Dear Andreas, All,

In December Andreas Hilboll proposed eight new standard names for tropospheric 
trace gases along with their units and definitions. The proposals generated 
comments from a number of contributors. Generally, I think there was support 
for the names and definitions as proposed. There was, however, some discussion 
about units.  Andreas originally proposed "molecules cm-2" but Sander pointed 
out that it would be inconsistent to use "mole" in the name and "molecule" in 
the unit.  Philip and Roy both strongly supported using "mole m-2" which is the 
unit of 23 existing mole_content/tendency_of_mole_content names. I also support 
using mol m-2.

I have listed below the names, units and definitions according to the latest 
consensus view on the mailing list (as of 22 December). Andreas, please can you 
indicate whether you are happy with units of mol m-2? If so, then I think the 
names can be accepted in their present form and included in the next update of 
the standard name table.

If mol m-2 is not acceptable, then we would probably need to change the names 
to be something like "[strato|tropo]sphere_molecular_content_of_X" but that 
would also require asking for molecules to be added as a unit to UDUNITS or at 
least adding them to a CF extension of UDUNITS.

The current consensus view on the proposals is as follows:

stratosphere_mole_content_of_nitrogen_dioxide (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "stratosphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the tropopause to the 
stratopause. For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, 
standard names including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for nitrogen_dioxide is NO2.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_nitrogen_dioxide (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for nitrogen_dioxide is NO2.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_glyoxal (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for glyoxal is CHOCHO. The IUPAC 
name for glyoxal is ethanedial.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_formaldehyde (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for formaldehyde is CH2O. The 
IUPAC name for formaldehyde is methanal.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_iodine_monoxide (mol m-2)
'  "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for iodine_monoxide is IO.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_bromine_monoxide (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for bromine_monoxide is BrO.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_sulfur_dioxide (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for suflur_dioxide is SO2.'

troposphere_mole_content_of_ozone (mol m-2)
' "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The "troposphere content" of a 
quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the tropopause. 
For the content between specified levels in the atmosphere, standard names 
including content_of_atmosphere_layer are used. The construction 
"atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the vertically integrated number of moles 
of X above a unit area. The chemical formula for ozone is O3. The IUPAC name 
for ozone is trioxygen.'

Best wishes,
Alison

------
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.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: CF-metadata [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
> Of Andreas Hilboll
> Sent: 20 December 2012 15:41
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [CF-metadata] Proposal for standard names: tropospheric trace gas
> column amounts
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> following the suggestion from Philip, I hereby propose the addition of
> the following standard names. All are commonly used quantities used in
> satellite remote sensing of atmospheric trace gases, and all are
> commonly used in units of "molecules / cm^2":
> 
> - stratosphere_mole_content_of_nitrogen_dioxide
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_nitrogen_dioxide
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_glyoxal
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_formaldehyde
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_iodine_monoxide
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_bromine_monoxide
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_sulfur_dioxide
> - troposphere_mole_content_of_ozone
> 
> The respective definitions could be something along the lines of
> (borrowing from Christophe's ozone proposal):
> 
> "Content" indicates a quantity per unit area. The
> "troposphere/stratosphere content"
> of a quantity refers to the vertical integral from the surface to the
> tropopause / from the tropopause to the stratopause. For the content
> between specified levels in the
> atmosphere, standard names including content_of_atmosphere_layer are
> used. The construction "atmosphere_mole_content_of_X" means the
> vertically integrated number of moles of X above a unit area. The
> chemical formula for nitrogen_dioxide / glyoxal / formaldehyde /
> iodine_monoxide / bromine_monoxide / suflur_dioxide / ozone is NO2 /
> CHOCHO / HCHO / IO / BrO / SO2 / O3. The IUPAC name for glyoxal /
> formaldehyde / ozone is ethanedial / methanal / trioxygen.
> 
> Cheers,
> Andreas.
> _______________________________________________
> CF-metadata mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
-- 
Scanned by iCritical.
_______________________________________________
CF-metadata mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata

Reply via email to