NASA GCMD Keywords Version 12.0 Released (2021-10-29)

[GCMD - tstevens]

The NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) staff is pleased to announce the release of the GCMD keywords version 12.0. Version 12.0 of the keywords consists of new and revised Ocean keywords to more closely align with the NOAA Technology, Planning, and Integration for Observation (TPIO) keywords and based on a community review conducted through NASA's Earth Science Data and Information Systems (ESDIS) Standards Office (ESO). Based on the review, there were 61 new keywords and 8 revised keywords. The revised keyword paths included moving 'OCEAN SALINITY BUDGET' to be under 'OCEAN SALINITY'. Since there were no collection records with these keywords, there is no user impact. 5 additional new keywords were added based on requests from the keyword community.

View Keyword Release Details: https://wiki.earthdata.nasa.gov/pages/v ... =226525497

Please post any questions about this release below in the GCMD Keyword Forum.

[jrelph]

Folks,

I do not understand the recent changes to SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY keywords in version 12. Sea Surface Topography is the measurement of the height of the ocean above the geoid (see NASA's own page https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/ ... topography for reference). It has nothing to do with sea ice. But all of the SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY keywords have been changed to be under SEA ICE, for example:

EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA ICE > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY

This is wrong. Please change the SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY keywords back to their names as of version 11.

If there are specific SEA ICE keywords needed, those should be added separately, without breaking the SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY keywords.

-- John

[GCMD - tstevens]

@jrelph Thank you for pointing this out. There was an error on our side and we published an updated version of the keywords to correct it.

[jrelph]

Thanks, Tyler!

[jrelph]

By the way, that change seems to also have removed the "EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT" keyword, which was used for all of the Jason-1, Jason-2/OSTM, and Jason-3 missions. Can that keyword be restored?

Thanks.

[GCMD - tstevens]

Thank you John. We are currently investigating an issue that prevents us from republishing the most recent update of the keywords. We will let you know when that is resolved. Thank you for your patience.

[GCMD - tstevens]

@jrelph The issue has been resolved. Those keywords are now available.

[jrelph]

Thank you very much! Much appreciated.

I just checked the most recent keywords and I see that they have been restored. However, my eye was caught by this keyword:

EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT ANOMALY _SSHA_

Should that keyword be changed to the following?

EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT > SEA SURFACE HEIGHT ANOMALY (SSHA)

Or perhaps the "_SSHA_" token should be removed from the keyword?

I don't have a preference, but I think it should be changed from its current somewhat strange form.

Thanks!

-- John

[GCMDx - sritz]

Hi John, I agree that the use of "_SSHA_" is a bit strange. I will create a ticket for us to fix. We will use (SSHA) in both places. Sound good?

[jrelph]

Sounds good to me. Thanks again!