[CF-metadata] Standard names for Glaciology and ice-sheet modeling: land_ice, sea_ice, floating_ice, ice shelves...

From: Bryan Lawrence <bryan.lawrence>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:19:17 +0100

On Tuesday 29 September 2009 10:09:26 Jonathan Gregory wrote:
> Dear Constantine
>
> I see that the existing standard names of land_ice say that it means resting
> on bedrock. They were introduced before the floating_ice, which was intended
> from an atmospheric or oceanic point of view, when sea-ice and ice-shelves may
> have to be treated similarly. I propose that we redefine land_ice to mean
> glaciers, ice-sheets and ice-shelves; floating_ice can continue to mean sea-ice
> or ice-shelves, and we can introduce ice_shelf or grounded_land_ice if we
> need them.

Without knowing the details I don't like the sound of "redefining". Would there
be cases of existing data marked up with land_ice which would fall foul of
such a change?

Bryan

-- 
Bryan Lawrence
Director of Environmental Archival and Associated Research
(NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre and NCEO/NERC NEODC)
STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Phone +44 1235 445012; Fax ... 5848; 
Web: home.badc.rl.ac.uk/lawrence

Received on Tue Sep 29 2009 - 03:19:17 BST