Slot: Temporal Reference (temporal_reference)

Temporal reference object describing resolution, aggregation, and day-boundary convention. Bound to TemporalReference (see envar_temporal). Readable rename of the profile's temporality anatomy slot.

Tier: core

Why this slot matters

A "daily maximum" is ambiguous without the day-boundary convention: Daymet days end at local midnight while PRISM days end at 12:00 GMT, so the same calendar date can cover different physical hours — the most-omitted detail in the heat literature and a known source of cross-product disagreement.

In plain terms

This block explains the time ruler behind each value: how long a period each number summarises (a day, a month), how it was summarised (maximum, mean), and — surprisingly important — when a "day" is considered to start and end.

URI: envar:slot/temporal_reference

Applicable Classes

Name	Description	Modifies Slot
EnvironmentalExposureRecord	A single environmental-exposure record sidecar: the complete metadata graph t...	no
DailyMaxTemperatureRecord	Canonical record for daily maximum 2 m air temperature (Tmax)	no
DailyMinTemperatureRecord	Canonical record for daily minimum 2 m air temperature (Tmin)	no
WetBulbGlobeTemperatureOutdoorRecord	Canonical record for outdoor WBGT under the Liljegren 2008 formulation	no
ExtremeHeatDayFlagRecord	Canonical record for a daily binary extreme-heat-day flag, defined against a ...	no

Properties

Type and Range

Property	Value
Range	TemporalReference
Domain Of	EnvironmentalExposureRecord
Slot Group	exposure_description

Cardinality and Requirements

Property	Value
Required	Yes

Aliases

temporality

Examples

Value
None

Identifier and Mapping Information

Annotations

property	value
tier	core
justification	A "daily maximum" is ambiguous without the day-boundary convention: Daymet days end at local midnight while PRISM days end at 12:00 GMT, so the same calendar date can cover different physical hours — the most-omitted detail in the heat literature and a known source of cross-product disagreement.
explanation	This block explains the time ruler behind each value: how long a period each number summarises (a day, a month), how it was summarised (maximum, mean), and — surprisingly important — when a "day" is considered to start and end.
covered_by	None

Schema Source

from schema: https://w3id.org/linkml/microschemas/envar

Mappings

Mapping Type	Mapped Value
self	envar:temporal_reference
native	envar:temporal_reference
exact	msprofile:temporality

LinkML Source

name: temporal_reference
implements:
- msprofile:temporality
annotations:
  tier:
    tag: tier
    value: core
  justification:
    tag: justification
    value: 'A "daily maximum" is ambiguous without the day-boundary convention: Daymet
      days end at local midnight while PRISM days end at 12:00 GMT, so the same calendar
      date can cover different physical hours — the most-omitted detail in the heat
      literature and a known source of cross-product disagreement.'
  explanation:
    tag: explanation
    value: 'This block explains the time ruler behind each value: how long a period
      each number summarises (a day, a month), how it was summarised (maximum, mean),
      and — surprisingly important — when a "day" is considered to start and end.'
  covered_by:
    tag: covered_by
    annotations:
      omop_gaia:
        tag: omop_gaia
        annotations:
          extent:
            tag: extent
            value: partial
          status:
            tag: status
            value: asserted
          where:
            tag: where
            value: gaia_db variable_source.start_date/end_date; meta_dcat_*.json dct:temporal
          note:
            tag: note
            value: 'Gaia carries the dataset time span but has no first-class temporal-resolution,
              aggregation-method, or day-boundary slot. Conservative: partial.'
      degauss:
        tag: degauss
        annotations:
          extent:
            tag: extent
            value: absent
          status:
            tag: status
            value: asserted
          where:
            tag: where
            value: no column
          note:
            tag: note
            value: Temporal resolution is implicit (one row per day); aggregation
              method and day boundary are absent.
      amadeus:
        tag: amadeus
        annotations:
          extent:
            tag: extent
            value: partial
          status:
            tag: status
            value: asserted
          where:
            tag: where
            value: thredds_dataset.xml day axis (days since 1900-01-01, calendar=gregorian)
              + TimeSpan; long_name daily_maximum_temperature
          note:
            tag: note
            value: 'Amadeus carries time-origin, calendar, and dataset span, and aggregation
              is encoded only in the long_name; day-boundary is pure ambiguity. Conservative:
              partial.'
      cher:
        tag: cher
        annotations:
          extent:
            tag: extent
            value: partial
          status:
            tag: status
            value: asserted
          where:
            tag: where
            value: table_name temporal extent (YYYYMMDDYYYYMMDD) + temporal resolution
              code; column_tag Temporal-Primary
          note:
            tag: note
            value: 'C-HER encodes temporal extent and resolution in the table_name
              and tags temporal columns, but carries no aggregation-method or day-boundary-convention
              field. Conservative: partial.'
      codata:
        tag: codata
        annotations:
          extent:
            tag: extent
            value: out_of_layer
          status:
            tag: status
            value: asserted
          where:
            tag: where
            value: no column
          note:
            tag: note
            value: Temporal-aggregation semantics are instance-layer; out of scope
              for CODATA.
description: Temporal reference object describing resolution, aggregation, and day-boundary
  convention. Bound to TemporalReference (see envar_temporal). Readable rename of
  the profile's `temporality` anatomy slot.
title: Temporal Reference
examples:
- description: abridged — see tests/data/valid/EnvironmentalExposureRecord-tmax_ideal.yaml
    for a full instance
  object:
    temporal_resolution: daily
    temporal_aggregation_method: maximum
    day_boundary_convention: local_midnight
    calendar: gregorian
from_schema: https://w3id.org/linkml/microschemas/envar
see_also:
- https://cfconventions.org/
aliases:
- temporality
exact_mappings:
- msprofile:temporality
rank: 1000
domain_of:
- EnvironmentalExposureRecord
slot_group: exposure_description
range: TemporalReference
required: true
inlined: true