• Use attribute names from published conventions, such as long_name for labeling plots, for example:

    T:long_name = "surface temperature";  // Use this
    T:plot_label = "surface temperature"; // not this!
  

• For the units attribute, use syntax of the udunits package, when possible. For example:

    concentration:units = "1.0e-6" ;  // Use this
    concentration:units = "ppm" ;     // not this
  
    temperature:units = "celsius" ;   // Use this (or "degreesC" or ...)
    temperature:units = "C" ;         // Not this (that's Coulombs!)
  

• Use the standard_name attribute from the CF standard names list, if applicable, to identify the physical quantity that a variable represents.

     float can_tmp(time, lat, lon) ;
         can_tmp:standard_name = "canopy_temperature" ; // Use this
     float canopy_temperature(time, lat, lon) ;         // Not just this
  

2012 Unidata NetCDF Workshop > Best Practices for Data providers