BEGIN RANT

This is the kind of stuff that I don't like: putting additional (and
unnecessary) semantics into the unit specification. "ppm" is bad enough
(1e-6 would be better) but *volume*!

The attributes of a physical quantity are attributes of the quantity itself
-- *not* its unit. If a physical quantity is atmospheric mixing ratio by
volume, then name it as such and leave the unit alone. The alternative is
to pollute the unit namespace with "volume", "mass", "carbon", and whatever
else people think up -- leading to a unending additions to the units
database.

Call the quantity "atmospheric water vapor mixing ratio by volume" and
specify the unit as "1e-6" (or "ppm" if you must).

Lest you think I'm alone in this, see sections 7.4 and 7.5 of <
https://www.nist.gov/pml/nist-guide-si-chapter-7-rules-and-style-conventions-expressing-values-quantities
>.

END RANT

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. :-)

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Allen Jordan - NOAA Affiliate <
[email protected]> wrote:

> I would like to add two standard names for the NOAA GMD OZWV group's
> weather balloon data:
>
> name: water_vapor_mixing_ratio
> description: The atmospheric water vapor mixing ratio in parts per million
> by volume.
> units: ppmv
>
> name: ozone_mixing_ratio
> description: The atmospheric ozone mixing ratio in parts per billion by
> volume.
> units: ppbv
>
>
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