[CF-metadata] New standard name requests for TSI and SSI

From: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 18:26:30 +0100

Dear Odele et al.

Thanks for your proposals.

I'm not sure whether by TOA irradiance you mean the flux incident normal to
the Earth's surface or parallel to the vector between Sun and Earth. If it is
the former, we already have a standard name for it viz
  toa_incoming_shortwave_flux
If it is the latter, does it need "TOA"? In that case it's a quantity in
space, not really do with the Earth itself, just at the right distance.

We don't so far use the word irradiance in standard names (except in the
phrase spherical_irradiance).

I think that "total" should be omitted. It is the usual convention in
standard names that if there is no qualifier the quantity should be understood
as inclusive. It could be restricted to a range of wavelengths by giving it
a coordinate variable for wavelength.

Finally, we don't use the word "spectral" in standard names. It was replaced
with per_unit_wavelength to be more explicit e.g.
  surface_downwelling_radiative_flux_per_unit_wavelength_in_air

Cheers

Jonathan

> We are proposing two new standard names for Total Solar Irradiance (TSI)
> and Solar Spectral Irradiance (SSI) at the top of the atmosphere. Your
> comments on these two proposals would be appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> Odele Coddington and Peter Pilewskie (CU-Boulder/LASP) and Judith Lean (NRL)
>
> standard name:
> toa_total_solar_irradiance
>
> definition:
> The solar power per unit area integrated over all wavelengths that is
> incident at the top of the Earth???s atmosphere (TOA), at a standard distance
> of one Astronomical Unit (1 AU) from the Sun, in units of Watts per square
> meter.
>
> canonical units:
> W m-2
>
> standard name:
> toa_solar_spectral_irradiance
>
> definition:
> The solar power per unit area per unit wavelength that is incident at the
> top of the Earth???s atmosphere, at a standard distance of one Astronomical
> Unit (1 AU) from the Sun, in units of Watts per square meter per nanometer
> (1 nm = 10 ^???9 m).
>
> canonical units:
> W m-2 m-1
Received on Wed May 06 2015 - 11:26:30 BST