Hi Jonathan,
You have good timing; I'm hoping to post updated definitions soon.
I'd be happy to adjust the wording to use "temperature difference", and
leave it unspecified as to the details of whether it's calculated from
potential temperature or virtual temperature or whatever. It's similar
to the question of whether it's surface-based or most-unstable or
max-theta-e CAPE -- wherever the parcel starts, it's all still CAPE.
Cheers,
--Seth
On Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:40:15 -0400
Jonathan Wrotny <jwrotny at aer.com> wrote:
>Dear Seth,
>
>I know that I am replying to late in the game to this e-mail from a few weeks
>ago - sorry about this, but I wanted to make one comment regarding your
>proposed modification to the definition for CAPE. As you might remember, I
>recently proposed some new standard names which are related to the future
>GOES-R platform. Another GOES-R output data product will be CAPE, so I perused
>your proposed modification to the CAPE definition to see if it was consistent
>with the GOES-R product.
>
>The first sentence of your definition says "...calculated by integrating the
>positive differences in virtual temperature...". My concern about using
>virtual temperature in the definition is that it is too specific since CAPE is
>not always calculated using the virtual temperature. For example, in the
>GOES-R product, potential temperature differences are used. The parcel
>potential temperature is corrected for moisture in the parcel, but not in the
>same way as calculating the virtual temperature of the parcel. I'm thinking
>it might be good to attempt to generalize your proposed definition of CAPE.
> Perhaps you could say that it is calculated by integrating the temperature
>difference between the parcel and environment, where the parcel temperature
>may be corrected due to the moisture content of the air parcel (e.g. the
>virtual temperature). Using "temperature difference" as opposed to a specific
>temperature, e.g. the virtual temperature, would help to generalize the
>definition.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Jonathan Wrotny
>
>
>On 5/24/2013 7:57 PM, Seth McGinnis wrote:
>> Greetings CF mailing list!
>>
>> I would like to propose some new standard_names related to convective
>> instability indices.
>>
>> I apologize for sending such a long proposal right before a holiday
>> weekend in the US, but I've been working on it for a while and it
>> dovetails with the recent discussion of a standard_name for Lifted
>> Index. In that discussion, I've proposed two new standard names to
>> record the starting and ending points of a lifted parcel:
>>
>> air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_origin
>> air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_finish
>>
>>
>> Given this (or some other) way of specifying the lifted parcel, we can
>> then handle variables recording various of its properties. I would like
>> to propose three new standard_names for CIN, LCL, and LFC, and to
>> add to the existing definition for CAPE, as follows:
>>
>>
>> CIN:
>>
>> name: atmosphere_specific_convective_inhibition
>>
>> Convective inhibition is the amount of energy required to overcome the
>> negatively buoyant energy exerted by the environment on a parcel of
>> air. Convective inhibition is often abbreviated as "CIN" or "CINH".
>> It is calculated by integrating the negative differences in virtual
>> temperature between a parcel of air lifted adiabatically and its
>> surroundings. If the start and/or end points of the lifted parcel are
>> not specified using auxiliary coordinate variables with the
>> standard_names air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_origin (_finish), the
>> parcel starts at the surface (lower boundary of the atmosphere) and
>> ends at the top of the atmosphere.
>>
>> canonical units: J/kg
>>
>>
>> LCL:
>>
>> name: atmosphere_lifted_condensation_level
>>
>> The lifting condensation level is the height at which the relative
>> humidity of an air parcel cooled by dry adiabatic lifting would reach
>> 100%. If the starting point of the lifted parcel is not specified
>> using an auxiliary coordinate variable with the standard_name
>> air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_start, the parcel starts at the
>> surface (lower boundary of the atmosphere).
>>
>> canonical units: m
>>
>>
>> [Note that, wikipedia notwithstanding, Google reports "liftING
>> condensation level" as more commonly used than "liftED condensation
>> level" by about 5:4. Personally, I have no strong feelings about it
>> one way or the other, and will gladly bow to anyone who has an opinion
>> based on observations in the wild.]
>>
>>
>> LFC:
>>
>> name: atmosphere_level_of_free_convection
>>
>> The level of free convection is the altitude where the temperature of
>> the environment decreases faster than the moist adiabatic lapse rate
>> of a saturated air parcel at the same level. It is calculated by
>> lifting a parcel of air dry adiabatically to the LCL (lifted
>> condensation level), then moist adiabatically until the parcel
>> temperature is equal to the ambient temperature. If the starting
>> point of the lifted parcel is not specified using an auxiliary
>> coordinate variable with the standard_name
>> air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_start, the parcel starts at the
>> surface (lower boundary of the atmosphere).
>>
>> canonical units: m
>>
>>
>> CAPE:
>>
>> CAPE already exists in the standard name table as
>> atmosphere_specific_convective_available_potential_energy
>>
>> There are apparently several different flavors of CAPE depending on
>> how one chooses the starting point of the lifted parcel. (Among
>> others, there's surface-based, most-unstable, and maximum-theta-e
>> CAPE.) Rather than propose several new standard_names for the
>> different flavors, I think they can be handled by simply adding an
>> explanatory note in the metadata -- as long as the starting height of
>> the parcel can be recorded.
>>
>> So I propose that we update the existing CAPE definition to default to
>> being surface-based, and add an explanation of the whole lifted parcel
>> business so that other flavors can be accommodated by noting the
>> starting heights, as follows:
>>
>>
>> Additions to definition of
>> atmosphere_specific_convective_available_potential_energy:
>>
>> Convective(ly) available potential energy (often abbreviated CAPE) is
>> a stability measure typically calculated by integrating the positive
>> differences in virtual temperature between a parcel of air lifted
>> adiabatically and its surroundings. If the start and/or end points of
>> the lifted parcel are not specified using auxiliary coordinate
>> variables with the standard_names
>> air_pressure_of_lifted_parcel_at_origin (_finish), the parcel starts
>> at the surface (lower boundary of the atmosphere) and ends at the top
>> of the atmosphere. [remainder of existing definition goes here]
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> --Seth
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>
Received on Thu Jun 13 2013 - 16:12:33 BST
