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-368436995,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1906,368436995,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2ODQzNjk5NQ==,167802,2018-02-26T09:19:32Z,2018-02-26T09:19:32Z,CONTRIBUTOR,"I'm satisfied with this answer, thanks for taking the time !","{""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-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-365284450,https://api.github.com/repos/pydata/xarray/issues/1906,365284450,MDEyOklzc3VlQ29tbWVudDM2NTI4NDQ1MA==,167802,2018-02-13T14:35:02Z,2018-02-13T14:35:02Z,CONTRIBUTOR,"> Also DataArrays can have attributes, so storing them as attributes could lead to quite intricate situations ;)

I agree totally, but when writing to netcdf, I was expecting xarray to take out the DataArrays out of attributes, replace them with their name, and save them as separate array in the netcdf files. But maybe that's not xarray's job do deal with ? ","{""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