Dear All,
The standard name and area type tables have both been updated today. The list of changes is detailed below.
The current version of the standard name table is now 29, dated 8 July 2015, and for area types it is version 3, also dated 8 July 2015. The links from
http://cfconventions.org/standard-names.html and
http://cfconventions.org/documents.html have been updated accordingly. The changes will also be published overnight on the NERC vocabulary server.
Best wishes,
Alison
1. New names
apparent_oxygen_utilization (canonical units: mol kg-1)
solar_irradiance (canonical units: W m-2
solar_irradiance_per_unit_wavelength (canonical units: W m-2 m-1)
distance_from_sun (canonical units: m)
fraction_of_surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_radiative_flux_absorbed_by_vegetation (canonical units: 1)
sea_surface_wave_stokes_drift_x_velocity (canonical units: m s-1)
sea_surface_wave_stokes_drift_y_velocity (canonical units: m s-1)
fog_area_fraction (canonical units: 1)
clear_sky_area_fraction (canonical units: 1)
area_fraction_of_day_defined_by_solar_zenith_angle (canonical units: 1)
area_fraction_of_night_defined_by_solar_zenith_angle (canonical units: 1)
area_fraction_of_twilight_defined_by_solar_zenith_angle (canonical units: 1)
geopotential_height_at_cloud_top (canonical units: m)
sunglint_angle (canonical units: rad)
brightness_temperature_at_cloud_top (canonical units: K)
automated_tropical_cyclone_forecasting_system_storm_identifier (canonical units: 1)
dvorak_tropical_cyclone_current_intensity_number (canonical units: 1)
dvorak_tropical_number (canonical units: 1)
tropical_cyclone_eye_brightness_temperature (canonical units: K)
tropical_cyclone_maximum_sustained_wind_speed (canonical units: m s-1)
radius_of_tropical_cyclone_maximum_sustained_wind_speed (canonical units: m)
radius_of_tropical_cyclone_eye (canonical units: m)
radius_of_tropical_cyclone_central_dense_overcast_region (canonical units: m)
scene_type_of_dvorak_tropical_cyclone_cloud_region (canonical units: 1)
scene_type_of_dvorak_tropical_cyclone_eye_region (canonical units: 1)
distance_from_tropical_cyclone_center_to_leading_edge_of_displaced_convection (canonical units: m)
lightning_radiant_energy (canonical units: J)
fire_area (canonical units: m2)
fire_temperature (canonical units: K)
fire_radiative_power (canonical units: W)
cloud_binary_mask (Canonical units: 1)
status_flag (Canonical units: 1)
number_of_observations (Canonical units: 1)
2. Modification to definitions of existing names
atmosphere_optical_thickness_due_to_cloud (Canonical units: 1)
One sentence will be added to the definition of this quantity, as follows:
' "Cloud" means the component of extinction owing to the presence of liquid or ice water particles'
thermodynamic_phase_of_cloud_water_particles_at_cloud_top (Canonical units: 1)
The list of acceptable standardised strings has been expanded:
"cloud_top" refers to the top of the highest cloud. "Water" means water in all phases. A variable with the standard name of thermodynamic_phase_of_cloud_water_particles_at_cloud_top contains integers which can be translated to strings using flag_values and flag_meanings attributes. Alternatively, the data variable may contain strings which indicate the thermodynamic phase. These strings are standardised. Values must be chosen from the following list: liquid; ice; mixed; clear_sky; super_cooled_liquid_water; unknown.
runoff_flux (Canonical units: kg m-2 s-1)
Ethan Davis reported an error that has lain undiscovered in the standard name table since 2009! The definition of runoff_flux had accidentally been overwritten by that of an entirely different name, sea_surface_height_above_geoid. This was caused by human error (mine!) back in the days when I had to do a lot of hand editing of the table. The correct definition will be restored in V29.
Photosynthetic names:
17 existing photosynthetic radiation names were updated to correct the wavelength range of photosynthetic radiation from 300 - 700 nm to 400 - 700 nm.
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_sea_water mol (Canonical units: m-2 s-1)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_radiative_flux_in_air (Canonical units: W m-2)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_radiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2 sr-1)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_spherical_irradiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: mol m-2 s-1)
downwelling_photosynthetic_spherical_irradiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_radiance_in_sea_water mol (Canonical units: m-2 s-1 sr-1)
downwelling_photosynthetic_radiative_flux_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2)
omnidirectional_photosynthetic_spherical_irradiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_air mol (Canonical units: m-2 s-1)
downwelling_photosynthetic_radiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2 sr-1)
surface_diffuse_downwelling_photosynthetic_radiative_flux_in_air (Canonical units: W m-2)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_radiative_flux_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2)
surface_upwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_air (Canonical units: mol m-2 s-1)
surface_downwelling_photosynthetic_spherical_irradiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: W m-2)
downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_flux_in_sea_water mol (Canonical units: m-2 s-1)
downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_radiance_in_sea_water mol (Canonical units: m-2 s-1 sr-1)
downwelling_photosynthetic_photon_spherical_irradiance_in_sea_water (Canonical units: mol m-2 s-1)
3. Modification to units of existing names
Change to units of two names and clarify interpretation of practical salinity in the definitions.
The definitions of both names are being amended to underline the fact that the practical salinity scale should not be interpreted as either parts per thousand, or salt concentration in sea water in g kg-1.
sea_water_practical_salinity (Canonical units change from 1e-3 to 1)
change_over_time_in_sea_water_practical_salinity (Canonical units change from 1e-3 to 1)
area_type (Canonical units change from 1 to no units)
region (Canonical units change from 1 to no units)
4. New aliases for existing standard names
No new aliases are included in this update.
5. New area types
The following new area types have been added:
snow_free_land; fire; smoke; dust_aerosol; volcanic_ash_cloud; rain.
------
Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
Centre for Environmental Data Analysis Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R25, 2.22
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
Received on Wed Jul 08 2015 - 11:22:55 BST
