List of essential metadata to include in netCDF files

[pramod-thupaki]

We need to come up with a list of "essential" metadata variables (and their attributes etc.) that need to be included in the header section of the netCDF files.

This needs input from DFO partners and ideally should be similar across the regions.

[pramod-thupaki]

Here is a list of metadata currently included in netcdf file header for each file -

• summary
• title
• institution
• history
• infoUrl
• header
• description
• filename
• country
• mission_id
• scientist
• project
• agency
• platform
• instrument_type
• instrument_model
• instrument_serial_number
• latitude
• longitude
• geographic_area
• event_number
• profile
• time

Other information like email, contact etc. are not in the netcdf, but included in erddap's dataset.xml so that they can be modified easily

Each variable currently has the following attributes: variable name follows BODC codes

• long_name
• standard_name
• units
• gf3
• pcode
• bodc (redundant if variable name already is in BODC)

Adding more meta data fields is simple, we just need a list of what needs to be included and what it should be named.

[pramod-thupaki]

Adding e-mail and contact to the list of essential information is probably a good place to start ...

[pramod-thupaki]

pre-merge check and debug ... 5fdb2ce