Dear all
Several changes have been agreed to the standard name table in recent months,
but not yet implemented. The following changes are proposed to be made
imminently.
* These quantities currently appear in the table without the phrase "in_air":
surface_downwelling_longwave_flux_in_air
surface_downwelling_longwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
surface_downwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air
surface_downwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air
surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
surface_upwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air
surface_upwelling_shortwave_flux_in_air_assuming_clear_sky
I believe they need "in_air" because upwelling and downwelling fluxes might be
discontinuous at the boundary with sea_water or sea_ice, owing to reflection.
Do others agree with that? However, the corresponding net fluxes don't need
in_air as there can be no absorption in an infinitesimally thin layer. If this
change is made, the equivalent names for the following PCMDI quantities will
change:
rlds rldscs rsds rsdscs rlus rsus rsuscs need
* Clarify longwave/shortwave/spectral radiance as isotropic radiance i.e. with
no dependence on direction, and introduce new corresponding standard names
labelled as upwelling/downwelling, whose help text explains that they should
have a direction indicated, for instance by zenith angle. GRIB codes 119 and
120 are currently indicated as equivalent to longwave and shortwave radiance,
but this has been called into question by comparison with up-to-date versions
of the NCEP GRIB table, where they have different units, even though their
NCEP names are LWRAD and SWRAD. I propose we remove 119 and 120 from the NCEP
GRIB equivalence list until we can find out definitely what quantities they
are.
* Add the following new quantities that have been requested:
radiation_wavelength
moisture_content_of_soil_layer_at_field_capacity
sea_surface_height
toa_adjusted_longwave_forcing
toa_adjusted_radiative_forcing
toa_adjusted_shortwave_forcing
toa_instantaneous_longwave_forcing
toa_instantaneous_radiative_forcing
toa_instantaneous_shortwave_forcing
tropopause_adjusted_longwave_forcing
tropopause_adjusted_radiative_forcing
tropopause_adjusted_shortwave_forcing
tropopause_instantaneous_longwave_forcing
tropopause_instantaneous_radiative_forcing
tropopause_instantaneous_shortwave_forcing
zenith_angle
radiation_wavelength was previously added as electromagnetic_wavelength, which
becomes an alias.
* Clarify specific_potential_energy as specific_gravitational_potential_energy
and specific_convective_available_potential_energy as
atmosphere_specific_convective_available_potential_energy.
Cheers
Jonathan
http://www.cgam.nerc.ac.uk/~jonathan/
Received on Mon Nov 17 2003 - 01:47:55 GMT
