Dear Pierre, In preparing the update to the standard name table I have been producing explanations to go with all the new standard names. During this process I have realised that two of the carbon cycle names really didn't match their full meanings. This is because, when proposing the names, I think I had given too much weight to the comments in the CMIP5 output document regarding various sources of fire and I had overlooked other sources of carbon emissions such as grazing and crop harvesting.
(1) We had agreed the name surface_net_downward_flux_of_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_due_to_p hotosynthesis_and_respiration_and_fires_including_land_use_change but I see now that in an earlier email you explained that the quantity should cover all land processes, including grazing, harvesting and natural fires which aren't mentioned in the name. Rather than adding further processes to the already long list I have changed this name to surface_net_downward_mass_flux_of_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_due _to_all_land_processes. (2) In a similar vein I have changed the agreed name surface_net_downward_mass_flux_of_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_due _to_photosynthesis_and_respiration_and_fires_excluding_land_use_change to surface_net_downward_mass_flux_of_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_due _to_all_land_processes_excluding_anthropogenic_land_use_change. (3) The modified names are now more consistent with the agreed name surface_net_upward_mass_flux_of_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_due_t o_emission_from_anthropogenic_land_use_change which I have left unchanged. You explained in your email that the relationship between the three quantities is (1) = (2) - (3). I think that these names are now shorter and clearer and the relationship between them is more obvious. (I have included information about their relationship in the explanatory text of each name, as well as a full list of the processes included in "all land processes"). The names are now more consistent with their meanings because "all land processes" includes grazing, crop harvesting and natural fires. I have assumed that "all land processes" does NOT include surface based fossil fuel emissions - is that correct? As it includes anthropogenic land use change I assume that will include the fate of wood products - is that also correct? For consistency with names (2) and (3) above, I have made sure that all names referring to land use change contain the string "anthropogenic_land_use_change". This means that carbon_content_of_products_of_land_use_change has become carbon_content_of_products_of_anthropogenic_land_use_change and tendency_of_atmosphere_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_content_due_to _emission_from_fires_excluding_land_use_change has become tendency_of_atmosphere_carbon_dioxide_expressed_as_carbon_content_due_to _emission_from_fires_excluding_anthropogenic_land_use_change. I believe that these changes constitute an improvement and I have gone ahead and included the names in the table update. However, if you disagree please let me know and we can revert to the versions of the names agreed earlier. Apologies for the very late notification, but occasionally it is only when I come to write the precise wording of the explanations that I realise the full implications of the names. Best wishes, Alison ------ Alison Pamment Tel: +44 1235 778065 NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre Fax: +44 1235 446314 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Email: [email protected] Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K. -- Scanned by iCritical. _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
