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/
> 
> 
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