[CF-metadata] standard name proposals

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 10:12:34 +0100

Dear Burkhardt

> Irradiance is defined as "Radiant flux of any origin INCIDENT onto an area
> element".
> Radiant flux density is defined as "Radiant flux of any origin CROSSING
> an area element".
> Both have units W m-2.

>> Is there any difference between irradiance and radiative flux density?

That's interesting. I've just received other advice from a radiation modeller
that irradiance and radiative flux density are really the same thing, with
irradiance being a newer, recommended, term. I agree that I have only seen
irradiance used in the context of incident flux, as you suggest.

In practice, people *do* describe an incident flux as "surface downwelling
[or downward, or total downward] flux [density]", which apparently is the
same thing as irradiance. If that is true, I think we should not define
standard names for irradiance, or alternatively define them as aliases to
standard names of radiative flux. What do you think?

Thanks. Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Tue Aug 26 2003 - 03:12:34 BST