[CF-metadata] standard name proposals

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 09:36:15 +0100

Dear John

> I've seen it described as a "photosynthetic photon flux density" a few times
> in the literature. Sounds awkward to me, but I'll gladly accept it.

After lots of comments, it was decided to use the word "flux" for what are
called "flux density" in physics i.e. something m-2 s-1. As you know, it is
almost universal to use "flux" for radiative flux densities in W m-2. Hence
for consistency I think we'll have to choose photosynthetic_photon_flux
for mol m-2 s-1. It is actually shorter than "photosynthetically active
radiation"!

If that's OK, what we will add is
downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_sea_water
and
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_sea_water
I think it's right to have the "in sea water" for the surface quantity as
well, because there could be a discontinuity at the surface. We have this
with some other standard names.

Just to check: it is downwelling that you want, not net downward
= downwelling - upwelling?

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Thu Aug 07 2003 - 02:36:15 BST