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Methods & Citation

CubeDynamics is an inspectable environmental grammar around ordinary scientific Python objects. Source-qualified nouns retain product identity; semantic verbs and explicit parameters describe transformations; authored order supplies the analytical syntax; and state and trace record how the scientific object changes. Numerical work remains with xarray, Dask, NumPy, and established geospatial libraries.

Methods summary

  • State the scientific noun and source flavor, including provider/product, native variable, units, statistic, spatial and temporal bounds, and revision.
  • Preserve authored operation order in pipe(noun) | verb() | verb(); order can change the scientific question even when both sequences are reproducible.
  • Record verb parameters and inspect semantic_state, semantic_trace, explain(), and validate() before crossing the local unwrap() boundary.
  • Distinguish deferred computation from bounded source access. VirtualCube and Dask-backed operations can remain lazy, but laziness alone says nothing about remote transport behavior.
  • Pair the statement with environment, input, revision, provenance, and output records that remain outside the pipe.

Pair the pipeline with its data provenance and the checks in Validation, so a reader can inspect both the method and the bounded evidence supporting its results. Fixture checks, live health, adapter interpretation, and scientific fitness are distinct claims.

See Scientific inspectability for the research framing and the current manuscript draft for the dated argument on which this summary is based. The draft is editorial material, not the source of truth for current API or release status.

Citing this project

When publishing results derived from CubeDynamics:

  • Reference the package by name: CubeDynamics
  • Include the project repository URL: https://github.com/CU-ESIIL/cubedynamics
  • Record the exact package version or commit and the source-data revision
  • Report the source-qualified nouns, authored pipeline, and verb parameters
  • Preserve provenance and validation evidence with the analytical outputs
  • State what happened outside the pipe, including preparation after retrieval and transformations after unwrap()

For formal citation guidance, see CITATION.cff or the repository README. The citation metadata currently contains no release DOI; do not invent one.