[CF-metadata] water level with/without datum

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:16:18 +0000

Dear John et al.

> water_surface_height_above_x seems to meet all the criteria.

I agree, this would be fine for Jeff's need. Thanks for suggesting it. It is
like sea_surface_height_above_X, which already exists, and "surface"
disambiguates it.

It does not solve the general problem, illustrated by Roy's use case. We will
not be able to use "surface" for properties measured *within* the water, such
as temperature, velocity, etc., as that would be confusing. But, as is our
usual habit, we can postpone trying to solve that problem until someone
definitely requests a standard name which raises it. In that case, we'd
probably have to return to the sea/lake/river debate.

> I could handle sea+lake+river but it doesn't thrill me, because of (a)
> special characters which can have unintended consequences for times
> now and yet to come, (b) 'sea' is not self-explanatory until you know
> it really means ocean (in some local dialects) and excludes inland
> seas (or maybe not?), and (c) awkwardness. Not a preference but if all
> others get ruled out, there we'd be.

Yes, I actually agree. As for (a), maybe sea_lake_river would be better.
"Sea" means ocean or sea in CF names - any body of water which is connected
to the world ocean.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Thu Feb 25 2010 - 03:16:18 GMT