This is a historical artifact: sailors and weathervanes identify winds by where they blow from, so the west wind blows eastward. Not much to be done about it! We will have to live with from_/to_.
Jonathan Gregory writes:
> Dear all
>
> St?phane says
>
>> I think it is better if the construction of this new standard name
>> is similar with the construction of other ones.
>
> I agree with that. In general "direction" means "to" direction, as in
> direction_of_sea_water_velocity
> However in cases, like wind, where there is the possibility of misunder-
> standing, I think "from_direction", while a bit peculiar in English, is
> OK for the purpose.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Jonathan
>
>> Of course we can discuss if we want to change all the existing
>> from/to_direction standard_names, but it may take a lot more time to
>> reach an agreement (On my side, I don't really have an opinion on
>> the subject. from/to_direction may not be the best construction, but
>> I think it is clear about what it represents)
>>
>> I hope that, for the moment, this discussion won't prevent the
>> creation of this new standard_name !
>>
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>> St?phane Tarot
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Le 21/06/2017 ? 17:57, Karl Taylor a ?crit :
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I don't like "from_direction" as a construct (I know it's already
>>> accepted for "wind_from_direction" and it is clearly explained in
>>> the notes but wouldn't
>>>
>>> "direction_of_wind_vector_tail" or
>>> "wind_vector_tail_direction or
>>> "tail_direction_of_wind_vector"
>>>
>>> be more obvious?
>>>
>>> (for the "to" direction you could use "head" or "arrow")
>>>
>>> for gust, my vote would be
>>>
>>> "direction_of_wind_gust_vector_tail"
>>>
>>> (Of course, I would also prefer "speed_of_wind_gust" to
>>> "wind_gust_speed" , and others probably don't).
>>>
>>> best,
>>> Karl
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/21/17 3:10 AM, Stephane TAROT wrote:
>>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to request the creation of a standard name for the
>>>> direction of wind gust (which is linked to the existing
>>>> wind_speed_of_gust). I suggest
>>>>
>>>> wind_from_direction_of_gust (degree)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> For the definition, a mix of the defintions of
>>>> wind_from_direction and wind_speed_of_gust can be used, such as
>>>> :
>>>>
>>>> "Wind is defined as a two-dimensional (horizontal) air velocity
>>>> vector, with no vertical component. (Vertical motion in the
>>>> atmosphere has the standard name upward_air_velocity.) In
>>>> meteorological reports, the direction of the wind vector is
>>>> usually (but not always) given as the direction from which it is
>>>> blowing (wind_from_direction) (westerly, northerly, etc.). A
>>>> gust is a sudden brief period of high wind speed. In an observed
>>>> timeseries of wind speed, the gust wind speed can be indicated
>>>> by a cell_methods of maximum for the time-interval."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best regards
>>>>
>>>> St?phane Tarot
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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--
V. Balaji Office: +1-609-452-6516
Head, Modeling Systems Group, GFDL Mobile: +1-917-273-9824
Princeton University Email: v.balaji at noaa.gov
Received on Thu Jun 22 2017 - 15:14:56 BST
