Dear Martin, All,
Thank you for this proposal and the discussion of a standard name to describe all types of solid precipitation. I have reviewed the thread and it seems agreement has been reached on
solid_precipitation_flux (kg m-2 s-1)
'In accordance with common usage in geophysical disciplines, "flux" implies per unit area, called "flux density" in physics. Solid precipitation refers to the precipitation of water in the solid phase. Water in the atmosphere exists in one of three phases: solid, liquid or vapor. The solid phase can exist as snow, hail, graupel, cloud ice, or as a component of aerosol.'
'Solid' has been chosen rather than 'frozen' so as to include precipitation that may have been formed by processes other than temperature reduction. However, I think we are agreed to continue using the term 'frozen' in soil moisture names.
Martin, if you are happy with the name as shown above then I think this one can now be accepted.
Best wishes,
Alison
------
Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065
NCAS/Centre for Environmental Data Archival Email: alison.pamment at stfc.ac.uk
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
R25, 2.22
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
-----Original Message-----
From: CF-metadata [mailto:cf-metadata-bounces at cgd.ucar.edu] On Behalf Of Karl Taylor
Sent: 13 April 2018 16:08
To: cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid phase water
Hi all,
Just to summarize some of what has been said before ....
I think it is pretty clear that the solid phase can take several forms, as Martin points out. I think the more subtle issue is that frozen water is not quite the same as solid water, if we take the strict definition of freezing as being water that has passed from the liquid state to the solid state. Some solid water forms by passing directly from the gaseous state to the solid state (which sometimes is called "vapor deposition", not "freezing"). This process is actually important in forming particles large enough to precipitate (which often melt before arriving at the surface). See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wegener%E2%80%93Bergeron%E2%80%93Findeisen_process
.
best,
Karl
On 4/13/18 3:22 AM, Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC wrote:
> Dear John,
>
>
> I think the primary defining characteristic is the 3-way partitioning of water into liquid, vapor and solid phases. The existing CF standard names referring to liquid and vapor phases (e.g. cloud_liquid_water_mixing_ratio, rainfall_flux, atmosphere_moles_of_water_vapor, humidity_mixing_ratio) do not provide any explanation of the precise definition of these terms -- it is assumed that people know what is meant. This is OK if we are not looking at the edge cases (e.g. the aggregations of water molecules which occur in vapor at high humidity or the details of stratospheric aerosols) -- I'm not an expert here either, so I hope we can omit that level of detail here. Existing names make reference to snow, hail, graupel, cloud ice and water content of aerosols -- I'm not sure it this is 100% complete, but perhaps it is enough to list these. Will the following meet your concern:
>
> "Solid precipitation refers to the precipitation of water in the solid phase. Water in the atmosphere exists in one of three phases: solid, liquid or vapor. The solid phase can exist as snow, hail, graupel, cloud ice, or as a component of aerosol."
>
>
> regards,
>
> Martin
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: John Graybeal <jbgraybeal at mindspring.com>
> Sent: 13 April 2018 06:32
> To: CF Metadata List
> Cc: Jonathan Gregory; Juckes, Martin (STFC,RAL,RALSP)
> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid
> phase water
>
> I agree with Martin, use solid for atmosphere and frozen for soil. It doesn't jump out at me that solid water is (umm, almost?) always frozen, even though it's obvious that frozen water is always solid.
>
> I think it would be useful if the definition listed the forms (and pathways) that solid water can take, so that those of us less atmospherically advanced will be able to appreciate what it's meant to include.
>
> john
>
> ---------------------------------------
> John Graybeal
> jbgraybeal at mindspring.com
>
>
>> On Apr 6, 2018, at 23:49, Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Jonathan,
>>
>>
>> my vote would be to leave soil water terms unchanged and allow the
>> use of "solid" in the atmosphere. There is sufficient difference
>> between the behaviour of water in soil and in the atmosphere to
>> justify, in my mind, this slight divergence in usage. After all,
>> solid water from the atmosphere can only become frozen soil water, I
>> believe, by melting, sinking into the soil and then re-freezing,
>>
>>
>> regards,
>>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: CF-metadata <cf-metadata-bounces at cgd.ucar.edu> on behalf of
>> Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk>
>> Sent: 06 April 2018 16:38
>> To: cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
>> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid
>> phase water
>>
>> Dear Martin
>>
>> I agree with you that frozen_precipitation_flux seems a bit more
>> surprising in some way than solid_precipitation_flux. If we put
>> "solid" instead of "frozen", should we change (by alias) the existing
>> names that have "frozen", which are
>>
>> frozen_water_content_of_soil_layer
>> lwe_thickness_of_frozen_water_content_of_soil_layer
>> mass_fraction_of_frozen_water_in_soil_moisture
>> mass_fraction_of_unfrozen_water_in_soil_moisture
>> soil_frozen_water_content
>> surface_frozen_carbon_dioxide_amount
>> volume_fraction_of_frozen_water_in_soil
>>
>> I'm sure there must be others with useful comments to make about this.
