Dear CF board:
I would like to propose the following standard name:
atmosphere_stability_showalter_index
with the associated definition:
The atmosphere_stability_showalter_index is an index used to determine
convective and thunderstorm potential and is often referred to as simply
the showalter index. The index is defined as the temperature difference
between a parcel of air lifted from 850 to 500 hPa (wet adiabatically)
and the ambient air temperature at 500 hPa.
and the canonical units of:
K
Motivation: This product will be one of the standard GOES-R output
products. This product is functionally very similar to another product
that I recently proposed, the temperature_difference_between_ambient_air
_and_air_lifted_adiabatically_from_the_surface (aka lifted index);
however, it is unique in that the starting and ending points for the
lifting of the parcel are specifically fixed to 850 and 500 hPa,
respectively, and, as such, is a commonly used stability index in
meteorology. For the lifted index product, the lifting of an air parcel
can occur between two arbitrary pressure levels. For this reason, I
believe that the showalter index merits its own unique name. It also
eliminates any potential confusion of having one standard name for both
the lifted and showalter indices. Due to its specific nature, its
definition is written similarly to the
atmosphere_stability_total_totals_index, which also uses fixed pressure
levels.
Sincerely,
Jonathan
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