[CF-metadata] Proposal of standard names for cloud/precip properties

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:54:53 +0000

Dear Alejandro

Thank you for your thoughtfully composed list.

> - toa_reflectance [1]
is that different from planetary_albedo, already in the table?

The unit dBZ should be dB, I think. dB is not a udunit but we have previously
agreed to "extend" udunits to include it. The Z doesn't change the definition
essentially, does it.

> - hydrometeor_effective_radius [m]
> Hydrometeor is any kind of condensate (liquid water, graupel, ice, rain,
> etc). This will need a coordinate hydrometeor_type that stores the names
> of the hydrometeors.
Why not have separate standard names for them? Do you particularly want to
have a coordinate dimension for hydrometeor_type?

> - attenuated_molecular_backscatter [m-1 sr-1]
> - attenuated_backscatter [m-1 sr-1]

The standard name table already contains
  volume_backwards_scattering_coefficient_of_radiative_flux_in_sea_water:m-1
  volume_scattering_coefficient_of_radiative_flux_in_sea_water:m-1
  volume_scattering_function_of_radiative_flux_in_sea_water:m-1 sr-1
  volume_attenuation_coefficient_of_downwelling_radiative_flux_in_sea_water:m-1
and I suspect your quantities might be analogous - do you think so? Could
attenuated_backscatter be described as
  volume_attenuated_backwards_scattering_function_in_air:m sr-1
and maybe "molecular" means "due to" something? I'm not an expert at what these
mean, of course. Does "attenuated backscatter" mean backwards scattering
followed by attenuation? I have to confess I don't remember what the
implication of volume_ is in these names. The distinction between
scattering_coefficient and scattering_function is that the latter is a
function of angle.

> backscatter_scattering_ratio instead of
> ratio_of_attenuated_backscatter_to_attenuated_molecular_backscatter.

Perhaps it could be backscattering_ratio, even more simply. That phrase
is found by Google.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Fri Mar 13 2009 - 07:54:53 GMT