Grammar | Description of the grammar, which is composed of the two elements of lexicon (the phrases which compose standard names) and syntax (the rules used to assemble standard names from phrases). |
Uses | Description of how the grammar can be used to help with constructing new standard names, including some software for that purpose. |
Derivation | Description of how the grammar was derived from the existing set of standard names. |
Direction | Discussion of the advantages of standard names over other approaches to describing geophysical quantities, and how the grammar could be developed. |
Lexicon | Lexicon of phrases used in CF standard names, in groups having related meanings. |
Patterns | List of the syntactic patterns used in CF standard names. |
Standard names | List of CF standard names, each linked to its grammatical analysis. |
Analysis | A grammatical analysis of each existing standard name. |
This analysis in this document is for version 13 of the CF standard name table, which contains 1950 standard names. (For this analysis I have modified seven of the names and will propose these modifications to be adopted as standard.) The standard name table is contained in an xml file. CF standard names are composed of words joined with underscores e.g.
tendency_of_atmosphere_water_vapor_content_due_to_advection(By convention, the words consist of lower-case letters only, but that's not important to this analysis.) The grammar analyses each standard name into phrases, each comprising one or more words e.g.
tendency_of atmosphere water_vapor_content due_to_advectionIn this grammar, the 1950 standard names are constructed from 789 phrases.
Each phrase belongs to a set of phrases of a particular phrasetype. (The phrasetypes are loosely analogous to the parts of speech of natural language i.e. nouns, verbs, etc.) In this grammar, there are 36 phrasetypes. For instance, "tendency_of" belongs to the "(function_of)" phrasetype. Owing to the assignment of phrases to phrasetypes, each standard name can be parsed into a sequence of phrasetypes, in this example
(function_of) (layer) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon)We can call the sequence of phrasetypes a standard name pattern. Since the standard names have deliberately been constructed in a systematic fashion, there are only 215 distinct patterns in the grammar, an order of magnitude fewer than standard names. For instance, there are 15 standard names with the above pattern, another one being
tendency_of_sea_ice_thickness_due_to_thermodynamicsThese 215 patterns specify the syntax of CF standard names, which is one of the two components of the grammar. For discussion of how the syntax could be represented by a smaller number of patterns, see below.
The other component of the grammar is the lexicon, which lists the phrases and their assignment to phrasetypes. The definitive version of the lexicon is this plain text "flat" file, whose lines have the form
phrase phrasetypeAs far as the parsing software is concerned, the lines can be in any order, although actually I have arranged them by phrasetype and alphabetically within phrasetype. Like parts of speech in natural language, the phrasetypes are characterised partly by their syntactic role within patterns, and partly by semantics. For example, "dry_static" and "sunlit" are both classified as "(pre_adjective)", because both of them can prefix the names of geophysical variables, although they don't have related meanings. The phrases "tropopause" and "sea_surface" are both classified as "(surface)", and they obviously do have the same kind of meaning as well as similar syntactic function. There are distinct phrasetypes of "(component)" e.g. "eastward" and "(grid_component)" e.g. "x", because they are positioned differently in standard names, although they have similar kinds of meaning. There is also a set of phrases which are assigned to no phrasetype, or equivalently to a blank phrasetype, because each of them is in a class of its own regarding syntax and semantics i.e. these untyped phrases only have in common the fact that they have nothing in common with other phrases.
Formally this grammar does not analyse phrases into words, but the
phrases have themselves been systematically constructed too.
For example, there is a semantic link between "sea_water" and "in_sea_water",
which have different
phrasetypes "(medium)" and "in_(medium)",
so we have used the same phrase "sea_water" in both of them.
To make these links apparent, the contents of the
lexicon are set out below with
semantically related phrasetypes grouped together.
Because of the reuse of words in different phrases, like "sea" and "water",
the 789
distinct phrases are composed of only 588
distinct words.
Uses
When a new standard name is proposed which can be constructed from existing phrases and following an existing pattern, this grammar will allow its correct construction to be verified. To help with this, the orderphrases Python script will put a set of phrases from the lexicon in the order they should have according to existing patterns. For instance,
$ orderphrases -n -L lexicon patterns at_sea_water_surface shortwave_flux net_downward net_downward_shortwave_flux_at_sea_water_surfaceThat may save effort in searching the table for template patterns, and detect syntax and spelling mistakes. Sometimes there is more than one possible order e.g. the phrases "integral_of air temperature deficit wrt time" could be rearranged as "integral_of air time deficit wrt temperature". Furthermore there are plenty of possible names which conform to the rules but are nonsense, such as "tropopause omnidirectional photosynthetic eliassen_palm_flux in_soil_pores emerging_from_sea_water". This is a grandiose example of what Roy Lowry has called the "green dog" problem, and it shows why new standard names are approved manually rather than being automatically added to the table.
