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[CF-metadata] New standard names for atmospheric sea salt and for nitrogen deposition

From: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk <alison.pamment>
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 11:42:10 +0000

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for your reply. I think we can go ahead and accept the vast majority of changes discussed in this thread, although proposals 10 and 11 still require a bit more discussion. Please could you also check that you are happy with the amendments to your existing nitrogen names (discussed under proposal 13). The full list of names with their definitions and current status is summarized at: http://cfeditor.ceda.ac.uk/proposals/1?status=active&namefilter=&proposerfilter=Neumann&descfilter=&unitfilter=&yearfilter=&commentfilter=&filter+and+display=Filter.


Daniel wrote:
> I agree with you that 'sea_salt' is more appropriate than 'seasalt'. Feel free to change all proposed sea salt standard names to 'sea_salt'.

Okay, thank you. The sixteen aliases resulting from changing 'seasalt' to 'sea_salt' in existing names are accepted and will be added at the next standard name table update. This also means that your first two proposed new names
1. mass_concentration_of_pm10_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air (kg m-3)
2. mass_concentration_of_pm2p5_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air (kg m-3)
are accepted for publication in the standard name table.

> Writing '*_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations_*' for the sea salt cation standard names is fine.

Good - thank you. This means the following names 3 - 9 are also accepted for publication in the standard name table.
3. mass_concentration_of_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations_in_air (kg m-3)
4. mass_fraction_of_pm10_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations_in_air (1)
5. mass_fraction_of_pm2p5_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations_in_air (1)
6. atmosphere_mass_content_of_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations (kg m-2)
7. mass_fraction_of_sea_salt_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_cations_in_air (1)
8. mass_concentration_of_pm10_sea_salt_cation_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air (kg m-3)
9. mass_concentration_of_pm2p5_sea_salt_cation_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air (kg m-3)

10. mass_concentration_of_chloride_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air:
11. mass_fraction_of_chloride_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air:
I wrote:
>>
>> The names you are suggesting seem to refer to all chloride aerosol in air,
>> regardless of whether it originated as sea salt. Is that the correct interpretation?
Daniel wrote:
>
>Yes, that is the correct interpretation.

Okay, thank you.

Daniel wrote:
> I would suggest to keep '_chloride_dry_aerosol_particles_' instead of changing it to '_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_chloride_'. The formulation
>'_A_expressed_as_B_' seems to appropriate in situations, in which (a) B is a reasonable metric for A and (b) B is an element of which A consists:
> ? - '...sulfate...expressed_as_sulfur...' or
>? - '...organic_matter...expressed_as_carbon...' .
>
> The particulate mass concentrations (and fractions) of nitrate and ammonium are denoted as '_nitrate/ammonium_dry_aerosol_particles_'. Although nitrate and
> ammonium are aerosols that consist of more than one atom, the naming convention for other ions, such as chloride, should be consistent.

The correct choice of syntax depends on what is intended by the name. I would interpret mass_concentration_of_chloride_dry_aerosol_particles_in_air to mean the total mass of the aerosol particles that contain chloride (i.e. the mass of the chloride plus whatever else it is combined with). We do have quite a number of existing names like this, for example, atmosphere_mass_content_of_ammonium_dry_aerosol_particles. The definitions of all such mass content names state 'The mass is the total mass of the particles.' In contrast, I would interpret mass_concentration_of_dry_aerosol_particles_expressed_as_chloride_in_air to mean the mass of only the chloride that is contained within the dry aerosol particles. I had assumed you meant the mass of only the chloride which is why I suggested the second option, but perhaps that is incorrect. Please can you clarify?

You are correct that we do have some existing names for mass concentrations and fractions of nitrate|ammonium_dry_aerosol_particles and thank you for drawing these to my attention. I would interpret these in the way I explained above i.e. referring to the total mass of the particles containing the nitrate or ammonium. The definitions of the existing names don't make that clear which actually makes them rather ambiguous. I think perhaps we should add 'The mass is the total mass of the particles' to those definitions, as for the mass content names, although this is something that probably needs wider consultation on the mailing list before making a decision.

