Alison/Nan,
Don't forget we can have internal waves (waves propagated on subsurface density boundaries like thermoclines) as well as surface waves in water bodies.
Cheers, Roy.
>>> "Pamment, JA (Alison)" <J.A.Pamment at rl.ac.uk> 03/31/08 11:09 AM >>>
Hi Nan,
>
> One of our parameters is sea_surface_wave_variance_spectral_density,
> with coordinate variables time and frequency.
>
> Sea_surface_wave_frequency is an accepted standard name, but I
> would like to know why 'frequency' is not preferable, being more
> generic. As an analogy, we can use 'depth' as the coordinate variable
> for temperatures, and are not so specific as to require
> sea_water_temperature_depth. Is specifying sea_surface_wave
> really necessary, and might it not be misleading if the parameter
> is not actually "plain" sea_surface_waves?
>
I'm not an expert in this area myself, so I'm not quite sure what you
mean by "plain" sea_surface_waves. However, to respond to your general
point, I agree that sea_surface_wave_frequency is very specific.
The original proposal (see
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/pipermail/cf-metadata/2006/000958.html) was for
wave_frequency and it was submitted along with quite a list of other sea
surface wave names. I suspect that it was changed for consistency with
the other names. I think that we need to at least use the term
wave_frequency rather than simply 'frequency' because it is not the
only kind of frequency in standard names. We have the names
sound_frequency, which could in fact be described by wave_frequency, and
brunt_vaisala_frequency_in_air, which is a parameter that relates to the
static stability of air and is useful for determining whether gravity
waves will be generated, for example, by flow over orography. I think
that we could use wave_frequency quite adequately for fluid dynamical
waves, sound waves and electromagnetic waves independent of the medium
in which they occur. Would you be happy with wave_frequency?
Best wishes,
Alison
------
Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Fax: +44 1235 446314
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Email: J.A.Pamment at rl.ac.uk
Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
_______________________________________________
CF-metadata mailing list
CF-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
--
This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC
is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents
of this email and any reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless
it is exempt from release under the Act. Any material supplied to
NERC may be stored in an electronic records management system.
Received on Mon Mar 31 2008 - 07:49:32 BST