When a new phrase is needed, comparison with existing phrases of the same phrasetype in the lexicon may help in devising it. When a new pattern is needed, looking at the list of existing patterns should provide a good way to work out how to extend the syntax. Both the lexicon and the list of patterns may change for each successive version of the CF standard name table.
Proposed new standard names can be tested using the parsenames Python script, which requires the cf_standard_names Python module and reads the plain-text lexicon file. This script first splits up names into phrases, then optionally replaces phrases with phrasetypes to produce standard name patterns, which it finally reduces to a distinct list. The list of patterns in the grammar are produced by processing the standard name table xml file with the parsenames script, using the command
parsenames -X cf-standard-name-table.xml lexiconThis command also reports if there are any phrases in the lexicon which are not used in any standard name.
This work was stimulated by Robert Muetzelfeldt's initiative to produce a grammar for CF standard names based on the existing guidelines for construction of CF standard names. As Robert found, there are many standard names which do not follow the guidelines currently stated, because we have adopted many other syntactic patterns in practice, without writing them down. Rather than codifying these rules purely manually by inspection of the table, I thought it would be interesting to see whether the unstated grammar could be inferred automatically from the standard name table.
As a first step, I used a script which deduced likely phrases for the lexicon. This worked by iterating the following algorithm, starting with the list of standard names:
The final list is a set of phrases into which the standard names can be parsed. I tuned this script in various ways; for instance, I forced it to regard some common phrases as indivisible. Even without tuning, however, the phrases it identified were remarkably close to what you would expect. The first three were "in air", "atmosphere mass content of", "tendency of"; "in air" wins, although it's only two words, because it is extremely common. The results of the script were a good basis, but required quite a lot of editing in order to reduce the number of phrases, and make them consistent in construction. For example, I split "atmosphere mass content of" into "atmosphere" and "mass content of", because "atmosphere" is needed as a phrase separately, and "mass content of" might be needed for other layers than atmosphere, (although it is not at present).
In the next step, I used a script to classify phrases into phrasetypes, as follows:
mass_concentration_of butane in_air mass_concentration_of carbon_dioxide in_airWe take this to mean that "butane" and "carbon_dioxide" are phrases of the same type. This is called a "paradigmatic analysis" in linguistics. The same kind of analysis allows us to deduce from
drink a pint of milk a day drink a pint of water a daythat "milk" and "water" are grammatically the same kind of word.
Following this step, I did a lot more manual editing of the lexicon, in order to reduce the number of phrasetypes and patterns. For example, "clay" and "oxygen" were initially assigned different phrasetypes. After they have been manually assigned to the same phrasetype of "(species)", the standard names "volume_fraction_of_clay_in_soil" and "volume_fraction_of_oxygen_in_sea_water" can be recognised as instances of the same pattern. I also made seven changes to the standard name table itself to improve the analysis, and I will propose these changes to the CF email list.
snow_soot_content -> soot_content_of_surface_snow snow_thermal_energy_content -> thermal_energy_content_of_surface_snow snow_temperature -> temperature_in_snow liquid_water_content_of_snow_layer -> liquid_water_content_of_surface_snow"snow" can refer both to lying snow (a medium) and falling snow (a species). Existing standard names generally use "surface_snow" for the former, but not always. I propose these changes to remove the ambiguity.
water_vapor_pressure -> water_vapor_partial_pressureThis quantity is really a partial pressure, and making this change is consistent with the use of "partial_pressure" for "carbon_dioxide" in other names.
dissipation_in_atmosphere_boundary_layer -> kinetic_energy_dissipation_in_atmosphere_boundary_layerThis change is proposed because "dissipation" alone is vague, and it makes the name consistent with other names that contain the phrase "kinetic_energy_dissipation" referring to the ocean.
sea_ice_displacement -> magnitude_of_sea_ice_displacementThis change is proposed so that "sea_ice_displacement" is definitely a vector, with components e.g. "eastward_sea_ice_displacement"; at present, it is both a scalar and a vector.
I think, on the other hand, that maintaining a comprehensive grammar will share a lot of the advantages suggested for separate attributes.
It would be straightforward to include canonical units in the lexicon. The scalar, vector, tensor and some untyped phrases imply particular canonical units e.g. "precipitation_flux" is in "kg m-2 s-1" and "effective_radius_of" is in "m", while the functions and some other untyped phrases imply a change, no change or a transformation of units e.g. "square_of" changes units "u" to "u2" and "product_of" gives units "uv" if the separate quantities have units "u" and "v". Units could then be generated automatically in most cases.
The number of patterns could evidently be greatly reduced if phrases were recognised as optional in patterns. That is the idea of the general syntax given in the existing guidelines viz.
