Metadata

Metadata is structured information that describes other data or research objects. It can include provenance, authorship, variables, units, methods, spatial and temporal extent, and technical format.

Why it matters

Good metadata makes data and research outputs more understandable, interoperable, and reusable. In climate science, metadata is essential for combining observations, model output, and derived products across workflows.

In this garden

Metadata connects FAIR practice, data standards, and machine-actionable research communication.

See also: FAIR, Provenance, Knowledge graph, ATMODAT, UC2 data standard, MaRESS