The 'type'-word was chosen after a discussion in this mailing list. You
are right that the high/middle/low are slightly correlated to the
altitude of the cloud-types, but the altitude dependents on pressure,
temperature and latitude, so e.g. a middle type cloud can be found in
higher altitudes than a high type cloud.
So, the word 'type' should catch anybodies eyes to read the explanatory
text: high type clouds are Cirrus, Cirrostratus, Cirrocumulus ... and
for those familiar with clouds, the terms 'high', 'middle' and 'low' are
very common.
Heiko
On 2012-05-07 17:53, John Graybeal wrote:
> So, anytime I see the word 'type' in a variable name, it catches my eye -- it usually indicates a concept that exists but hasn't been named. (Because there was *some* reason for grouping the clouds that way, right?)
>
> In this case, I know pretty much nothing about clouds, but it looks to me like the concept may be altitude or height. If that were true I would much prefer 'high_altitude_cloud_area_fraction' and so on. Or whatever the right concept is.
>
> John
>
>
> On May 7, 2012, at 01:29, Heiko Klein wrote:
>
>> Dear Jonathan,
>>
>> I just had a short side-discussion with Eizi, and we settled on 'type', i.e. we propose the standard names:
>>
>> high_type_cloud_area_fraction
>> middle_type_cloud_area_fraction
>> low_type_cloud_area_fraction
>>
>>
>> As explanatory text, the one of cloud_area_fraction is a good start, and then an addition like:
>>
>> high type clouds are: Cirrus, Cirrostratus, Cirrocumulus
>> middle type clouds are: Altostratus, Altocumulus, Nimbostratus
>> low type clouds are: Stratus, Stratocumulus, Cumulus, Cumulonimbus
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Heiko
>>
>> On 2012-04-27 17:30, Jonathan Gregory wrote:
>>> Dear Eizi and Heiko
>>>
>>> I think this kind of idea is good
>>>>> high_genera_cloud_area_fraction:
>>> etc.
>>>
>>> "type" or "genera" would both be OK, but "genera" is a plural so better English
>>> would probably be "type" (or "genus").
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Jonathan
>> _______________________________________________
>> CF-metadata mailing list
>> CF-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
>> http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
>>
>
>
>
--
Dr. Heiko Klein Tel. + 47 22 96 32 58
Development Section / IT Department Fax. + 47 22 69 63 55
Norwegian Meteorological Institute http://www.met.no
P.O. Box 43 Blindern 0313 Oslo NORWAY
Received on Tue May 08 2012 - 01:27:33 BST
