Requirements:
U.S. IOOS® data providers are expected to offer data in one or more approved U.S. IOOS® formats described below. Legacy formats may also be maintained, if desired. Those data must be accessible through one of the DMAC recommended data access services
Standards and Protocols:
For numerical/point data:
Binary format:
- OGC network Common Data Form (netCDF)– the netCDF classic model format data model with Climate and Forecast (CF) conventions version 1.6.
- Attribute Conventions Dataset Discovery (ACDD) version 1.3 - recommendations for discovery level metadata in netCDF files.
Text format:
- Comma-separated value (CSV) and tab-separated value (TSV) with CF and IOOS Conventions for CSV and TSV Encoding with IOOS application schema
For lines & polygons:
File formats for lines and polygons are under review. Please contact the IOOS Program Office with any questions.
For imagery:
- GeoTIFF is a public-domain metadata standard that allows georeferencing information to be embedded within a Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) file
Implementation Methods/Practices:
Available Software:
The IOOS Compliance checker is a command line Python tool to check local/remote datasets against a variety of compliance standards. For non-python users, there is also a Compliance Checker website where files can be individually run through the checker.
Implementation:
When using netCDF for in situ data, IOOS® data providers should implement feature type NCEI netCDF Templates developed by the NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI)