Dear Alison Thank you for your careful and sensible analysis, as always. I agree with all your proposals except that I'm sorry to say I'm not happy about the steric height yet. I don't seek to insist on what I suggested before, but I don't think the proposal so far matches scientific terminology as far as I'm aware.
> 3. ocean_steric_thickness (m) > 4. ocean_halosteric_thickness (m) > 5. ocean_thermosteric_thickness (m) I understand these to mean the *change* in the thickness of the water column caused by change to sea water density, due to change in T and S. That's what your definitions indicate. If it's a change in thickness, it's confusing to call it a thickness, I would say. People often refer to quantities of "steric/ halosteric/thermosteric sea level change", which I think are the same as what we're talking about here. The change in thickness of the water column (the vertical distance from the sea floor to the sea surface) is of course the same thing as local sea level change. Best wishes Jonathan _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list CF-metadata@cgd.ucar.edu http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata