Dear Jonathan,
Thanks for your feedback. I agree with your suggested modifications the
definition and have included them below.
Also, there is an e-mail from John Graybeal who is suggesting a more
generalized version of the standard name. I have thought about
attempting to come up with a similar, general, name for the total totals
index. But, this name was so long that I believe that it would itself
become a full description, which I was trying to avoid. John's
suggested name boils it down more generally and succintly, but it turns
out that this name could also be applicable to the stability index, "k
index," which I am going to submit in the coming days (which also uses
differences of the ambient and dew point temperatures), so there would
be conflict with the "k index" name. Also, remember that the total
totals is not a name that I have personally constructed to describe the
mathematics of the quantity, but it is actually the name of an commonly
used meteorological quantity.
Given Jonathan's previous direction (see e-mails concerning "lifted
index") to attempt to standardize all names except for those specific,
complex quantities that don't lend themselves to generalization, I think
keeping total_totals_index in the standard name is a good idea. I think
the lifted index is complex and specific enough that it falls into the
category or meriting a unique name (similar to, say, the NDVI).
Standard Name:
atmosphere_stability_total_totals_index
Definition:
The atmosphere_stability_total_totals_index indicates the
likelihood of severe convection and is often referred to as simply the
total totals index. The index is derived from the difference in air
temperature between 850 and 500 hPa (the vertical totals) and the
difference between the dew point temperature at 850 hPa and the air
temperature at 500 hPa (the cross totals). The vertical totals and cross
totals are summed to obtain the index.
Canonical Units: K
Sincerely,
Jonathan
On 5/21/2013 5:39 PM, Jonathan Gregory wrote:
> Dear Jon
>
>> I agree with your assessment, and I like your proposed name. My
>> only question remains with the definition. It seems like there
>> could be two approaches given the specific nature of the product: 1)
>> write the definition as below with hard-wired pressure levels part
>> of the definition. Based on my understanding of the product, I have
>> never seen any other pressures levels other than 500 and 850 hPa
>> used for the index, but I could be wrong. -or- 2) attempt to
>> generalize the definition so that it does not mention the specific
>> pressure levels. This would help to generalize the definition, but
>> may not add that much value since other pressure levels do not
>> appear to be commonly used (ever?).
> If that is the case, then (1) seems the better choice
>
>> Standard Name: atmosphere_stability_total_totals_index
>>
>> Definition:
>>
>> Option 1)The atmosphere_stability_total_totals_index indicates the
>> likelihood of severe convection and is often referred to as simply
>> the total totals index. The index is derived from the difference in
>> air temperature between 850 and 500 hPa (the vertical totals) and
>> the difference between the dew point temperature at 850 hPa and the
>> air temperature at 500 hPa (the cross totals). The vertical totals
>> and cross totals are summed to obtain the index.
> You could insert
>> often referred to as simply the total totals index
> as in your other definition. This bit:
>> Air temperature is
>> the bulk temperature of the air, not the surface (skin) temperature.
>> The term "surface" means the lower boundary of the atmosphere.
> doesn't seem necessary in this case, since "surface" is not mentioned.
>
>> Canonical Units: K
> Oh, good. :-)
>
> If we define it specifically now, that does not preclude the later addition of
> a more general standard name if required.
>
> Cheers
>
> Jonathan
> _______________________________________________
> CF-metadata mailing list
> CF-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
> http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <
http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/pipermail/cf-metadata/attachments/20130522/5f991c5c/attachment.html>
Received on Wed May 22 2013 - 11:42:14 BST