Proposals 10 and 11 are still under discussion.

12. mole_concentration_of_chloride_in_air :

I wrote:
> > I assume the intention of this name is to refer to all chloride compounds
> > in air, whether aerosol or gaseous. Is that correct? Does chloride occur
> > on its own as a radical or ion in the atmosphere? If so, is it also
> > included in this quantity?

Daniel wrote:
> I am not quite sure why I suggested this standard name. Probably, I just wanted to add this standard name for the sake of completeness ... . As you say it is ambiguous
> and I do not see any application of this standard name (anymore). Therefore, please drop this suggestion.

Okay, that's fine. I'll delete this one from the list.

13. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_*_nitrogen_due_to_deposition:

Daniel wrote:
> Regarding the nitrogen deposition I agree with you that the proposed names are ambiguous. The mass of only the nitrogen contained in the various species should be
> described by the standard name. Therefore, please add your first suggestion to standard name list (the same for all subsequent nitrogen deposition standard names):
>
>tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition
>
> > Obviously the precise wording of the definition would depend on which
> > syntax we choose, but in either case I would include the following
> > sentence : ' "Oxidized nitrogen compounds" means all chemical species
> > containing nitrogen atoms with an oxidation state greater than zero'
> > before listing the most common species.
>
> I agree. Please add the sentence.

Okay, thank you. So now we have:
tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names including "content_of_atmosphere_layer" are used. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. "Deposition" is the sum of wet and dry deposition. "Oxidized nitrogen compounds" means all chemical species containing nitrogen atoms with an oxidation state greater than zero. Usually, particle bound and gaseous nitrogen compounds, such as nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrate (NO3-), peroxynitric acid (HNO4), bromine nitrate (BrONO2), chlorine nitrate (ClONO2) and organic nitrates (most notably peroxyacetyl nitrate, sometimes referred to as PAN, (CH3COO2NO2)), are included. The list of individual species
that are included in this quantity can vary between models. Where possible, the data variable should be accompanied by a complete description of the species represented, for example, by using a comment attribute.'

This name is accepted for publication in the standard name table.

I wrote:
> > We recently added three nitrogen_deposition names that you proposed:
> >? tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_due_to_deposition
> >? tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition
> >? tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition
> > in which the definitions say '...'
> > I realise now that these names (and definitions) suffer from the same
> > ambiguity as the current proposal. Neither the names nor the definitions
> > really make clear whether we are talking about the mass of the nitrogen
> > in the compounds or the total mass of the compounds. Whatever the outcome
> > of the current discussion, we should update the three existing names to
> > be consistent.

Daniel wrote:
> I agree. Please update them accordingly.

Okay, so I think these three names should now be as follows:

tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "atmosphere content" of a quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names including "content_of_atmosphere_layer" are used. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. "Deposition" is the sum of wet and dry deposition. "Nitrogen compounds" summarizes all chemical species containing nitrogen atoms. Usually, particle bound and gaseous nitrogen compounds, such as atomic nitrogen (N), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrage (NO3-), peroxynitric acid (HNO4), ammoina (NH3), ammonium (NH4+), bromine nitrate (BrONO2), chlorine nitrate (ClONO2) and organic nitrates (
most notably peroxyacetyl nitrate, sometimes referred to as PAN, (CH3COO2NO2)) are included. The list of individual species that are included in this quantity can vary between models. Where possible, the data variable should be accompanied by a complete description of the species represented, for example, by using a comment attribute. The phrase "expressed_as" is used in the construction A_expressed_as_B, where B is a chemical constituent of A. It means that the quantity indicated by the standard name is calculated solely with respect to the B contained in A, neglecting all other chemical constituents of A.'

tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "atmosphere content" of a quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names including "content_of_atmosphere_layer" are used. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. "dry_deposition" is the sum of turbulent deposition and gravitational settling. "Nitrogen compounds" summarizes all chemical species containing nitrogen atoms. Usually, particle bound and gaseous nitrogen compounds, such as atomic nitrogen (N), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrage (NO3-), peroxynitric acid (HNO4), ammoina (NH3), ammonium (NH4+), bromine nitrate (BrONO2), chlorine nitrate (C
lONO2) and organic nitrates (most notably peroxyacetyl nitrate, sometimes referred to as PAN, (CH3COO2NO2)) are included. The list of individual species that are included in this quantity can vary between models. Where possible, the data variable should be accompanied by a complete description of the species represented, for example, by using a comment attribute. The phrase "expressed_as" is used in the construction A_expressed_as_B, where B is a chemical constituent of A. It means that the quantity indicated by the standard name is calculated solely with respect to the B contained in A, neglecting all other chemical constituents of A.'

tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "atmosphere content" of a quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names including "content_of_atmosphere_layer" are used. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. "wet_deposition" means deposition by precipitation. "Nitrogen compounds" summarizes all chemical species containing nitrogen atoms. Usually, particle bound and gaseous nitrogen compounds, such as atomic nitrogen (N), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), nitric acid (HNO3), nitrage (NO3-), peroxynitric acid (HNO4), ammoina (NH3), ammonium (NH4+), bromine nitrate (BrONO2), chlorine nitrate (ClONO2) and organic nitrates
(most notably peroxyacetyl nitrate, sometimes referred to as PAN, (CH3COO2NO2)) are included. The list of individual species that are included in this quantity can vary between models. Where possible, the data variable should be accompanied by a complete description of the species represented, for example, by using a comment attribute. The phrase "expressed_as" is used in the construction A_expressed_as_B, where B is a chemical constituent of A. It means that the quantity indicated by the standard name is calculated solely with respect to the B contained in A, neglecting all other chemical constituents of A.'

The existing names would then become aliases of the new versions. Are these okay?

The agreement of the new name proposed in (13) means that the following names 14 - 18 are also accepted for publication in the standard name table:
14. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
15. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
16. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
17. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)
18. tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition (kg m-2 s-1)

19. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_*_nitrogen_due_to_deposition:

I wrote:
> > As with the atmosphere mass content names, my question is: does the name
> > mean moles of nitrogen contained in the compounds, or moles of the
> > compounds? (I appreciate that they might be the same number if each
> > molecule of the compound contains one nitrogen atom, but that won't
> > necessarily always be the case. For example, some of the oxidised
> > nitrogen species contain more than one atom of N).

Daniel wrote:
> I didn't consider that situation. Please use your first suggestion for this standard name and the subsequent standard names:
>
> tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition

Okay, thank you. So this name is now:
tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. Deposition of nitrogen into the ocean is the sum of dry and wet deposition of nitrogen species onto the ocean surface from the atmosphere. "Reduced nitrogen compounds" means all chemical species containing nitrogen atoms with an oxidation state less than zero. Usually, particle bound and gaseous nitrogen compounds, primarily ammonium (NH4+) and ammonia (NH3), are included. The list of individual species that are included in this quantity can vary between models. Where possible, the data variable should be accompanied by a complete description of the species represented, for example, by using a comment attribute. The phrase "expressed_as" is used in the construction A_expressed_as_B, where B is a
 chemical constituent of A. It means that the quantity indicated by the standard name is calculated solely with respect to the B contained in A, neglecting all other chemical constituents of A.'

This name is accepted for publication in the standard name table.

The agreement of proposal 19 means that the following names 20 - 24 are also accepted for publication in the standard name table:
20. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)
21. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)
22. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_dry_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)
23. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_reduced_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)
24. tendency_of_ocean_mole_content_of_oxidized_nitrogen_compounds_expressed_as_nitrogen_due_to_wet_deposition (mol m-2 s-1)

All the accepted changes will be published in the standard name table update scheduled for 26th June. If we can finalise the last few names by the 26th they can also be included in the June update.

Best wishes,
Alison

------
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 Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
Received on Thu Jun 22 2017 - 05:42:10 BST

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