Hi John,

Defining 'production' as 'production per unit volume' or maybe 'mass created 
per unit volume per unit time' would seem consistent to me. I'll leave to 
Jonathan to pick it up if I've got it wrong.

I've never seen a terrestrial production profile and understand that 
terrestrial measurement protocols tend to give direct measurements per unit 
area, whereas in the oceans we measure per unit volume to generate profiles 
that are then integrated to give values per unit area.  Hence my comment, but 
as you're happy to be marine-specific then no problem.

I don't agree with Philip - if you look at all existing productivity codes 
(mostly mole productivities) then you seem to be following a well-established 
trend..

I also failed to understand Jonathan's comment concerning an alias - spot 
measurements and depth-integrated measurements are very different quantities.

Cheers, Roy.

________________________________________
From: CF-metadata [[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Graybeal 
[[email protected]]
Sent: 05 June 2013 19:38
To: CF Metadata List
Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] new standard name for primary productivity of        
carbon  per unit volume

Roy, I'm happy to use production instead of productivity, if that's the rule. 
Should the definition say '"Production" means production per unit volume."?

Jonathan and Roy, adding a reference to sea_water is fine. I could imagine the 
same metric in a terrestrial experiment, but this item is marine, so if that's 
the preference I'll go with it.  The "mass_concentration" and 
"moles_per_unit_mass" terms use the expression 'in_sea_water', which seems the 
right phrase fit to me.

Philip, adding expressed_as_carbon is present in some patterns, but was not 
present in the names of the two examples I was working from 
(net/gross_primary_productivity_of_carbon). To this lay person, it indicates 
the carbon is being ussed as a proxy, at least in part. ("The productivity was 
actually of 4 substances, but we are measuring the carbon expression only.") 
Since in this case, the data seemed to be representing actual carbon 
productivity, and the provider initially chose 
net_primary_productivity_of_carbon as the appropriate term, I want with that.  
Of course, I Am Not An Expert, may not understand the nuances, and can not 
explain why the existing explanation includes this phrasing.

Jonathan, I think it is not an alias (as I understand aliases) of the terms 
that are per unit area, because the units are different. Do I understand 
aliases correctly?

So I think we have the replacement name of
  net_primary_production_of_carbon_per_unit_volume_in_sea_water
pending further thoughts and responses.

John



> From: Jonathan Gregory <[email protected]>
> Subject: [CF-metadata] new standard name for primary productivity of carbon 
> per unit volume
> Date: June 5, 2013 7:53:25 AM PDT
> To: <[email protected]>
>
> Dear John
>
> I should think it would be helpful to add per unit volume of *what*? to make
> this clearer.
>
> The existing name could be made an alias of one _per_unit_area if that is
> generally thought to be a good idea.
>
> Besy wishes
>
> Jonathan


> From: "Cameron-smith, Philip" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] new standard name for primary productivity of 
> carbon       per unit volume
> Date: June 5, 2013 8:11:53 AM PDT
> To: "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>, 
> "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>
>
> Hi John,
>
> Would it be appropriate to add _expressed_as_carbon, as indicated in the 
> description (which follows an existing CF pattern)?
>
> Best wishes,
>
>   Philip


On Jun 5, 2013, at 07:54, "Lowry, Roy K." <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> I think if you look at the various molar primary productivity standard names 
> you'll see that the decision has been made in the past to define 
> 'productivity' as 'production per unit area'.  It might be less confusing if 
> you used
>
> net_primary_production_of_carbon_per_unit_volume
>
> It might also be helpful to constrain this new standard name to the marine 
> environment as production per unit volume doesn't fit the terrestrial domain 
> as well as production per unit area - say something like:
>
> net_primary_production_of_carbon_per_unit_volume_of_sea_water
>
> Cheers, Roy.
>
> Please note that I now work part-time from Tuesday to Thursday.  E-mail 
> response on other days is possible but not guaranteed!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: CF-metadata [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John 
> Graybeal
> Sent: 05 June 2013 03:07
> To: CF Metadata List
> Subject: [CF-metadata] new standard name for primary productivity of carbon 
> per unit volume
>
> I would like to request a CF standard name.
>
> Name: net_primary_productivity_of_carbon_per_unit_volume
> Units: kg m-3 s-1
> Definition: Net primary productivity is the excess of 
> gross_primary_producivity (rate of synthesis of biomass per unit volume from 
> inorganic precursors by autotrophs, or "producers", especially by 
> photosynthesising plants using sunlight for energy) over the rate at which 
> they themselves respire some of this biomass (plant_respiration, assuming all 
> producers to be plants). "Productivity of carbon" refers to the production of 
> biomass expressed as the mass of carbon which it contains.
>
> There is an existing net_primary_productivity_of_carbon, expressed per unit 
> area. As we are making a data set available which is integrated over a 
> vertical extent, producing values with units to match (i.e., kg m-3 s-1), a 
> new standard name is needed.
>
> Note: It appears the definition of net primary productivity may assume the 
> value will be measured as per unit area. This probably needs to be corrected.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
> John Graybeal
> Senior Data Manager, Metadata and Semantics
>
> T +1 (408) 675-5545
> F +1 (408) 616-1626
> skype: graybealski
>
> Marinexplore
> 920 Stewart Drive
> Sunnyvale, CA
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is subject 
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------------------------------------
John Graybeal
Senior Data Manager, Metadata and Semantics

T +1 (408) 675-5545
F +1 (408) 616-1626
skype: graybealski

Marinexplore
920 Stewart Drive
Sunnyvale, CA



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