Hi all,
I think in common usage "mass fraction" is the ratio of the mass of a
particular species to the total mass of all species combined (e.g., the
mass fraction of oxygen molecules in air). For the variable considered
here, the fraction refers to the ratio of the mass of as particular
"species" (e.g., rain) that falls on a particular surface (e.g.,
surface snow). This is enough different from the standard usage that I
think it would be wise to avoid "mass fraction" in the standard name;
thus, the suggestion:
fraction_of_rainfall_mass_falling_onto_surface_snow
Using "mass_fraction" here might lead some to wrongly jump to an
interpretation that this had something to do with the fraction of
precipitation that was falling as rain.
best regards,
Karl
On 6/5/18 7:55 AM, Steven Emmerson wrote:
Greetings,
On Tue, Jun 5, 2018 at 3:31 AM, Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
We don't want the mass per unit area on snow divided by the mass
per unit area on the whole grid cell, but rather, as Jonathan has
spelled out, the mass on snow divided by the mass on the whole
grid cell. Hence, I support Karl's suggestion of using "mass" in
the name, rather than "amount".
I believe that's called a "mass fraction". See Table 12 of
<https://www.nist.gov/pml/nist-guide-si-chapter-8-comments-some-quantities-and-their-units>.
Regards,
Steve Emmerson
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