date
1.0 Initial version based on the NODC Templates 1.1 and ACDD 1.1 2016-10-01
1.1 Updated version based on the NCEI Templates 2.0 and ACDD 1.3 2016-11-01

Caveats

  1. This document encompasses only a fraction of the whole IOOS NetCDF Metadata 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.

  2. The rest of the Profile tallies with the NOAA NCEI NetCDF Templates v2.0. A set of “Gold Standard” example NetCDF files, which precisely follow the NCEI Templates, may be found here or here.

  3. From the Profile perspective, the attributes can be either required or recommended / suggested:
    • 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 and suggested 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.

  4. The platform_variable:ioos_code and platform_variable:short_name are the only interchangeable attributes - either a single platform_variable:ioos_code or a combination of platform_variable:short_name with naming_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.

  5. 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:
  • time:_FillValue = 0.0f
  • lat:_FillValue = 0.0f
  • on:_FillValue = 0.0f
  • z:_FillValue = 0.0f
  • sea_water_temperature:_FillValue = 0.0f
 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:
  • sea_water_temperature:top
  • sea_water_temperature:bottom
  • sea_water_temperature:nortek_adp_514
 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 ACDD 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:
  • urn:ioos:glider:wmo:4801902:20160218T1913Z
  • urn:ioos:station:us.glos:45024

NOTE: interchangeable with platform_variable:short_name		 variable required
platform_variable:long_name NCEI 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:
  • station_1:short_name = “carquinez”
  • station_1:short_name = “cb0102

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 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/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


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