DAS-2419: Restores datatree string behavior (#29)

Author: flamingbear

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [v1.3.0] - 2025-09-16
+
+### Changed
+
+- Changes parameters when opening xarray.datatree so that strings are decoded from characters properly.
+- Internally updates xarray and removes h5netcdf dependencies.
+
 ## [v1.2.0] - 2025-09-02
 
 ### Changed
@@ -86,6 +93,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   for a variable as specified via an `earthdata-varinfo` configuration file.
 - Initial repository setup with utility scripts and Dockerfiles.
 
+[v1.3.0]: https://github.com/nasa/harmony-metadata-annotator/releases/tag/1.3.0
 [v1.2.0]: https://github.com/nasa/harmony-metadata-annotator/releases/tag/1.2.0
 [v1.1.0]: https://github.com/nasa/harmony-metadata-annotator/releases/tag/1.1.0
 [v1.0.4]: https://github.com/nasa/harmony-metadata-annotator/releases/tag/1.0.4

docker/service_version.txt

@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.2.0
+1.3.0

metadata_annotator/annotate.py

@@ -78,8 +78,10 @@ def amend_in_file_metadata(
     with xr.open_datatree(
         input_file_name,
         decode_times=False,
+        decode_timedelta=False,
         decode_coords=False,
-        decode_cf=False,
+        concat_characters=True,
+        use_cftime=False,
         mask_and_scale=False,
     ) as datatree:
         # Update all pre-existing variables or groups with metadata overrides including

requirements.txt

@@ -3,5 +3,4 @@ cftime ~= 1.6.4
 earthdata-varinfo ~= 3.0.2
 harmony-service-lib ~= 2.5.0
 netCDF4 ~= 1.6.5
-xarray == 2025.8.0
-h5netcdf == 1.6.4
+xarray == 2025.9.0