Differences

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--- saeon_netcdf_guidance [2022/07/11 14:44] – [Variable Attributes] lindsay
+++ saeon_netcdf_guidance [2022/07/28 12:23] (current) – lindsay
@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 Note: The //long_name// attribute is defined to contain a long descriptive name of the variable which may, for example, be used for labelling plots. The //standard_name// attribute is the name used to identify the physical quantity and must be taken from the [[https://cfconventions.org/standard-names.html|CF standard name table]]. Parameters with no suitable standard_name should be described using the long_name attribute only.
-==== Variable Attributes ====
+=== Variable Attributes ===
 == Time coordinates ==
@@ Line 115: / Line 115: @@
 //All attributes are MANDATORY to include in your netCDF unless stated: CONDITIONAL= include these fields if the information exists, or RECOMMENDED = it is recommended to include these fields but not mandatory.//
-| Attribute | Example | Description |
+| **Attribute** | **Example** | **Description** |
 | standard_name | “depth” | A description of the variable’s content from the CF standard name table. |
 | long_name | “depth” | A descriptive name that indicates a variable’s content. |
@@ Line 146: / Line 146: @@
 | coordinates (RECOMMENDED) | “T Y X Z” | This attribute contains a space separated list of all the coordinates corresponding to the variable. |
 | comment (RECOMMENDED) | “....” | Miscellaneous information about the data, that cannot be described in any of the other available attributes. |
+== Quality control flags (CONDITIONAL) ==
+If applicable to the platform, quality control flags can be self describing variables that show some sort of assessment to identify possible errors in the data.
+__Table 6. List of quality control flag variable attributes for SAEON netCDF files__
+//All attributes are MANDATORY to include in your netCDF unless stated: CONDITIONAL= include these fields if the information exists, or RECOMMENDED = it is recommended to include these fields but not mandatory.//
+| **Attribute** | **Example** | **Description** |
+| standard_name | “....” | A description of the variable’s content from the CF standard name table. |
+| long_name | “quality flag for sea_water_temperature” | A descriptive name that indicates a variable’s content. |
+| _FillValue (CONDITIONAL) | “-99b” | This value is considered to be a special value that indicates undefined or missing  quality control flags in the data. |
+| flag_values | 0b, 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b | List of flag values used in the data. |
+| flag_meanings | "No_QC_performed Good_data Probably_good_data Bad_data_that_are_correctable Bad_data Value_changed Missing_value" | The meaning of each flag in the same order as flag_values. |
+| comment (RECOMMENDED) | “....” | Miscellaneous information about the data, that cannot be described in any of the other available attributes. |
+=== NetCDF manipulation tools ===
+  * [[https://downloads.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/|NetCDF library software]]: //ncdump// can convert a netCDF binary file to CDL text.
+  * [[https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/panoply/|Panoply]] and [[http://cirrus.ucsd.edu/~pierce/software/ncview/index.html|Ncview]] are great visualisation tools.
+  * [[http://nco.sourceforge.net/|NCO]] is a command-line toolkit for manipulating netCDF files: //ncatted// and //ncrename// are specifically useful for editing metadata on the fly.