Query for data availability and update date

[WeatherGod]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Some datasets are not updated on a strict schedule (specifically the "reanalysis-era5-single-levels-monthly-means"). I see no means of finding out what, if anything, is newer than the last time I checked, which means I have to re-request the data regularly until it changes (and detecting that there has been a change can be tricky and convoluted).

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be extremely useful if there was some sort of programmatic way to check the "last modified" time of a dataset. Even if it was just a single modification time for the whole dataset as a whole would reduce the amount of data bandwidth being consumed.

Ideally, it would be nice if there was a way to query for the "last modification time" as a time series matched with the record dimension of the dataset, so that we can find out what range of time are newer than what we have currently. It'll also help with automatically going back and reprocessing revised analyses.

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional context

No response

Organisation

Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.