This raises a broader question about CF, perhaps thinking too far ahead.
Per my understanding, the terms in CF are chosen to maximize the interoperability of data sets that use them. The idea is that I can expect my sea_water_temperature or air_temperature to be pretty much the same as yours.
What is the mechanism by which the grand poobah of data set searching, or anyone else, can tell that the air_temperature of the BADC climate model is of the Martian atmosphere, not the Earth one? My assumption has always been that the terms are describing _this planet's_ observables.
Presumably casual inspection will be likely to make obvious the distinction in many/most (all?) cases, so is that sufficient? Or do we want the computer that finds a model with air_temperature to be able to understand which planet's air is being referred to, just from the variable name?
John
On Jan 25, 2011, at 06:49, <alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk> <alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> At BADC we are preparing to archive some data generated by a group at Oxford University who are working on a climate model of the Martian atmosphere. The data will be archived as CF-compliant netCDF files. Many of the model variables are the same as those used in earth simulations, e.g., air temperature, u and v wind components, surface atmospheric pressure, and for all these we will use existing standard names. However, there are a small number of variables for which there are no existing standard names. Therefore, we would like to propose the following new names:
>
> carbon_dioxide_ice_amount; kg m-2
> This is the mass per unit area of frozen carbon dioxide on the Martian surface.
>
> atmosphere_optical_thickness_due_to_dust_dry_aerosol; 1
> This follows the pattern of the existing name atmosphere_optical_thickness_due_to_dust_ambient_aerosol and is defined in an analogous way.
>
> aerocentric_longitude; degree
> 'Aerocentric longitude' is a widely used term within the Mars modelling community and indicates the season within the Martian year according to the sun's apparent motion relative to the planet's equator. Zero degrees is defined as the northern hemisphere vernal equinox, i.e., the ascending node of the apparent seasonal motion of the Sun on the planet's equator [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/notes.html]. Thus 90, 180 and 270 degrees indicate, respectively, the summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice.
>
> We would welcome comments on these proposals.
>
> Best wishes,
> Alison
>
> ------
> Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
> NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Fax: +44 1235 446314
> STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
> R25, 2.22
> Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
>
>
>
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John Graybeal <mailto:jgraybeal at ucsd.edu>
phone: 858-534-2162
System Development Manager
Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure Project:
http://ci.oceanobservatories.org
Marine Metadata Interoperability Project:
http://marinemetadata.org
Received on Tue Jan 25 2011 - 19:11:31 GMT
