Understanding meta information in CONTENT.csv


Here, details are provided on the specifications listed in the LUMA CONTENT.csv file (click for download), that is required for the submission of a data request (follow link). The following attributes (listed in this file) are important to identify the data you are interested in:


Spatial information:

Most of the data available are associated with a particular city (column 2) and/or site (column 4).

The spatial info (column 11) specifies one of the following:

The same variable can be derived by different methods (e.g. model output or observation).


Source information:

Three general types of data sources (column 5) are specified:

The same variable can be derived by different methods (e.g. model output or observation).


Variable information:

A variable is specified by its name (column 12) (a commonly used abbreviation, e.g. ustar), longname (column 14) (a descriptive variable name, e.g. friction velocity) and units (column 13) (mostly defined as SI-units, e.g. m.s-1).

The name might be extended by suffixes, such as:

Some files include a variable in two different units. In order to differentiate, the name is extended by an abbreviation for the respective units. For example "_C" and "_K" is added to the name to distinguish between temperatures in Celsius and Kelvin. Given units are always provided, these extensions are self-explanatory.

A category (column 15) is also assigned to each variable, providing additional insight into the type of data. (click here) for a list of categories.

The title (column 6) defines the name of the model (including version number), instrument or processing method (including version number). (click here) for a list of titles.

Variables in LUMA are categorised as two types, the primary variables which are listed in the CONTENT file, and those which are considered auxiliary. These so-called linked variables (column 16) are not listed individually but are rather provided automatically when the respective query is made. For example, if the variable "Tair" (i.e. air temperature) is requested, the associated linked variable "sd_Tair" (i.e. its standard deviation) is supplied as well.


Temporal information:

Data for the various locations cover different time periods. The temporal resolution (column 9) is listed in one of the following units: "Hz", "sec", "min", "hour", "month", or "year".
Additionally, the base resolution (column 10) is specified.

Quality information:

Observations as well as model data are available in various processing and quality levels. This information is assigned to data level (column 3).

From the CONTENT list, required variables can be selected, reducing it to the respective REQUEST list. The latter, a text file in csv format, needs to be send  to LUMA as an email attachment from a registered email account. It comprises the following information: city, site, source, spatial info, temporal resolution,  base resolution, title, name, units, category, and data level.