Hi Martin, Regarding item 7, I'm guessing you're right that the attenuation is wavelength specific and the downwelling shortwave has a different spectrum that the upwelling. So I wouldn't remove "downwelling" without some guidance from experts.
best regards, Karl On 4/24/19 5:41 AM, Martin Juckes - UKRI STFC wrote: > Hello All, > > > The standard name table has a high degree of internal consistency across > thousands of variables, but there are a few anomalies. I'd like to suggest a > few changes below. These are minor issues, > > > 1. Change "aerosol" to "aerosol_particles". > > The overwhelming majority of aerosol terms refer to "aerosol_particles". > There are two anomalies: > > > * > tendency_of_atmosphere_mass_content_of_sulfate_dry_aerosol_expressed_as_sulfur_due_to_wet_deposition > * mercury_dry_aerosol > > Should these be changed to "aerosol_particles"? > > 2. Primary production vs. primary productivity > > There are 6 terms for > net_primary_productivity_of_biomass_expressed_as_carbon..., and one for > net_primary_production_of_biomass_expressed_as_carbon_per_unit_volume_in_sea_water. > In addition, there are 6 terms using primary_production in the construction > "due_to_net_primary_production". > > Production and productivity are often used interchangeably, but some people > draw a distinction. E.g. using "productivity" for a rate and "production" for > an amount. The usage in the standard names could be interpreted as using > "primary_production" in oceanic contexts and "primary_productivity" in land > contexts, but net_primary_productivity_of_biomass_expressed_as_carbon is not > explicitly defined as applying only to land. Should it be? > > Can we either change these terms to consistently use "productivity" (or > "production"), or, if that is not appropriate, provide some explanation of > the use of two different terms for the same quantity? > > 3. aerodynamic_resistance > > The definition of this term implies that it refers to the aerodynamic > resistance of the boundary layer, rather than the more general concept of > aerodynamic resistance as defined, for example, by AMS: > http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Aerodynamic_resistance . > > If the narrower term is intended, perhaps the name should be changed to > aerodynamic_resistance_of_planetary_boundary_layer, so that it is clear that > this is a boundary layer property. > > 4. Litter and Soil > > To mean the combination of litter and soil, we have one use of > "soil_and_litter", one of "litter_and_soil". There are multiple uses of > "vegetation_litter_and_soil", so we can take this as the preferred order. > > Can we change > carbon_mass_flux_into_soil_and_litter_due_to_anthropogenic_land_use_or_land_cover_change > to > carbon_mass_flux_into_litter_and_soil_due_to_anthropogenic_land_use_or_land_cover_change > for consistency? > > > 5. Products > > > There are 7 terms which use the old name "omega", which is now aliassed to > "lagrangian_tendency_of_air_pressure". Two of these are redundant, because > they are of the form "product_of_B_and_A" for terms already covered by > "product_of_A_and_B". > > 1. product_of_specific_humidity_and_omega > 2. product_of_omega_and_specific_humidity [redundant] > 3. product_of_eastward_wind_and_omega > 4. product_of_northward_wind_and_omega > 5. product_of_air_temperature_and_omega > 6. product_of_omega_and_air_temperature [redundant] > 7. product_of_geopotential_height_and_omega > > > Can we remove the two redundant terms, and replace "omega" with > "lagrangian_tendency_of_air_pressure"? > > > 6. Use of "net_downward" in aerosol indirect radiative effect terms > > > There are 5 aerosol direct radiative effect terms. These are analogous to > cloud radiative effect terms (3) and radiative forcing terms (12). For all > the radiative forcing terms and the cloud radiative effect terms, the sign > convention is assumed to be that positive forcing/radiative effect is > equivalent to a downward radiative flux. This is also true for the TOA > direct radiative effect term. For 4 terms describing the aerosol direct > radiative effect at the surface, there is an additional inclusion of > "net_downward" in the term. This looks redundant to me, and I think it should > be removed for consistency with other radiative effect and forcing terms. > > > * > surface_net_downward_longwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect > > * > surface_net_downward_longwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect_assuming_clear_sky > > * > surface_net_downward_shortwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect > > * > surface_net_downward_shortwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect_assuming_clear_sky > > > 7. Use of "downwelling" in attenuation coefficients > > Attenuation of radiation is a measure of the reduction of strength of a > radiation wave passing through a medium. It does not depend on the direction > of travel of the radiation. One term includes redundant directional > information: > > * volume_attenuation_coefficient_of_downwelling_radiative_flux_in_sea_water > > This term is intended have some relevance to downwelling fluxes in sea water. > Possibly it is intended to be evaluated at frequencies representative of the > downwelling radiative flux. > > Can we remove "downwelling" from this term and/or clarify any assumptions > about spectral range? > > > 8. Specification of air vs. ocean > > Scattering terms all specify whether they are in air or sea water, except > one: backscattering_ratio. The definition makes it clear that this term is > intended to refer to atmospheric backscattering. For consistency with other > terms, it should be: > > > * backscattering_ratio_in_air > > > 9. cloud liquid water particle vs. particles and aerosol particle vs. > particles. > > There are 2 terms referring to "cloud_liquid_water_particles" and 8 using the > singular "cloud_liquid_water_particle". For aerosols, we have 236 referring > to aerosol_particles and 2 referring to aerosol_particle. > > One possible distinction is between adjectival use, as in > "ambient_aerosol_particle_diameter", versus the more common substantive use, > as in "asymmetry_factor_of_ambient_aerosol_particles". If this approach is > adopted, there are 5 aerosol particle direct radiative effect terms which > should be changed to the singular adjectival form: > > > * > surface_net_downward_longwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect > * > surface_net_downward_longwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect_assuming_clear_sky > * > surface_net_downward_shortwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect > * > surface_net_downward_shortwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect_assuming_clear_sky > * > toa_longwave_dust_ambient_aerosol_particles_direct_radiative_effect_assuming_clear_sky > > The same argument would imply that all cloud liquid water particle terms > should use the plural. There are two number concentration terms which already > use the plural: > > number_concentration_of_cloud_liquid_water_particles_in_air > number_concentration_of_cloud_liquid_water_particles_in_air_at_liquid_water_cloud_top > > 8 terms would need to be modified, 2 for number concentration and 6 for > effective radius: > > > * effective_radius_of_cloud_liquid_water_particle > * > effective_radius_of_cloud_liquid_water_particle_at_liquid_water_cloud_top > * effective_radius_of_convective_cloud_liquid_water_particle > * > effective_radius_of_convective_cloud_liquid_water_particle_at_convective_liquid_water_cloud_top > * effective_radius_of_stratiform_cloud_liquid_water_particle > * > effective_radius_of_stratiform_cloud_liquid_water_particle_at_stratiform_liquid_water_cloud_top > * > number_concentration_of_convective_cloud_liquid_water_particle_at_convective_liquid_water_cloud_top > * > number_concentration_of_stratiform_cloud_liquid_water_particle_at_stratiform_liquid_water_cloud_top > > regards, > Martin > > _______________________________________________ > CF-metadata mailing list > CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu > http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
