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6 CF Conventions
Overview of the increasingly important CF conventions.

The Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions are a widely used standard for atmospheric, ocean, and climate data.

Documents maintained at www.cfconventions.org specify a community standard that supports interoperability.

6.0  Goals
The CF Conventions have evolved and expanded since 1.0 release in 2003 but maintain their original goals.
6.1  CF Attributes
The 36 attributes CF defines to describe netCDF data and represent the intent of the data provider.
6.2  Where is CF Metadata Used?
CF has been widely adopted by many earth-science projects and groups. CF is also supported or required by various software packages for analysis and visualization.
6.3  A Brief History of CF
How a community standard gets established from the bottom up, with agreement on open processes for evolving conventions and reaching consensus.
6.4  Principles
The CF conventions follow five general principles.
6.5  CF Standard Names
The CF Standard Name Table version 16 currently includes over 2100 entries, from "age_of_sea_ice" to "zenith_angle".
6.6  CF Appendices as references
The CF Appendices are very useful references.
6.7  Future Directions for CF
An effort is currently underway to expand CF conventions coverage.

 


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