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>
>> ----- Forwarded message from Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC
>> <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk> -----
>>
>>> Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2018 15:06:15 +0000
>>> From: Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk>
>>> To: Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk>
>>> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid phase
>>> water
>>>
>>> Dear Jonathan,
>>>
>>>
>>> It may be that the situation of interest in soil is a change brought about by decreasing temperature, and that the nature of the resulting substance is somewhat complex because of the matrix of soil that is carrying it. In the atmosphere I feel that applying the term "frozen" is a bit of a stretch, though I agree that it would be possible to state that as our intended meaning within the CF convention. On the other hand, we already use "liquid" (as in cloud_liquid_water) and "vapor" for the other two phases, so there is an argument for sticking to the standard partition solid/liquid/vapor.
>>>
>>>
>>> Taking your other comments into account, the term would be either "frozen_precipitation_flux" or "solid_precipitation_flux". "frozen_precipitation" looks misleading to me, but perhaps that is a matter of taste.
>>>
>>>
>>> As you say, it would be good to hear other opinions (I'll be on
>>> leave for the next few days, and will pick up the discussion at the
>>> end of next week),
>>>
>>>
>>> regards,
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: CF-metadata <cf-metadata-bounces at cgd.ucar.edu> on behalf of
>>> Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk>
>>> Sent: 06 April 2018 14:38
>>> To: cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
>>> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of
>>> solid phase water
>>>
>>> Dear Martin
>>>
>>> That's a good point about snow and ice. I think we should use
>>> modified help- text to make clear that "frozen water" means any form
>>> of solid water. I can't recall the reason for "frozen" rather than
>>> "solid" - I guess because it felt more obvious, if less systematic.
>>> I think I'm happy to understand "frozen water" as "water in the
>>> solid phase", however it got into that state. I wonder if others feel differently.
>>>
>>> Best wishes
>>>
>>> Jonathan
>>>
>>> ----- Forwarded message from Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC
>>> <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk> -----
>>>
>>>> Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2018 17:29:08 +0000
>>>> From: Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk>
>>>> To: "cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu" <cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu>,
>>>> "j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk" <j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk>
>>>> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid phase
>>>> water
>>>>
>>>> Dear Jonathan,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I hadn't spotted the existing usage of frozen_water. My only reservation is that for such names the help text says '"frozen_water" means ice', which would exclude snow. The existing usages of "frozen_water" are all soil quantities for which the subtlety of the distinction between ice and snow is irrelevant. We could modify the help text for atmospheric variables, but is the term "frozen" appropriate for all solid phase water in the atmosphere? Freezing is a process of transforming to solid phase through a reduction in temperature, which might be considered inappropriate for some atmospheric ice and snow formation pathways ... I'm not sure about this, what do you think?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> regards,
>>>>
>>>> Martin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: CF-metadata <cf-metadata-bounces at cgd.ucar.edu> on behalf of
>>>> Jonathan Gregory <j.m.gregory at reading.ac.uk>
>>>> Sent: 05 April 2018 18:18
>>>> To: cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
>>>> Subject: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid
>>>> phase water
>>>>
>>>> Dear Martin
>>>>
>>>> I agree with the need, but I note that the guidelines propose the
>>>> phrase frozen_water for solid water, and this is already used in
>>>> several standard names.
>>>>
>>>> Although "precipitation" is used in the world at large for species
>>>> other than water, so far in CF standard names it's used only for
>>>> water. Hence we can omit "water" for consistency.
>>>>
>>>> In view of these two points, would frozen_precipitation_flux be OK?
>>>>
>>>> Best wishes
>>>>
>>>> Jonathan
>>>>
>>>> ----- Forwarded message from Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC
>>>> <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk> -----
>>>>
>>>>> Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2018 11:46:50 +0000
>>>>> From: Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC <martin.juckes at stfc.ac.uk>
>>>>> To: "cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu" <cf-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu>
>>>>> Subject: [CF-metadata] CMIP6 data request: Precipitation of solid
>>>>> phase water
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear All,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The CMIP6 data request includes a request for a variable representing the precipitation flux of water in a solid phase (including snow and ice). This variable was also in CMIP5. The current CMIP6 data request follows CMIP5 usage in adopting the standard name "snowfall_flux" for this variable, which is not really correct. There may have been a time when all solid precipitation in CMIP models was snow, but I think we need a more precise name now.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> We have "rainfall_flux" for precipitation of liquid phase water, but in other terms the construction "liquid_water" is used to refer to the liquid phase, e.g. "mass_concentration_of_liquid_water_in_air", so "solid_water" is a natural extension.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I propose a new standard name for solid phase precipitation:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> precipitation_flux_of_solid_water [kg m-2 s-1]
>>>>>
>>>>> In accordance with common usage in geophysical disciplines, "flux" implies per unit area, called "flux density" in physics. "solid_water" refers to all forms of the solid phase of water.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Martin
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> CF-metadata mailing list
>>>>> CF-metadata at cgd.ucar.edu
>>>>> http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
>>>> ----- End forwarded message -----
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Received on Tue Apr 24 2018 - 11:37:24 BST
