[CF-metadata] proposed changes to various standard names

From: John.Dunne at noaa.gov <John.Dunne>
Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 13:28:36 -0400

> > 2) inorganic_phosphorus|phosphate and inorganic_silicon|silicate
>
> I appreciate your arguments but I do not have the expertise to
> decide. Perhaps John will come to the rescue.

Not sure if I can do that, but here's my perspective. We've gotten to
the point where the names have evolved considerably in order to conform
to a diverse suite of ideals (e.g. wanting to use elemental names for
all, but realizing that some led to ambiguities i.e. N2 vs DON vs NO3 vs
NH4), such that no one name is idead. At this point, I think it's
mostly just a judgement call as to which of those ideals to prioritize.
 I am quite certain that each of these situations will have potential
pitfalls with some folks - e.g. as 'silicic acid' is sometimes preferred
over either 'silicate' or 'silicon' and others might point out that the
'phosphate' (PO4) structure is retained whether in the dissolved form or
when incorporated into organic material - but I do feel like any of
these choices are suitable given that the names have grown quite
description.
Received on Thu May 27 2010 - 11:28:36 BST