Differences between CMIP and operational L1 files (global attributes, dimensions, and variables)

While investigating a CMIP file for use with the FW2PUG software I found that some differences between the CMIP and the regular operational L1 files.

Global Attributes

The date attributes were in a similar format to the FW output: :time_coverage_start = "2018-02-14T03:00:21.000000Z"; :time_coverage_end = "2018-02-14T03:09:40.000000Z";

In contrast the regular operational L1 data has global attributes with dates like: :time_coverage_start = "2019-05-27T18:00:48.5Z"; :time_coverage_end = "2019-05-27T18:00:55.4Z";

The following global attributes were missing from the CMIP file but are generally present in L1 files:

• license
• project
• production_data_source
• institution

Dimensions

The number_of_time_bounds dimension is missing from the CMIP file but is generally present in L1 files.

Variables

The following variables were missing from the CMIP file but are generally present in L1 files:

• t
• time_bounds
• geospatial_lat_lon_extent