Karl,


I include here responses for two of your three questions. The sea ice flux question awaits input from ice folks here, to see how the new request compares to CMIP3.


Best,
Stephen




Karl Taylor wrote:
Dear Alison and Stephen,

A few comments on the ocean standard names:


2.10 cell_mass_per_area; kg m-2.  Does this mean the mass per unit area
of the sea water contained within each grid cell?  If so, I suggest the
name should be mass_of_sea_water_per_unit_area which would be similar to
the existing name atmosphere_mass_of_air_per_unit_area.

We distinguish currently between atmosphere_mass_per_unit_area and atmosphere_mass_of_air_per_unit_area (which only accounts for the gaseous constituents, not, for example, precipitation). For the oceans I think Stephen wants to save the total mass, i.e., seawater_mass_per_unit_area.


For non-Boussinesq models, I wish to have the mass of seawater in a grid cell, per horizontal area of the cell. This mass includes all dissolved tracers, as well as liquid water, hence the name "seawater mass". I do not have a strong feeling for whether "mass_of_sea_water_per_unit_area" is preferable to "seawater_mass_per_unit_area", as they both seem to refer to the same thing. In my updated report, it reads "mass_of_sea_water_per_unit_area". Please advise if you wish this name to change.


9.12
ocean_kinetic_energy_dissipation_per_unit_area_due_to_vertical_friction;
W m-2. OK.

I don't find this particularly enlightening. What distinguishes "vertical friction" for other friction?


Ocean models generally use lateral friction with a huge viscosity set according to the needs of numerical stability constraints. In contrast, vertical friction uses a much smaller viscosity that is more aligned with physical closures (though far from being derived from first principles). In studying the kinetic energy budget in ocean simulations, it is very useful to know how much energy is dissipated from horizontal friction, and how much is separately dissipated from vertical friction. It is for this reason that we request saving energy dissipation from vertical friction separate from horizontal friction. We ask for both terms. There are endnotes that detail the precise nature of what is requested.

Best,
Stephen



best regards,
Karl


--
Stephen M. Griffies                    phone: +1-609-452-6672
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory  FAX:   +1-609-987-5063
Princeton Forrestal Campus Rte. 1      email: [email protected]
201 Forrestal Road                     http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~smg
Princeton, NJ 08542-0308 USA
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