[CF-metadata] Standard names for Martian climate model data

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:03:01 +0000

Dear Alison

> carbon_dioxide_ice_amount; kg m-2
> This is the mass per unit area of frozen carbon dioxide on the Martian surface.

I propose that "ice" should be reserved for water ice, and that "surface"
should be included here, like e.g. surface_snow_amount. Thus:
  surface_frozen_carbon_dioxide_amount

With regard to John's question, I think there is no problem for using the same
standard names for Earth and Mars quantities if they refer to the same physical
quantities, just like we can use the same standard names for different future
scenarios for the Earth, or past geological periods. The Earth in the Cambrian
was not the same planet as the Earth today regarding all its climate and
geophysical circumstances (although not as different as Mars). The fact that
it is Mars is presumably made clear in some other metadata, which could be
standardised if necessary. The Earth as simulated by various climate models is
also not the same Earth as the one we live on - sometimes quite bizarrely
different - and these models are distinguished informally by global attributes.

Best wishes

Jonathan
Received on Wed Jan 26 2011 - 05:03:01 GMT