html_url,issue_url,id,node_id,user,created_at,updated_at,author_association,body,reactions,performed_via_github_app,issue
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1906#issuecomment-368383671,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1906,368383671,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2ODM4MzY3MQ==,2443309,2018-02-26T03:58:41Z,2018-02-26T03:58:41Z,MEMBER,"@mraspaud - 

The way to do this with xarray is:

```Python
arr = xr.DataArray([[1, 2, 3]], dims=['time', 'x'])
arr['time'] = np.array([1])
time_bnds = xr.DataArray([[0, 1]], dims=('time', 'nv'))
arr['time'].attrs['bounds'] = 'time_bnds'

dataset = xr.Dataset({'arr': arr,
                      'time_bnds': time_bnds})

dataset.info()
```

```
xarray.Dataset {
dimensions:
	nv = 2 ;
	time = 1 ;
	x = 3 ;

variables:
	int64 time(time) ;
		time:bounds = time_bnds ;
	int64 arr(time, x) ;
	int64 time_bnds(time, nv) ;

// global attributes:
}
```

Note this is the same number of lines of code and is [CF compliant](http://cfconventions.org/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions-1.7/cf-conventions.html#cell-methods). I personally don't see us going down the path of nesting xarray objects inside of `attrs`.

Is there more to discuss here or should we close this?","{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,296673404
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1906#issuecomment-365219456,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1906,365219456,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2NTIxOTQ1Ng==,10050469,2018-02-13T10:23:01Z,2018-02-13T10:23:01Z,MEMBER,"Also `DataArrays` can have attributes, so storing them as attributes could lead to quite intricate situations ;)","{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,296673404
https://github.com/pydata/xarray/issues/1906#issuecomment-365218953,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1906,365218953,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2NTIxODk1Mw==,10050469,2018-02-13T10:21:06Z,2018-02-13T10:21:06Z,MEMBER,"> There are workarounds (like saving the time_bnds as a regular variable and putting its name as an attribute of the time variable) 

This is not a workaround, this is what the CF conventions say to do: [cell bounds need to be defined as variables](http://cfconventions.org/cf-conventions/v1.6.0/cf-conventions.html#cell-methods), while the `bounds` attribute links to the name of this variable.

","{""total_count"": 0, ""+1"": 0, ""-1"": 0, ""laugh"": 0, ""hooray"": 0, ""confused"": 0, ""heart"": 0, ""rocket"": 0, ""eyes"": 0}",,296673404