[surface] [component] standard_name [at surface] [in medium] [due to process] [assuming condition]This formula is not adequate for the present grammar, which distinguishes more phrasetypes and patterns, but the idea could be extended. Since I started off by seeing if the grammar could be deduced from the standard names, the patterns I ended up with are those which actually occur. The present grammar, whose patterns contain no optional elements, follows the usual CF philosophy of not making extensions until they are needed. A generalised pattern with optional elements would imply some combinations of elements that are not attested in the existing standard names. For example, there are no standard names at present which contain all three of
at_(surface) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon)It would be a decision of principle whether patterns should be allowed because they are implied by a pattern with optional elements. Certainly, some extra rules would be needed to exclude some patterns; for instance, "(surface)" and "at_(surface)" are not permitted to occur in the same standard name.
Another way forward would be to introduce a hierarchy of parsing.
The highest level would contain constructions involving
"(function of)", "product_of" and other phrasetypes
that are used to produce standard names from other standard names;
these operations are already recognised in the existing guidelines as
"Transformations"
and Robert Muetzelfeldt treated them separately in his grammar.
A lower level would deal with the addition of qualifiers such as
"at_(surface)" to unqualified standard names.
The bottom level would handle the constructions which generate the
standard names of scalars, vector and tensors
from other phrasetypes, such as "(quantity_of) (species)",
and would decompose phrasetypes such as "at_(surface)".
A system like this would be more complex to implement but would need
a smaller number of patterns.
The purpose of the grammar is to make things easier for humans who
want to add standard names.
How best to do that is an interesting subject for debate.
Lexicon
The first column lists phrasetypes. The second column lists phrases
which are assigned to those phrasetypes. The sections of the table
group phrasetypes which are related semantically.
[Flat file]
untyped These words and phrases all have unique roles and are therefore not assigned a phrasetype. | |
and | |
angle of rotation from east to | |
angstrom exponent of | |
at maximum upward derivative of | |
away from instrument | |
cloud | |
defined by | |
derivative of | |
effective radius of | |
expressed as | |
histogram of | |
integral of | |
mass flux of | |
mole ratio of | |
number content of | |
over | |
partial pressure difference between | |
product of | |
ratio of | |
to | |
wrt | |
scalar Names of scalar geophysical variables i.e. those with no spatial direction. | |
(scalar) | absolute vorticity |
absorption optical thickness | |
age of stratospheric air | |
age since surface contact | |
albedo | |
altimeter range | |
altimeter range correction | |
altitude | |
amount | |
angle of emergence | |
angle of incidence | |
area | |
area fraction | |
area type | |
atmosphere sleve coordinate | |
backscattering ratio | |
barotropic streamfunction | |
basal melt rate | |
baseflow amount | |
beaufort wind force | |
bedrock altitude | |
biharmonic diffusivity | |
binary mask | |
bioluminescent photon rate | |
bolus biharmonic diffusivity | |
bolus laplacian diffusivity | |
brightness temperature | |
brunt vaisala frequency | |
calving rate | |
canopy throughfall flux | |
carbon content | |
carbon flux | |
cell area | |
cell thickness | |
cloud radiative effect | |
condensed water content | |
coriolis parameter | |
density | |
depth | |
dew point depression | |
dew point temperature | |
difference of air pressure from model reference | |
diffusivity | |
dimensionless exner function | |
directional variance spectral density | |
draft | |
duration of sunshine | |
electrical conductivity | |
energy content | |
enthalpy content | |
epineutral biharmonic diffusivity | |
epineutral laplacian diffusivity | |
equilibrium line altitude | |
ertel potential vorticity | |
extent | |
floating ice thickness | |
forecast period | |
forecast reference time | |
foundation temperature | |
freeboard | |
freezing temperature | |
frequency | |
frozen water content | |
geopotential | |
geopotential height | |
graupel flux | |
grid latitude | |
grid longitude | |
heat content | |
heat diffusivity | |
height | |
horizontal streamfunction | |
horizontal velocity potential | |
humidity mixing ratio | |
hybrid height coordinate | |
hybrid sigma pressure coordinate | |
ice content | |
kinetic energy content | |
kinetic energy dissipation | |
laplacian diffusivity | |
latitude | |
leaf area index | |
liquid water content | |
ln pressure coordinate | |
