Dear Martin,
thanks for filling me in on the background of this discussion! This must have happened before I joined the mailing list, and I do need to admit it's a hassle to read through the whole archive.
I do see your point, i.e. that you describe a modelled variable, but I still think it is self-contradicting to call the variable extinction coefficient, and then confine this to aerosol scattering within one and the same variable name. I actually wouldn't be so concerned if the syntax philosophy didn't conflict with the variable names I'm about to propose on behalf of the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) aerosol programme. The names are going to be of the type "volume_scattering_coefficient_in_air_due_to_dry_aerosol", which in fact isn't defined yet.
How about calling your variable
"volume_scattering_coefficient_in_air_due_to_ambient_aerosol_assuming_Mie_scattering" ?
That would avoid the self-contradiction, it would fit into the syntax philosophy used so far, and it would still express clearly that it is a model output variable with an underlying assumption.
Best regards,
Markus
_______________________________________
Dr. Markus Fiebig
Dept. Atmospheric and Climate Research (ATMOS)
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
P.O. Box 100
N-2027 Kjeller
Norway
Tel.: +47 6389-8235
Fax : +47 6389-8050
e-mail: Markus.Fiebig at nilu.no
skype: markus.fiebig
-----Original Message-----
From: Schultz, Martin [mailto:m.schultz at fz-juelich.de]
Sent: Mittwoch, 7. M?rz 2012 11:16
To: Markus Fiebig; cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
Cc: Shankar, Uma (ushankar at unc.edu)
Subject: RE: warming up old stuff - part 1: aerosol mie scattering
Dear Markus,
thanks for the thoughtful response. I cc this to Uma Shankar who had sent me the RSIG (
http://badger.epa.gov/rsig/) CMAQ variable list from where this suggestion originated. CMAQ is of course a model. I don't think it would hurt to have also standard_names for pure model quantities, but I agree with you that one may have to phrase and define this more clearly. The name you propose is already in the list, and the suggestion was to include a more specific term to denote the specific contribution from Mie scattering.
Best regards,
Martin
PS: original proposal was
"* How can we get more specific about the "extinction coefficient"? In particular, we would like to express something like "..._due_to_Mie_scattering". But does this work with " volume_extinction_coefficient_in_air_due_to_ambient_aerosol". The new name would then become "volume_extinction_coefficient_in_air_due_to_Mie_scattering_of_ambient_aerosol" ? (and would "Mie" be spelled with "M" or "m"?)"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Markus Fiebig [mailto:Markus.Fiebig at nilu.no]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 9:31 AM
> To: Schultz, Martin; cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
> Subject: RE: warming up old stuff - part 1: aerosol mie scattering
>
> Dear all,
>
> please excuse if I come in late into this discussion, but I would like
> to make a few comments about the proposed variable name
>
> "volume_extinction_coefficient_in_air_due_to_mie_scattering_of_ambient
> _aerosol"
>
> As it is written above, the name is self-contradicting. The aerosol
> extinction coefficient is defined to include both, particle scattering
> and absorption. The part of the aerosol extinction coefficient that is
> due to particle scattering is commonly referred to as aerosol
> scattering coefficient. Also, I need to apologise for not having
> followed the discussion concerning the use of the term "mie", but it
> appears rather to confuse than to clarify in the context here. Even
> though the term Mie-particle is colloquially used for a spherical,
> internally well mixed aerosol particle, such a particle exists only in
> theory or in some numerical model. If the variable name is also to be used for an observed quantity, which I think it should, the term "Mie" should be avoided.
>
> How about putting this much simpler, and name the property:
>
> "volume_scattering_coefficient_in_air_due_to_ambient_aerosol"
>
> or, to avoid even more confusion:
>
> "volume_scattering_coefficient_at_stp_in_air_due_to_ambient_aerosol"
>
> Regards,
> Markus
>
>
>
> _______________________________________
> Dr. Markus Fiebig
>
> Dept. Atmospheric and Climate Research (ATMOS) Norwegian Institute for
> Air Research (NILU) P.O. Box 100
> N-2027 Kjeller
> Norway
>
> Tel.: +47 6389-8235
> Fax : +47 6389-8050
> e-mail: Markus.Fiebig at nilu.no
> skype: markus.fiebig
>
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Received on Wed Mar 07 2012 - 04:23:39 GMT
