I think we need a clear philosophy regarding the operation of esmlab in the context of it's reliance on metadata attributes.

I think there are two fundamental concerns.

1. Are we consistent and compliant with CF conventions in our interpretation and setting of attributes? @kmpaul might have the best perspective on this.

2. I think we should consider clear fallback strategies to enable functionality in the absence of CF compliant data. The package should either do something sensible, or there should be clear means by users can supply necessary information.