[CF-metadata] RE: new standard names 1.-33.

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 09:18:36 +0100

Dear Beate and Alison

> >10. still open
> >
> There are four proposals relating to convection:
> atmosphere_rate_of_latent_energy_release_due_to_deep_convection; W m-2
> rate_of_latent_energy_release_in_atmosphere_layer_due_to_deep_convection; W m-2
> atmosphere_rate_of_latent_energy_release_due_to_shallow_convection; W m-2
> rate_of_latent_energy_release_in_atmosphere_layer_due_to_shallow_convection; W m-2
> The names themselves are fine, but please can you confirm whether the latent heat release includes both condensation and freezing so that we can be clear in the definition.

I would say that this is an ambiguity which ought to be clarified in the name
itself, which means we may need to decide terms for vapour->liquid, liquid->
solid, vapour->liquid or solid. The phrase "condensed water" is
used in a few standard names to mean liquid or solid, which would mean that
vapour->liquid or solid is "condensation", but perhaps this needs to be
reconsidered. (We could use aliases to replace existing names if reqd.)

> > 29. in the table we have tendency_of_air_temperature
> > for 'vertically averaged tendency of temperature' I suppose:
> > tendency_of_atmosphere_air_temperature (analogous to water_vapor-names)
> >
> The water vapor names, such as tendency_of_atmosphere_water_vapor_content, all refer to the
> "atmosphere content" to indicate the vertical integral of the water vapor, whereas here you wish to define a mean quantity. I suggest we use:
> atmosphere_mean_tendency_of_air_temperature
> to indicate that the mean is over the entire column. I think it also makes better sense in English as "atmosphere_air_temperature" sounds a bit strange.

If we have to insert "mean" in a standard name it may indicate that we aren't
using cell_methods properly. In fact the number of "layer" names also suggests
that we should reconsider how to describe extensive/intensive quantities in
the vertical i.e. the contents of a layer, the average over a layer, the value
on a level. These distinctions are made by cell_methods in the horizontal.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Mon Oct 23 2006 - 02:18:36 BST