Hi Jim, Not the first time this has cropped up on the CF list. The problem is that when the Standard Names started out they were designed as OPTIONAL terms to identify model fields that referred to a given geophysical phenomenon. There has been a sort of mission creep since then with standard names being considered by some as unique standardised labels for every data channel in a CF file, accelerated by some communities choosing to make Standard Names compulsory for their CF files. This of course creates the need for more and more information to get hung off the Standard Name tag.
I continue to support the conclusion of these previous discussions, which is to keep methodologies out of Standard Names unless the methodology results in a significantly different phenomenon. There was quite a debate on this issue involving different types of sea surface temperature that you might care to look up in the archive. Cheers, Roy. -----Original Message----- From: cf-metadata-boun...@cgd.ucar.edu [mailto:cf-metadata-boun...@cgd.ucar.edu] On Behalf Of Jim Biard Sent: 26 August 2011 13:28 To: cf-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu Subject: [CF-metadata] A question regarding standard names Hi. I've got a general question regarding standard names. I have had people I work with asking whether it would be acceptable to have a standard name that included methodology, such as microwave_brightness_temperature as opposed to infrared_brightness_temperature. My feeling has been that standard names are not supposed to have such differentiators, but I haven't read anything that states that directly. Are standard names for measurements limited to "essential" descriptions, or can they include specification of the way the measurement was acquired? Grace and peace, Jim Biard -- Jim Biard Government Contractor, STG Inc. Remote Sensing and Applications Division (RSAD) National Climatic Data Center 151 Patton Ave. Asheville, NC 28801-5001 jim.bi...@noaa.gov 828-271-4900 _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata -- This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents of this email and any reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless it is exempt from release under the Act. Any material supplied to NERC may be stored in an electronic records management system. _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata