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[UDUNITS #AQJ-619467]: UDUNITS - unit multiplier

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  • Subject: [UDUNITS #AQJ-619467]: UDUNITS - unit multiplier
  • Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:26:37 -0600
Hi Stuart,

> Inquiry: In using UDUnits names for netCDF file "units" I have not found a 
> clear explanation of multiples of base units such as meter or year. I believe 
> you can use, for example, "km," "mm," or "Myr" (or Myear") for millions of 
> years (right?) but I have yet to find a document explaining this, for netCDF 
> newbies. Are "kilometer" "milligal" and "megayear" preferred?

I strongly recommend that you use the long-name form for
prefixes and unit-names.  For example, use "megayear" rather
that "Ma" or "Myear".  The reason for this is twofold: 1) a
person can more easily interpret an ncdump(1) of the file; and 2) 
some symbols aren't what you might think (e.g., "C" is "Coulomb"
and not "Celsius".  In any case, the long-name versions are
less ambiguous and error-prone.

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: AQJ-619467
Department: Support UDUNITS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed