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Element Description

The Characteristics sub-elements can be used to describe attributes unique to the parent element. Currently, characteristics can be provided for the Platform, Instrument, and ComposedOf parent elements. While providing characteristics is optional, if provided, all of the sub-elements are required. The Characteristic sub-elements include:

•     Name: A title of the characteristic attribute.
•     Description: A short description of the characteristic attribute.
•     DataType: A specification for the values accepted in the Characteristics/Value field. This must be selected from an enumeration list.
•     Unit: The unit associated with the Characteristics/Value field. 
•     Value: The actual value of the characteristic attribute.    

Best Practices

Characteristics/Name: 

• The name should identify what the characteristic is in relation to the parent element.
• The name must be unique if multiple characteristics are listed under the same platform/instrument/sensor.
• The name does not have to be unique across different platforms/instruments/sensors.  

Characteristics/Description: 

• The description should be brief and provide a definition for the characteristic name plus any other useful information.

Characteristics/DataType: 

• This element is controlled by an enumeration list (STRING, FLOAT, INT BOOLEAN, DATE, TIME, DATETIME, DATE_STRING, TIME_STRING, DATETIME_STRING). This should correspond to whatever is provided in the Characteristics/Value field.

Characteristics/Unit: 

• The unit should correspond to whatever is provided in the Characteristics/Value field. There will be cases where a unit does not apply for the value. In these cases, since Unit is still a required field, it is recommend that "n/a" or "Not Applicable" be listed as the Unit. 

Characteristics/Value: 

• The actual characteristic value should be provided here and should correspond to the data type and unit defined. For example, if the unit specified is 'degrees' then the value should be provided in degrees and not in radians. 

Examples:

Example for the ICESat Platform:

    Characteristics/Name: OrbitInclination 

    Characteristics/Description: The angle between the orbit plane and the Earth's equatorial plane.

    Characteristics/DataType: FLOAT

    Characteristics/Unit: Degrees

    Characteristics/Value: 94.0 

Example for the GLAS Instrument: 

    Characteristics/Name: SwathWidth 

    Characteristics/Description: The width of the sensor scan as the satellite moves along the ground track.

    Characteristics/DataType: INT

    Characteristics/Unit: Kilometers

    Characteristics/Value: 2

Example for a photon counter sensor: 

    Characteristics/Name: Wavelength

    Characteristics/Description: The wavelength at which photon returns were measured.

    Characteristics/DataType: INT

    Characteristics/Unit: Nanometers

    Characteristics/Value: 532

Metadata Validation and QA/QC

All metadata entering the CMR goes through the below process to ensure metadata quality requirements are met. All records undergo CMR validation before entering the system. The process of QA/QC is slightly different for NASA and non-NASA data providers. Non-NASA providers include interagency and international data providers and are referred to as the International Directory Network (IDN).

Please see the expandable sections below for flowchart details.

Dialect Mappings

UMM Migration

None

Future Mappings

...
Characteristics: [
  {
    Name: "SwathWidth",
    Description: "The width of the sensor scan as the satellite moves along the ground track.",
    DataType: "INT",
    Unit: "Kilometers",
    Value: "2330",
  }
...

History

UMM Versioning

ARC Documentation