On Tue, 23 Feb 2010, John Graybeal wrote:
On Feb 23, 2010, at 06:33, Jonathan Gregory wrote:
Contrived, yes, but sea+lake+river is certainly explicit and
self-explanatory,
isn't it? Standard names are contrived to explain what they mean, rather
than
being the terms used most commonly (although some of them are common
terms).
The term "name" is a bit misleading. They are not names, in most cases.
They
are answers to the question, "What does that mean?", when a term is used.
water_surface_height_above_x seems to meet all the criteria. It answers "what
does that mean?" It is explicit and self-explanatory (and even reasonably
short).
Thanks to the 'surface' term, it can not be confused with 'atmospheric
surface water height' (what would that mean?).
The fact that it also applies to underground water is a non-issue,
scientifically speaking, and in my mind is advantageous, because it is
equally meaningful in that context. (Two data sets with this term can be
compared, regardless of whether the water is underground or not -- the x
normalized the reference, as does the location.) I can even construct a
valid use case (for an AUV or hydro model) that is the analog of Roy's, in
the case of underground streams feeding into oceans or rivers.
I could handle sea+lake+river but it doesn't thrill me, because of (a)
special characters which can have unintended consequences for times now and
yet to come, (b) 'sea' is not self-explanatory until you know it really means
ocean (in some local dialects) and excludes inland seas (or maybe not?), and
(c) awkwardness. Not a preference but if all others get ruled out, there we'd
be.
John
Hi John,
Your suggestion does seem to have a lot of merits, and addresses many of
the concerns I've seen raised.
You mention using water_surface for underground streams. Could it also be
used for ground water table? I presume it could, but I'm no expert. I
couldn't find a water table quantity in the standard name table, and I'm
sure it would be useful. If so, then this would be an added benefit.
Yours truly,
Philip
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Philip Cameron-Smith Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division
p...@llnl.gov Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
+1 925 4236634 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA94550, USA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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