Version 1 of this list was based on the NASA GCMD keyword list for locations which was valid on 12 December 2002. We retained only the names of geographical regions from the GCMD list, changing them to lower case and replacing the separators within the names by underscores to be consistent with the style used for CF standard names. We excluded: (a) countries (these could be added if required); (b) regions that could be specified by coordinate ranges in CF (e.g. western hemisphere); (c) ill-defined regions (e.g. west Africa); (d) names for layers and surfaces of the Earth (e.g. mantle, sea floor), which are or would be included in standard names if required. Within the CF conventions we have added a number of new names, constructed using the same style. Our intention is to keep this list consistent with GCMD.
The indian_pacific_ocean region comprises the entire geographic region covered by both the Indian and Pacific oceans. This is distinct from the indo_pacific_ocean region.
A biogeographic region of sea, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the tropical western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two around Indonesia. The indo_pacific_ocean region does not include the temperate and polar regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, nor the tropical eastern Pacific. This is distinct from the indian_pacific_ocean region.