Hi Tom, Thanks for your suggestions :-).
This is not really my field, but I have worked a bit with isotopes and fluxes, so wanted to comment on your second question. >From a CF point of view, I think it would be a mistake for one type of >variable (sinking_flux) to have different physical units and definitions >(mass/m2/sec vs ratio) . I am not aware of any such case that has been >approved. On a separate point, as a modeler I have always preferred to treat the fluxes and reservoirs separately for each isotope, and then calculate any needed ratios. I am not really sure, in general, what it means to talk about a flux of a ratio, without also providing the mass fluxes and the sizes of the reservoirs. That said, ratios do have uses, so for the ratios I would suggest something like composition_ratio_of_silicon_30_to_silicon _28_in_sinking_flux. (note that I just typed this without carefully harmonizing with other std_names in order to move the discussion forward, so I reserve the right to criticize myself if people pick up on this ;-). As a more minor point, I would prefer sinking_mass_flux over sinking_flux_mass, just for consistency with all the other mole_flux and mass_flux existing std_names. My 2 cents :-), Philip ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Philip Cameron-Smith, p...@llnl.gov, Lawrence Livermore National Lab. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > -----Original Message----- > From: CF-metadata [mailto:cf-metadata-boun...@cgd.ucar.edu] On Behalf Of > Thomas Trull > Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 2:28 AM > To: <mlankho...@ucsd.edu> > Cc: cf-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu; OceanSITES Data Management Team > Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] standard names for sediment trap data > > Hi Matthias, > I like your proposed canonical units and terms. The names are also systematic > and clear. I do not see the need to include the word total when an elemental > flux is not split into molecular or other components. Items that I think > might > need further consideration: > 1. In the list of XXX items, would it be clearer to specify silicon rather > than silica > for all terms related to silica (since the molecular composition of > lithogenic, > biogenic silica forms are often unknown)? Or do we have to write XXX as > '_biogenic_silica_as_silicon' > 2. Is it worth settling on a standard approach to isotopic (and other) > compositions ? For example, 13C-POC. Units of flux rather than composition > would be somewhat unusual for isotopes, making variables starting with > 'sinking_mass_flux' somewhat odd. That is unfortunate, since indicating > sinking > flux as the overall sample type seems to be the top category worth retaining. > One way around this would be a slight reordering to two groups of variables, > e.g.: > sinking_flux_mass_lithogenic_silicon > sinking_flux_composition_lithogenic_silicon_isotopic_ratio_30_28 > > Or is that clumsy? > > Of course we could force all compositional information (isotopes, diatom > species relative abundances, etc. )into mass flux units, with satisfyingly > simple > units, but then they all have to be reconverted into units people want to use. > This would mean carrying absolute isotopic abundance for standards within the > files for completeness. > > As usual there are many ways to skin a cat, but none are easy when the cat > sees > you coming! > > Best wishes, > Tom > > > On 10/10/2013, at 10:16, "Matthias Lankhorst" <mlankho...@ucsd.edu> wrote: > > Dear CF community, > > in the OceanSITES project, we would like to publish data from sediment traps > in > files, using the CF conventions. Sediment traps are devices moored underwater > in the ocean, which collect sinking particles (detritus) in a funnel and into > sample > bottles for later analyses. Analyses can be done for a variety of substances. > It > looks like we need a few more standard names for these, and possibly a > discussion whether some of them should be expressed as mass fluxes or as > substance amount (mole) fluxes. > > I noticed that CF already has these standard names, all as mole fluxes with > canonical units of mol m-2 s-1: > > sinking_mole_flux_of_aragonite_expressed_as_carbon_in_sea_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_calcite_expressed_as_carbon_in_sea_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_particulate_iron_in_sea_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_particulate_organic_matter_expressed_as_carbon_in_se > a_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_particulate_organic_nitrogen_in_sea_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_particulate_organic_phosphorus_in_sea_water > sinking_mole_flux_of_particulate_silicon_in_sea_water > > Here is the list of quantities that we need to address in OceanSITES. My > initial > proposal is to introduce them all as mass fluxes with canonical units of kg > m-2 s- > 1. If we should rather go with mole fluxes like the ones above, please chime > in. > > Total/organic mass: > Propose new standard names: > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_matter_in_sea_water > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_organic_matter_in_sea_water > (I suppose these are understood as dry mass, i.e. weighed after water has > evaporated.) > > Particulate organic, inorganic, total carbon: > Propose new standard names: > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_organic_carbon_in_sea_water > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_inorganic_carbon_in_sea_water > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_carbon_in_sea_water > (or should we include "total" somewhere in the latter?) > > Particulate organic, inorganic, total nitrogen: > Propose new standard names: > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_organic_nitrogen_in_sea_water > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_inorganic_nitrogen_in_sea_water > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_nitrogen_in_sea_water > (or should we include "total" somewhere in the latter?) > > Other particulate substances from a list: > Propose new standard names for each of the following, to be constructed as: > sinking_mass_flux_of_particulate_XXX_in_sea_water, > where XXX is: > - aluminum > - iron > - phosphorous > - silica > - biogenic_silica > - lithogenic_silica > - calcium > - titanium > - manganese > - barium > - magnesium > > Your expert comments are highly appreciated! > > Respectfully, Matthias > > > -- > _______________________________________ > > Dr. Matthias Lankhorst > Scripps Institution of Oceanography > 9500 Gilman Drive, Mail Code 0230 > La Jolla, CA 92093-0230 > USA > > Phone: +1 858 822 5013 > Fax: +1 858 534 9820 > E-Mail: mlankho...@ucsd.edu > http://www-pord.ucsd.edu/~mlankhorst/ > > > Cliquez sur l'url suivante > https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/lY1WG0lkPnzGX2PQPOmvUpJBCTqJzJUe2yY2I > M9UP7ZY+SeOyXIDbMOdGGRUOm5ehsBIKC7m4TwFoPzuIXnePg== > si ce message est indésirable (pourriel). > > _______________________________________________ > 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