[CF-metadata] new standard names for ECHAM5/CLM/ERA

From: Schultz, Martin <m.schultz>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:16:35 +0200

Dear Alison, Heinke,


> > 'water_vapor_mixing_ratio'
> > water vapor mixing ratio of a parcel of moist air is the ratio of
the
> > mass of water vapor to the mass of dry air.
> I think there is agreement that the existing standard name
humidity_mixing_ratio has the right
> definition, but that water_vapor_mixing_ratio would be more
self-explanatory. Therefore I will
> add the name water_vapor_mixing_ratio and make humidity_mixing_ratio
into an alias.

    Now I am really puzzled! For all chemical constituents we went a
long way to make the distinction between
mass_fraction_of_ and mole_fraction_of_ (see my mail to Philip of
this morning)

    Why shouldn't this be the case for water vapour, which can also be
seen as a chemical constituent???

The "mixing_ratio" label doesn't allow to infer the canonical units.

So, my suggestion would be

mass_fraction_of_water_vapour_in_air

and if you insist on humidity, then we would need an alias to

mass_fraction_of_humidity_in_air


Best regards,

Martin


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Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt
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Received on Thu Oct 23 2008 - 09:16:35 BST