[CF-metadata] CF: surface flux versus emissions

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:45:57 +0000

Dear Martin

It was because of this point that tendency of content was adopted:

> However, this doesn't work for aircraft emissions or
> lightning NOx. The latter may or may not be called "emissions", because
> it is actually a chemical process within the atmosphere...

It makes sense that a net surface flux could go either way. For other
quantities, we have defined standard names of upward and downward fluxes as
alternatives, so people can use whichever sign they want. To make it clearer,
we could say surface_net_upward or surface_net_downward, as we do for
radiation.

My question is whether this is the best way to name surface species fluxes, or
should they be called tendency of content due to net surface flux. The latter
would be consistent with other chemical names, but looks a bit obscure to me -
however, either would work.

Cheers

Jonathan
Received on Wed Nov 12 2008 - 09:45:57 GMT