longitude | |
longwave emissivity | |
longwave forcing | |
mass | |
mass streamfunction | |
mean period from variance spectral density | |
melt amount | |
melt flux | |
meridional overturning mass streamfunction | |
meridional overturning streamfunction | |
microwave emissivity | |
mixing ratio | |
mixing scheme | |
model level number | |
moisture content | |
momentum diffusivity | |
net rate of absorption of longwave energy | |
net rate of absorption of shortwave energy | |
normalized difference vegetation index | |
ocean heat x transport | |
ocean heat y transport | |
ocean isopycnal layer thickness diffusivity | |
ocean mass x transport | |
ocean mass y transport | |
ocean montgomery potential | |
ocean rigid lid pressure | |
ocean s coordinate | |
ocean salt x transport | |
ocean salt y transport | |
ocean volume | |
omega | |
optical thickness | |
ozone content | |
partial pressure | |
period | |
pitch angle | |
pitch rate | |
planetary albedo | |
platform course | |
platform orientation | |
platform speed | |
position | |
potential density | |
potential energy content | |
potential temperature | |
potential vorticity | |
precipitation amount | |
precipitation flux | |
precipitation rate | |
pressure | |
primary productivity of carbon | |
projection x coordinate | |
projection y coordinate | |
radiation frequency | |
radiation wavelength | |
radiative forcing | |
rainfall amount | |
rainfall flux | |
rainfall rate | |
realization | |
reference sea water density | |
reflectivity factor | |
region | |
relative humidity | |
relative vorticity | |
richardson number | |
roll angle | |
roll rate | |
root depth | |
runoff amount | |
runoff flux | |
salinity | |
salt diffusivity | |
saturation deficit | |
scattering angle | |
sea area | |
sea ice x displacement | |
sea ice y displacement | |
sea level change | |
secchi depth | |
shortwave forcing | |
sigma coordinate | |
sigma t | |
sigma theta | |
significant height | |
skin temperature | |
snow density | |
snow grain size | |
snowfall amount | |
snowfall flux | |
snowfall rate | |
soil hydraulic conductivity | |
soil moisture content | |
soil porosity | |
soil suction | |
soil type | |
solar azimuth angle | |
solar elevation angle | |
solar zenith angle | |
soot content | |
sound frequency | |
sound intensity | |
sound intensity level | |
sound pressure | |
sound pressure level | |
specific convective available potential energy | |
specific dry energy | |
specific gravitational potential energy | |
specific humidity | |
specific kinetic energy | |
speed | |
speed of sound | |
sublimation amount | |
sublimation flux | |
subskin temperature | |
sulfate content | |
surface drag coefficient | |
surface roughness length | |
surface snow amount | |
surface specific mass balance | |
temperature | |
temperature flux | |
temperature lapse rate | |
temperature of sensor | |
thermal capacity | |
thermal conductivity | |
thermal energy content | |
thickness | |
thunderstorm probability | |
time | |
toa bidirectional reflectance | |
tracer diffusivity | |
transpiration amount | |
transpiration flux | |
variance spectral density | |
virtual temperature | |
visibility | |
volume | |
volume attenuated backwards scattering function | |
volume fraction | |
water amount | |
water content | |
water evaporation amount | |
water evaporation flux | |
water evaporation rate | |
water potential evaporation amount | |
water potential evaporation flux | |
water sublimation flux | |
water vapor content | |
wet bulb temperature | |
wind mixing energy flux | |
wind speed | |
wind speed shear | |
x coordinate index | |
y coordinate index | |
y overturning mass streamfunction | |
yaw angle | |
yaw rate | |
zenith angle | |
zero upcrossing period | |
vector Names of vector geophysical variables i.e. those which have a spatial direction. | |
(vector) | convective mass flux |
deep convective mass flux | |
eliassen palm flux | |
energy flux | |
energy transport | |
freshwater transport | |
geothermal heat flux | |
heat flux | |
heat transport | |
longwave flux | |
mole flux | |
ocean mass transport | |
photon flux | |
photon radiance | |
photon spherical irradiance | |
radar wave | |
radial vector | |
radiance | |
radiative flux | |
salt flux | |
salt transport | |
sea ice displacement | |
sea ice transport | |
shallow convective mass flux | |
shortwave flux | |
spherical irradiance | |
transformed eulerian mean air velocity | |
velocity | |
velocity of scatterers | |
virtual salt flux | |
water flux | |
water transport | |
water vapor flux | |
water vapor transport | |
water volume transport | |
wind | |
wind shear | |
tensor Names of tensor geophysical variables i.e. those which have two spatial directions. | |
(tensor) | momentum flux |
stress | |
pre_adjective Qualifying phrases which go before the names of geophysical variables. | |
(pre adjective) | adjusted |
