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ices-publications / SONAR-netCDF4

The SONAR-netCDF4 convention for sonar data
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Variable units of dB should not include the reference value #80

Closed gavinmacaulay closed 2 years ago

gavinmacaulay commented 2 years ago

Currently, when log variables are specified in the convention, the units string includes the reference value, for example for TS, units = "dB re 1m^2".

The convention states that units string should be those supported by the UDUNITS package, but that package doesn't really allow for the reference value. An alternative way to present this is to have the reference value be part of the variable name/description, rather than part of the units. For example, the name/description becomes TS (re 1m^2) and the units dB. For the convention, the reference units could be placed in the long_name attribute.

A thorough explanation of why separating the reference value from the units is better is given in section 11 of this document.

gavinmacaulay commented 2 years ago

Addressed in e2afecdc214df45ba78b158d14a0651f75963fff.