Yes I agree.
Karl
On 7/21/17 2:41 AM, Jonathan Gregory wrote:
Dear Martin
The words upwelling and downwelling were chosen specifically with the intention
of indicating the sign convention! Upwelling means positive upwards,
downwelling means positive downwards, in standard names. If that's not clear in
the definitions, we should clarify them.
Best wishes
Jonathan
----- Forwarded message from [email protected] -----
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 08:47:44 +0000
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [CF-metadata] Sign convention of upwelling and downwelling fluxes
Hello All,
there are standard names for a number of upwelling and downwelling fluxes,
defined clearly as the component of radiation which is travelling upwards or
downwards. The sign convention of these fluxes is not specified .. CMIP uses
the convention that downwelling is positive down and upwelling is positive
upwards, but in the atmospheric literature you can find people using the
convention that both are positive upwards. Both approaches make sense, but it
leaves us with some ambiguity in the standard names.
Since 2008 there are a few terms like
minus_one_times_surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air which are defined as having the
opposite sign convention to terms without "minus_one_times_". But
surface_upwelling_longwave_flux_in_air has no explicit sign convention. The inclusion of
the minus_one_times terms implies that at least some people thought that the existing
standard names should have a specific sign convention ... and I hope, if that is the
case, that it can be consistent with CMIP. If so, can we clear up the ambiguity by adding
a line in the description of these standard names to say that the sign convention is
positive upwards/downwards for upwelling/downwelling fluxes?
regards,
Martin
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