[CF-metadata] New standard names for satellite obs data

From: Aleksandar Jelenak <Aleksandar.Jelenak>
Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2010 10:39:44 -0400

Dear all,

I am submitting 13 new standard names for acceptance in the official
list. I have tried to follow the convention's guidelines and used the
current standard names as examples.

The new names are developed to represent some common types of satellite
obs data. I welcome any suggestion on how to improve them.



1) "instrument_channel_identifier" [dimensionless]

    Alphanumeric identifier of instrument's channel.


2) "time_label_iso8601" [dimensionless]

    String containing date-time information in one of the ISO 8601
    formats.


3) "instrument_zenith_angle" [degree]

    The angle between the line of sight to the instrument and the local
    vertical.


4) "satellite_scan_angle" [degree]

    The angle between the line of sight from the satellite and the nadir
    line. Nadir is the direction given by the vertical from the satellite
    looking towards the center of the Earth.


5) "instrument_azimuth_angle" [degree]

    The horizontal angle between the line of sight to the instrument and
    a reference direction which is often due north. The angle is measured
    clockwise.


6) "relative_instrument_azimuth_angle" [degree]

    Difference between two instrument_azimuth_angle values.


7) "toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance" [mW m-2 sr-1 (cm-1)-1]

    "toa" means top of atmosphere; "outgoing" means emitted toward outer
    space; "spectral" means per unit wavenumber or as a function of
    wavenumber. Radiance is the radiative flux in a particular direction,
    per unit of solid angle.


8) "collocation_time" [s]

    A time line of events used as the temporal reference during
    collocation processing. Collocation is grouping of at least two
    observation events based on a set of criteria (typically spatial and
    temporal).


9) "collocation_time_difference" [s]

    The temporal difference between the monitored event and the reference
    event being collocated. Collocation is grouping of at least two
    observation events based on a set of criteria (typically spatial and
    temporal).


10) "toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_mean_within_collocation_target"
    or
    "average_of_toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_within_collocation_target"

    [mW m-2 sr-1 (cm-1)-1]

    An average of toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance observations from
    instrument's adjacent field of views within a collocation target.
    Collocation target is an area on the Earth's surface at which
    observations from at least two instruments are collected. Its size is
    defined by the instrument with the largest field of view footprint.


11) "toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_stdev_within_collocation_target"
    or
    "stdev_of_toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_within_collocation_target"

    [mW m-2 sr-1 (cm-1)-1]

    Standard deviation of toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance observations
    from instrument's adjacent field of views within a collocation
    target. Collocation target is an area on the Earth's surface at
    which observations from at least two instruments are collected. Its
    size is defined by the instrument with the largest field of view
    footprint.


12) "toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_mean_within_collocation_scene"
    or
    "average_of_toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_within_collocation_scene"

    [mW m-2 sr-1 (cm-1)-1]

    An average of toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance observations within a
    collocation scene. Collocation scene is a grouping of instrument's
    adjacent field of views (FOVs) centered on a collocation target.
    Collocation target is an area on the Earth's surface at which
    observations from at least two instruments are collected. Its size is
    defined by the instrument with the largest FOV footprint. Collocation
    scene's size is typically about an order of magnitude larger than its
    collocation target.


13) "toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_stdev_within_collocation_scene"
    or
    "stdev_of_toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance_within_collocation_scene"

    [mW m-2 sr-1 (cm-1)-1]

    Standard deviation of toa_outgoing_spectral_radiance observations
    within a collocation scene. Collocation scene is a grouping of
    instrument's adjacent field of views (FOVs) centered on a collocation
    target. Collocation target is an area on the Earth's surface at
    which observations from at least two instruments are collected. Its
    size is defined by the instrument with the largest FOV footprint.
    Collocation scene's size is typically about an order of magnitude
    larger than its collocation target.


       -Aleksandar
Received on Thu Oct 07 2010 - 08:39:44 BST