basal | |
correction for model negative | |
dry | |
dry static | |
equivalent | |
global average | |
gross | |
instantaneous | |
isccp | |
latent | |
longwave | |
lwe | |
melt | |
melt and sublimation | |
net | |
ocean eddy | |
photosynthetic | |
platform | |
pseudo equivalent | |
sensible | |
shortwave | |
spectral | |
steric | |
sublimation | |
sunlit | |
swell wave | |
thermosteric | |
vertical | |
vertical component of ocean xy | |
vertical mean | |
wave | |
wind wave | |
xy | |
post_adjective Qualifying phrases which go after the names of geophysical variables. | |
(post adjective) | across line |
amplitude | |
anomaly | |
at stp | |
at variance spectral density maximum | |
bias | |
change | |
correction | |
deficit | |
excess | |
excluding baseflow | |
for boussinesq approximation | |
for oxygen | |
of gust | |
threshold | |
component These phrases specify spatial components of vectors and tensors with respect to directions in physical space. | |
(component) | diffuse downwelling |
downdraft | |
downward | |
downwelling | |
eastward | |
horizontal | |
incoming | |
isotropic | |
net downward | |
net upward | |
northward | |
omnidirectional | |
outgoing | |
radial | |
updraft | |
upward | |
upwelling | |
grid_component These phrases specify spatial components of vectors and tensors with respect to directions on a numerical grid. | |
(grid component) | x |
y | |
dynamic Adjectives for describing the character of motion in a fluid. | |
(dynamic) | baroclinic |
barotropic | |
bolus | |
geostrophic | |
property Properties of the medium or its motion which can be transported e.g. by advection or diffusion. | |
(property) | for heat |
for (property) | for momentum |
momentum | |
tracer | |
quantity Extensive measures of the amount of matter. | |
(quantity of) | equivalent pressure of |
equivalent thickness at stp of | |
mass content of | |
mass of | |
moles of | |
concentration Intensive measures of the amount of matter. | |
(concentration of) | fractional saturation of |
mass concentration of | |
mass fraction of | |
mole concentration of | |
mole fraction of | |
surface partial pressure of | |
volume fraction of | |
volume mixing ratio of | |
per_unit Qualifiers which convert extensive to intensive measures. | |
(per unit) | across unit distance |
per unit area | |
per unit mass | |
species Names of chemical elements, chemical compounds, minerals, aerosols and biological species. Qualifiers which attribute a variable to the presence of a particular species. | |
(species) | acetic acid |
due to (species) | aceto nitrile |
alkanes | |
alkenes | |
alpha hexachlorocyclohexane | |
alpha pinene | |
ambient aerosol | |
due to ambient aerosol | |
ammonia | |
ammonium | |
ammonium dry aerosol | |
anthropogenic nmvoc | |
aromatic compounds | |
atomic bromine | |
atomic chlorine | |
atomic nitrogen | |
benzene | |
beta pinene | |
biogenic nmvoc | |
due to black carbon ambient aerosol | |
black carbon dry aerosol | |
bromine | |
bromine chloride | |
bromine monoxide | |
bromine nitrate | |
brox | |
butane | |
carbon | |
carbon dioxide | |
carbon monoxide | |
carbon tetrachloride | |
cfc11 | |
cfc113 | |
cfc113a | |
cfc114 | |
cfc115 | |
cfc12 | |
chlorine | |
chlorine dioxide | |
chlorine monoxide | |
chlorine nitrate | |
chlorophyll | |
clay | |
clox | |
condensed water | |
diatoms | |
dichlorine peroxide | |
dimethyl sulfide | |
dinitrogen pentoxide | |
due to dissolved organic matter | |
due to dust ambient aerosol | |
dust dry aerosol | |
ethane | |
ethanol | |
ethene | |
ethyne | |
formaldehyde | |
formic acid | |
frozen water | |
gaseous divalent mercury | |
gaseous elemental mercury | |
graupel | |
halon1202 | |
halon1211 | |
halon1301 | |
halon2402 | |
hcc140a | |
hcfc141b | |
hcfc142b | |
hcfc22 | |
hexachlorobiphenyl | |
hox | |
hydrogen | |
hydrogen bromide | |
hydrogen chloride | |
hydrogen cyanide | |
hydrogen peroxide | |
hydroperoxyl radical | |
hydroxyl radical | |
hypobromous acid | |
hypochlorous acid | |
ice | |
inorganic bromine | |
inorganic chlorine | |
isoprene | |
limonene | |
liquid water | |
mercury dry aerosol | |
mesozooplankton | |
methane | |
methanol | |
methyl bromide | |
methyl chloride | |
methyl hydroperoxide | |
methyl peroxy radical | |
microzooplankton | |
molecular hydrogen | |
nitrate | |
nitrate and nitrite | |
nitrate dry aerosol | |
nitrate radical | |
nitric acid | |
nitric acid trihydrate ambient aerosol | |
nitrite | |
nitrogen | |
nitrogen dioxide | |
nitrogen monoxide | |
nitrous acid | |
nitrous oxide | |
nmvoc | |
nox | |
noy | |
organic detritus | |
oxygen | |
oxygenated hydrocarbons | |
ozone | |
due to particulate organic matter ambient aerosol | |
particulate organic matter dry aerosol | |
peroxy radicals | |
peroxyacetyl nitrate | |
peroxynitric acid | |
phosphate | |
phytoplankton | |
due to pm10 ambient aerosol | |
