The CF conventions were introduced in 2003, after several years of development by a collaboration that included staff from U.S. and European climate and weather laboratories.
[5] [6] The CF conventions have been adopted by a wide variety of national and international programs and activities in the Earth sciences.
[8] They are promoted as an important element of scientific community coordination by the World Climate Research Programme.
[14] CF is intended for use with state estimation and forecasting data, in the atmosphere, ocean, and other physical domains.
The CF standard name table identifies over 1,000 physical quantities, each with a precise description and associated canonical units.