Dear Olivier,

Thank you for your proposals. I have some comments/questions (please see below).

> tendency_of_global_average_sea_level_change (m/year)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level. "tendency_of_X" means
> derivative of X with respect to time.

This name looks fine and is clearly related to the existing name 
global_average_sea_level_change. The units of m/year are sensible. We have used 
time units of years for one or two other names such as age_of_sea_ice. We 
should add the standard text for 'tendency' to the definition, i.e., ' 
"tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with respect to time.'

> tendency_of_local_average_sea_level_change (m/year)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level. Local means the
> quantity is depicted locally. "tendency_of_X" means derivative of X with 
> respect to time.

This name looks fine. The units are OK. Again we need to add text to the 
definition regarding 'tendency'. By 'local' I assume you mean any area that is 
less than global and this would need to be indicated by adding bounds on the 
horizontal coordinate variables, or perhaps by using a coordinate variable with 
a standard name of 'region' if the area is something like the North Atlantic. 
We should add some explanatory text to the definition. Is this OK?

> global_average_sea_level_change_annual_amplitude (m)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is 
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change 
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average 
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level.

> global_average_sea_level_change_semiannual_amplitude (m)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass 
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is 
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change 
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average 
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level.

I wonder, do we really need "annual" and "semiannual" in the names? Presumably 
the date to which the amplitude applies would need to be specified by a time 
coordinate variable or scalar variable with bounds to indicate the averaging 
period. Couldn't we then have a general name of 
global_average_sea_level_change_amplitude without the need to specify annual or 
semiannual separately?

> global_average_sea_level_change_annual_phase (degree)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass 
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is 
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change 
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average 
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level.

> global_average_sea_level_change_semiannual_phase (degree)
> Global average sea level change is due to change in volume of the water in 
> the ocean, caused by mass 
> and/or density change, or to change in the volume of the ocean basins, caused 
> by tectonics etc. It is 
> sometimes called "eustatic", which is a term that also has other definitions. 
> It differs from the change 
> in the global average sea surface height relative to the centre of the Earth 
> by the global average 
> vertical movement of the ocean floor. Zero sea level change is an arbitrary 
> level.

I'm not sure I understand what the phase quantities are. Do they indicate a 
seasonal cycle in sea level change? What is the datum for measuring the phase 
(i.e., what would a phase of zero degrees mean)? Also, as for the amplitude 
names, I wonder if we need separate 'annual' and 'semiannual' names for the 
phases?

Best wishes,
Alison

> Thanks for your comments!
>
> Best wishes
>
> Olivier.
>
>
>
> Olivier Lauret
> Project Engineer
> Satellite Oceanography Division
> 
> E-mail: [email protected]
> Tel. +33 561 394 851; Fax +33 561 393 782 

------
Alison Pamment                          Tel: +44 1235 778065
NCAS/British Atmospheric Data Centre    Email: [email protected]
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory     
R25, 2.22
Harwell Oxford, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K.
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