1. Document Conventions

The following sub-sections describe the notation conventions and data storage types that are used throughout this GDS Technical Specification. Implementation projects are expected to adhere to the nomenclature and style of the GDS in their own documentation as much as possible to facilitate international coordination of documentation describing the data products and services within the GHRSST R/GTS framework [RD-2]. {cite:ps}holdgraf_evidence_2014

1.1. Use of text types

The text styles defined in Table 1.1 are used throughout the GDS.

Table 1.1 Definition of text styles used in the GDS

Text type	Meaning	Example
Bold Courier font	Denotes a variable name	dt_analysis
Bold Courier font	Denotes a netCDF attribute name	gds_version_id
Arial	Denotes regular text.	This is normal text.

1.2. Use of colour in tables

The colours defined in Table 1.2 are used throughout the GDS.

Table 1.2 Definition of colour styles used in the GDS

Colour	Meaning	Example
Grey	Denotes a table column name	Variable
Blue	Denotes a mandatory item	analysed_sst
Violet	Denotes an item mandatory for only certain situations	dt_analysis
Yellow	Denotes an optional item	experimental_field
Green	Denotes grid dimensions	ni=1024
Pink	Denotes grid variable dimensions	float lat(nj, ni)

1.3. Definitions of storage types

Computer storage types referred to in the GDS are defined in Table 1.3 and follow those used in netCDF.

Table 1.3 Storage type definitions used in the GDS

Name	Storage Type
byte	8 bit signed integer
short	16 bit signed integer
int (or long)	32 bit signed integer
float	32 bit floating point
double	64 bit floating point
string	Character string