[UDUNITS #BWH-238619]: date-time format

Cristina,

> Dear UDUNITS group,
> I have a question about Date and time format.
> I'm involved in MYOCEAN project in SST TAC: a group tha produce SST
> product following the GHRSST indications.
> 
> Now....in our files we have some global attributes:
> start_time:Time of the first measurement in the data file
> stop_time: Time of the last measurement in the data file
> 
> For that attributes
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> we use the format: "hh:mm:ss UTC"
> as described in GDS (Version 2.0 revision 0.1)
> (http://www.ghrsst.org/modules/documents/documents/GDS-2.0-rev-0.1-Core-L4-product-format-specification.doc)
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> BUT IN GDS 2.0: L4 Specification Version 2.0 Rev: 04
> (http://www.ghrsst.org/modules/documents/documents/GDS2.0_Core_L4_product_format_specification_rev04.1.doc)
> 
> It written that the correct new format is
> ISO 8601 string, "yyyymmddThhmmssZ"
> The use of "Z" to indicate UTC in time and date strings.
> The use of "UTC" is not CF, UDUNITS  or ISO 8601 compliant.
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> So my question is: do we must change our date/time format?
> the "hh:mm:ss UTC" is no more CF compliant? or it is only "no more
> advised" but still correct?

Because the "start_time" and "stop_time" attributes are times and not units, 
their format is beyond the scope of the UDUNITS package.

I will forward your message to our netCDF group.

> best regards
> 
> cristina
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Cristina Tronconi
> Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima - sezione di Roma
> Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
> Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100
> 00133 Roma, Italy
> Tel:      +39  06  49934342
> cell:     '39 349 1242954
> Fax:      +39  06  20660291
> e-mail:   address@hidden

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: BWH-238619
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Open