Dear all,
> Jonathan wrote:
> I don't really agree with this. Units are units, not
> descriptins of quantities.
> grams of CO2 per grams of air is a mass mixing ratio and is
> dimensionless.
> [...]
> Steve wrote:
> The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)
> agrees that information shouldn't be attached to unit
> specifications. See
> <http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sec07.html#7.4> and
> <http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sec07.html#7.5> for more
> information.
if this is the direction to take, then we will need several "expressed_as" standard_names for atmospheric chemistry. Typical example: volatile organic compounds are often "expressed as" mass mixing ratio based on either their molecular mass or in "grams C" which counts only the mass of the C atoms (because this is what counts in the sense that it ultimately produces CO2 at the end of the reaction chain). Hence, one would need things like
"mass_mixing_ratio_of_ethane_in_air_expressed_as_carbon_mass" and many similar ones. You can do the same with nitogen for species like NO, NO2, HNO3, N2O, etc.
I am not opposed to this idea, just like to point out the consequence.
Still, there may then be a need to define "readable units" which would be obtained from the combination of standard_name and units. I do sympathize with people who prefer to read "nmol mol-1" on a plot rather than "1" (or "1.e-9" in this case).
Cheers,
Martin
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Received on Mon Apr 04 2011 - 09:37:05 BST
