Proposed CF Standard Names and Units
The EUMETSAT Data Centre endeavours to use the Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names and Units convention in the development of netCDF delivery formats.
Last Updated
21 September 2020
Published on
01 May 2013
Currently, the scope of this convention does not provide enough coverage for netCDF datasets created from satellite data. This is a known limitation and it is being addressed by the netCDF developers in the user community through the submission of proposed updates to the CF governance committee for inclusion into the convention.
The process for doing this is:
- Submit the proposed updates to the CF Satellite mailing list, for comments and feedback. Based on the inputs received, the proposed updates should be reviewed. It is recommended to allow subscribers on the mailing list sufficient time to provide input.
- Submit the proposed updates to the CF Metadata Trac for the attention of the CF governance committee. It will take some time for the update to be reviewed and if accepted, included into the conventions.
The Data Centre is proposing the following updates:
| Definition | Proposed Standard Name | Proposed Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Azimuth angle is the angle measured towards the east, from north, along the astronomical horizon to the intersection of the great circle passing through the point and the astronomical zenith with the astronomical horizon. | azimuth_angle | degrees |
| Latitude of the satellite measured at the sub-satellite point. | platform_latitude | degrees_north |
| Longitude of the satellite measured at the sub-satellite point. | platform_longitude | degrees_east |
| Altitude of the satellite above mean sea level. | platform_altitude | m |
| Bandwidth of the satellite’s spectral channel. | sensor_band_spectral_width | cm-1 |
| 'toa' means top of atmosphere; irradiance which is relevant for any sensor measuring in the UV-VIS and NIR. This parameter is reported by integrating over the whole sphere. | toa_spectral_irradiance | mW m-2 (cm-1)-1 |
| Ratio of radiance to irradiance I/I0, reflection from a thick layer where the layer, here the atmosphere, is part of the reflection's property. | toa_spectral_reflectance | 1 |
| 'toa' means top of atmosphere; "outgoing" means emitted toward outer space; the radiance is integrated over a discrete band. | toa_outgoing_inband_radiance | mW m-2 sr-1 |
| Ratio of the energy of reflected to incident light at the top of atmosphere. | toa_reflectance | Percent |