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Re: Conventions for time in netCDF files?

Steve Emmerson (steve)
Tue, 30 Oct 90 13:48:13 -0700

>For real time data I would think you'd want a base_time for all the
>records in one set of observations, and a time_offset from the origin for
>each separate record of data. On the other hand, if the data records will
>become separated in processing, you would want a complete time stamp on each
>record. But assuming the first case, there are two questions: how to
>represent the time_origin, and how to represent the time_offsets. The
>second question is the easiest: use any units you want and specify the
>units, for example
>
> dimensions:
> observation = unlimited;
> variables:
> float time_offset(observation);
> time_offset:units = "sec"

It will also accepts "ps", "picosec", and "picoseconds" -- and also
things like "megaday" and "microfurlong".

Steve Emmerson steve@unidata.ucar.edu