Climatology

The CF standard was originally framed as a standard for data written in netCDF format, with model-generated climate forecast data particularly in mind. However, it is equally applicable to observational datasets, and can be used to describe other formats. It is a standard for “use metadata” that aims both to distinguish quantities (such as physical description, units, and prior processing) and to locate the data in space–time.

Sponsored by the NetCDF Climate and Forecast Metadata Convention, the current version dates from December 2011.

The Common Information Model (CIM) describes climate data, the models and software from which they derive, the geographic grids used to calculate and project them, and the experimental processes (typically simulations) that produced them.

The CIM was originally developed by the EU-funded Metafor Project. It is now maintained and developed by Earth Science Documentation (ES-DOC). The latest release dates from 2014.

Developed by the Cooperative Ocean-Atmosphere Research Data Service (COARDS), these conventions constitute a standard set of metadata to include in netCDF files, allowing them to be shared and interchanged.

The COARDS Conventions are generalized and extended by the CF (Climate and Forecast) Metadata Conventions.

The National Oceanographic Data Centre's required format for reporting on cruises or field experiments at sea, formulated using tags from the ISO19115 metadata standard.

An extension to the FGDC/CSDGM metadata standard providing a common terminology and set of definitions for documenting geospatial data obtained by remote sensing.

An early metadata initiative from the Earth sciences community, intended for the description of scientific data sets. It includes elements focusing on instruments that capture data, temporal and spatial characteristics of the data, and projects with which the dataset is associated. It is defined as a W3C XML Schema.

Sponsored by the Global Change Master Directory, the DIF Writer's Guide Version 6 is from November 2010.

The European Directory of Marine Environmental Datasets metadata scheme, which is a profile of ISO 19115.

A widely-used, but no longer current standard defining the information content for a set of digital geospatial data required by the US Federal Government.

CSDGM was sponsored by the US Federal Geographic Data Committee.  However, in September 2010 the FGDC endorsed ISO 19115 and began encouraging federal agencies to transition to ISO metadata.

A profile of ISO 19115:2003, adopted in 2007 as the common metadata standard for the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE). The other profiles of ISO 19115 in use in European Member States have been made compliant with INSPIRE.

An internationally-adopted schema for describing geographic information and services. It provides information about the identification, the extent, the quality, the spatial and temporal schema, spatial reference, and distribution of digital geographic data.

Sponsored by the International Standards Organisation, the first edition of ISO 19115 was published in 2003. It has since been split into parts: ISO 19115-1:2014 contains the fundamentals of the standard; ISO 19115-2:2009 contains extensions for imagery and gridded data; and ISO/TS 19115-3:2016 provides an XML schema implementation for the fundamental concepts compatible with ISO/TS 19138:2007 (Geographic Metadata XML, or GMD).

An extension of ISO 19115 defining the schema required for describing imagery and gridded data.

A profile developed in accordance with ISO 19115 rules by the Australian Ocean Data Centre that supports the documentation and discovery of marine spatial datasets.

A metadata standard for describing environmental monitoring activities, programmes, networks and facilities published by the UK Environmental Observation Framework (UKEOF).