pm10 ambient aerosol | |
due to pm1 ambient aerosol | |
pm1 ambient aerosol | |
due to pm2p5 ambient aerosol | |
pm2p5 ambient aerosol | |
precipitation | |
primary particulate organic matter dry aerosol | |
propane | |
propene | |
radon | |
rain | |
sand | |
due to seasalt ambient aerosol | |
seasalt dry aerosol | |
secondary particulate organic matter dry aerosol | |
silicate | |
silicon | |
silt | |
snow | |
sulfate | |
due to sulfate ambient aerosol | |
sulfate ambient aerosol | |
sulfate dry aerosol | |
sulfur dioxide | |
sulfur dry aerosol | |
sulfuric acid | |
suspended matter | |
terpenes | |
toluene | |
unfrozen water | |
water | |
due to water in ambient aerosol | |
water in ambient aerosol | |
water vapor | |
xylene | |
particles Names of particles of condensed matter within a fluid medium. | |
(particles) | aerosol particles |
cloud droplets | |
graupel particle | |
ice crystals | |
ice particle | |
liquid water particle | |
rain particle | |
snow particle | |
phenomenon Names of processes and phenomena. Qualifiers which attribute an effect to a particular process or phenomenon. | |
(phenomenon) | due to accretion to rain |
from (phenomenon) | due to accretion to snow |
due to (phenomenon) | due to advection |
due to advection and bolus advection | |
due to aggregation | |
due to air pressure and wind at high frequency | |
due to air pressure at low frequency | |
due to autoconversion | |
due to autoconversion to rain | |
due to autoconversion to snow | |
due to background | |
biomass burning | |
due to bolus advection | |
due to bolus transport | |
from boundary layer mixing | |
due to change in sigma coordinate wrt surface pressure | |
due to cloud | |
due to condensation and evaporation | |
due to convection | |
from convection | |
due to convective cloud | |
due to convective detrainment | |
due to deep convection | |
due to deposition and sublimation | |
due to diabatic processes | |
due to diffusion | |
due to dry convection | |
due to dry deposition | |
due to dry deposition into stomata | |
due to dry troposphere | |
due to dynamics | |
due to earth tide | |
due to eddy advection | |
due to eliassen palm flux divergence | |
due to emission | |
due to equilibrium ocean tide | |
due to evaporation | |
due to evaporation of melting ice | |
due to form drag | |
due to geocentric ocean tide | |
due to gravitational settling | |
due to gravity wave drag | |
due to gyre | |
due to heterogeneous nucleation | |
due to heterogeneous nucleation from cloud liquid water | |
due to heterogeneous nucleation from water vapor | |
heterotrophic respiration | |
due to homogeneous nucleation | |
due to horizontal mixing | |
due to iceberg thermodynamics | |
due to icefall | |
due to ionosphere | |
due to isostatic adjustment | |
due to longwave heating | |
from longwave heating | |
due to melting from cloud ice | |
due to melting to cloud liquid water | |
due to melting to rain | |
due to model physics | |
due to moist convection | |
due to net chemical production | |
due to net chemical production and emission | |
due to newtonian relaxation | |
due to non equilibrium ocean tide | |
due to nonorographic eastward gravity waves | |
due to nonorographic gravity wave drag | |
due to nonorographic westward gravity waves | |
due to numerical artefacts | |
due to orographic gravity wave drag | |
due to orographic gravity waves | |
due to overturning | |
plant respiration | |
due to pole tide | |
from pressure change | |
due to radiative heating | |
due to rainfall | |
due to re emission | |
due to riming | |
due to riming from cloud liquid water | |
due to riming from rain | |
due to runoff | |
due to sea ice thermodynamics | |
due to sea surface roughness | |
due to shallow convection | |
due to shortwave heating | |
from shortwave heating | |
due to snow thermodynamics | |
soil respiration | |
due to stratiform cloud | |
due to stratiform cloud and precipitation and boundary layer mixing | |
due to stratiform precipitation | |
due to thermodynamics | |
due to tides | |
due to turbulence | |
from turbulence | |
due to turbulent deposition | |
due to turbulent depostion | |
due to vertical friction | |
due to vertical mixing | |
due to wet deposition | |
due to wet troposphere | |
due to wind mixing | |
due to xy friction | |
cloud_type Adjectives which describe cloud and precipitation processes | |
(cloud type) | convective |
large scale | |
stratiform | |
medium Names of physical media. Qualifiers which attribute variables to a medium, or which relate the direction of a vector to a medium. | |
(medium) | emerging from sea water |
in (medium) | from soil |
of (medium) | into sea water |
(preposition) (medium) | out of sea ice and sea water |
out of sea water | |
reflected by sea water | |
air | |
in air | |
of air | |
in atmosphere boundary layer | |
in atmosphere layer | |
in floating ice | |
