Hello Jonathan, The problem is that these terms come from different communities, where they are in common usage. How do we decide which communities usage to adopt? Maybe sticking with the geochemists (who instinctively know what 'total iron' means) and being explicit with the biogeochemistry (i.e. biogenic_plus_lithogenic, organic_plus_inorganic) might be the way to go.
Cheers, Roy. ________________________________________ From: CF-metadata [cf-metadata-boun...@cgd.ucar.edu] On Behalf Of Jonathan Gregory [j.m.greg...@reading.ac.uk] Sent: 06 December 2013 23:35 To: cf-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] standard names for sediment trap data Dear Roy > iron to total_iron (defined as all oxidation states) > silica to total_silica (defined as biogenic + lithogenic) > manganese to total_manganese (defined as all oxidation states) I have reservations about that, because I think the word "total" is not self- explanatory. You have to know what it's being contrasted with - as you can see from the above, where it doesn't have a consistent meaning. I think that either it has to be spelled out what is being included, or it's assumed by default that *everything* is included by an unqualified species, and instead you add extra words to be more specific. Best wishes Jonathan _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents of this email and any reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless it is exempt from release under the Act. Any material supplied to NERC may be stored in an electronic records management system. _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