ground | |
litter | |
in ocean layer | |
in sea ice | |
in sea water | |
of sea water | |
sea water | |
in snow | |
in soil | |
soil | |
in soil moisture | |
in soil pores | |
in water | |
water_source | |
from (water source) | from icebergs |
from rivers | |
from rivers and surface downward water flux | |
frequency_moment Qualifiers which describe measures of wave spectra. | |
(frequency moment) | first frequency moment |
inverse frequency moment | |
second frequency moment | |
condition Qualifiers which indicate that a variable has been calculated assuming a certain, possibly hypothetical, physical state. | |
(assuming condition) | assuming clear sky |
assuming deep snow | |
assuming no aerosol or cloud | |
assuming no snow | |
assuming no tide | |
assuming sea level for geoid | |
at critical point | |
at field capacity | |
at saturation | |
at wilting point | |
without flux correction | |
status | |
(status) | above threshold |
below threshold | |
time_while | |
(time while) | number of days with |
spell length of days with | |
surface Names of geophysical surfaces. Qualifiers which indicate that a variable applies on a particular surface, or on some level related to a surface, or which relate the direction of a vector to a surface. | |
(surface) | above geoid |
at (surface) | above reference ellipsoid |
(preposition) (surface) | above sea floor |
above sea level | |
below geoid | |
below sea level | |
below sea surface | |
below surface | |
from canopy | |
onto canopy | |
at base of ocean mixed layer | |
canopy | |
canopy and surface | |
at cloud base | |
cloud base | |
at cloud top | |
cloud top | |
at convective cloud base | |
at convective cloud top | |
dynamic tropopause | |
at freezing level | |
freezing level | |
geoid | |
at ground level | |
at sea floor | |
sea floor | |
at sea ice base | |
at sea level | |
sea surface | |
at sea water surface | |
subsurface | |
surface | |
toa | |
at top of atmosphere boundary layer | |
at top of atmosphere model | |
at top of dry convection | |
tropopause | |
layer Names of geophysical layers. Qualifiers which attribute a variable to a layer. | |
(layer) | atmosphere |
of (layer) | atmosphere boundary layer |
of atmosphere layer | |
land | |
land ice | |
middle atmosphere | |
ocean | |
of ocean layer | |
ocean mixed layer | |
sea | |
sea ice | |
of soil layer | |
of surface snow | |
surface snow | |
surface snow and ice | |
troposphere | |
vegetation | |
function These phrases are used to derive standard names from other standard names. | |
(function of) | backwards scattering coefficient of |
change in | |
change over time in | |
depth of isosurface of | |
direction of | |
divergence of | |
lagrangian tendency of | |
magnitude of | |
minus one times | |
square of | |
tendency of | |
thickness of | |
volume absorption coefficient of | |
volume attenuation coefficient of | |
volume backwards scattering coefficient of | |
volume beam attenuation coefficient of | |
volume scattering coefficient of | |
volume scattering function of | |
direction These phrases are used to construct names for the direction of a vector, in cases where the function "direction_of" might be ambiguous. | |
(direction) | from direction |
to direction |
16 | (cloud_type) (scalar) |
4 | (cloud_type) (surface) (scalar) |
4 | (cloud_type) cloud (scalar) |
2 | (cloud_type) cloud (scalar) in_(medium) |
4 | (component) (component) (tensor) at_(surface) |
2 | (component) (component) (tensor) in_(medium) |
3 | (component) (component) (tensor) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) |
2 | (component) (grid_component) (tensor) at_(surface) |
3 | (component) (layer) (pre_adjective) (vector) |
2 | (component) (layer) (pre_adjective) (vector) (per_unit) |
6 | (component) (layer) (vector) |
4 | (component) (layer) (vector) (per_unit) |
12 | (component) (layer) (vector) due_to_(phenomenon) |
4 | (component) (medium) (vector) |
2 | (component) (medium) (vector) (assuming_condition) |
1 | (component) (medium) (vector) away_from_instrument |
2 | (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) due_to_(phenomenon) |
27 | (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) in_(medium) |
2 | (component) (tensor) (post_adjective) |
11 | (component) (vector) |
2 | (component) (vector) (per_unit) in_(medium) |
2 | (component) (vector) at_(surface) |
4 | (component) (vector) at_(surface) in_(medium) |
1 | (component) (vector) away_from_instrument |
23 | (component) (vector) in_(medium) |
8 | (component) (vector) in_(medium) (assuming_condition) |
3 | (component) (vector) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) |
3 | (component) mass_flux_of (medium) |
5 | (concentration_of) (cloud_type) cloud (species) in_(medium) |
1 | (concentration_of) (species) (post_adjective) in_(medium) |
43 | (concentration_of) (species) expressed_as (species) in_(medium) |
393 | (concentration_of) (species) in_(medium) |
3 | (concentration_of) (species) in_(medium) (assuming_condition) |
3 | (concentration_of) cloud (species) in_(medium) |
7 | (dynamic) (component) (medium) (vector) |
2 | (dynamic) (component) (vector) |
4 | (dynamic) (medium) (grid_component) (vector) |
4 | (function_of) (cloud_type) (scalar) |
2 | (function_of) (component) (medium) (vector) |
1 | (function_of) (component) (medium) (vector) due_to_(phenomenon) |
5 | (function_of) (component) (vector) |
12 | (function_of) (component) (vector) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (function_of) (component) (vector) in_(medium) |
29 | (function_of) (concentration_of) (cloud_type) cloud (species) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) |
6 | (function_of) (concentration_of) (cloud_type) cloud (species) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) from_(phenomenon) |
3 | (function_of) (concentration_of) cloud (species) in_(medium) |
5 | (function_of) (concentration_of) cloud (species) in_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (function_of) (function_of) (medium) (scalar) |
1 | (function_of) (layer) (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
96 | (function_of) (layer) (quantity_of) (species) |
119 | (function_of) (layer) (quantity_of) (species) due_to_(phenomenon) |
8 | (function_of) (layer) (quantity_of) (species) expressed_as (species) |
5 | (function_of) (layer) (quantity_of) (species) expressed_as (species) due_to_(phenomenon) |
5 | (function_of) (layer) (scalar) |
1 | (function_of) (layer) (scalar) (per_unit) |
1 | (function_of) (layer) (scalar) (per_unit) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (function_of) (layer) (scalar) defined_by (scalar) |
17 | (function_of) (layer) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
2 | (function_of) (layer) (vector) |
4 | (function_of) (layer) number_content_of (particles) due_to_(phenomenon) |
8 | (function_of) (medium) (scalar) |
22 | (function_of) (medium) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
2 | (function_of) (medium) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) (assuming_condition) |
1 | (function_of) (medium) (vector) |
1 | (function_of) (pre_adjective) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
2 | (function_of) (pre_adjective) (scalar) of_(layer) |
7 | (function_of) (scalar) |
8 | (function_of) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (function_of) (scalar) in_(medium) |
1 | (function_of) (scalar) of_(layer) |
10 | (function_of) (scalar) of_(layer) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (function_of) (surface) (component) (tensor) |
1 | (function_of) (surface) (component) (vector) |
2 | (function_of) (surface) (component) (vector) in_(medium) |
1 | (function_of) (surface) (medium) (scalar) |
1 | (function_of) (surface) (scalar) |
1 | (function_of) (surface) (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
3 | (function_of) (vector) |
1 | (function_of) (vector) (preposition)_(medium) from_(water_source) |
1 | (function_of) (vector) away_from_instrument |
5 | (function_of) (vector) in_(medium) |
1 | (function_of) (vector) in_(medium) due_to_(species) |
3 | (function_of) derivative_of (scalar) wrt (scalar) |
2 | (grid_component) (vector) |
2 | (grid_component) derivative_of (scalar) |
2 | (layer) (cloud_type) cloud (scalar) |
2 | (layer) (component) (tensor) due_to_(phenomenon) |
5 | (layer) (component) (vector) |
1 | (layer) (dynamic) (scalar) |
4 | (layer) (grid_component) (vector) |
4 | (layer) (pre_adjective) (grid_component) (vector) |
10 | (layer) (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
8 | (layer) (pre_adjective) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
4 | (layer) (pre_adjective) (vector) |
4 | (layer) (property) (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
4 | (layer) (property) (scalar) |
1 | (layer) (quantity_of) (medium) (per_unit) |
181 | (layer) (quantity_of) (species) |
17 | (layer) (quantity_of) (species) expressed_as (species) |
58 | (layer) (scalar) |
1 | (layer) (scalar) (per_unit) |
2 | (layer) (scalar) (per_unit) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (layer) (scalar) defined_by (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
4 | (layer) (scalar) defined_by (scalar) |
5 | (layer) (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
15 | (layer) (scalar) due_to_(species) |
3 | (layer) cloud (scalar) |
1 | (layer) integral_of (medium) (scalar) wrt (scalar) |
3 | (layer) number_content_of (particles) |
2 | (medium) (grid_component) (vector) |
26 | (medium) (scalar) |
1 | (medium) (scalar) (per_unit) |
3 | (medium) (scalar) (post_adjective) |
9 | (medium) (scalar) at_(surface) |
4 | (phenomenon) (scalar) |
4 | (pre_adjective) (cloud_type) (scalar) |
4 | (pre_adjective) (function_of) (cloud_type) (scalar) |
1 | (pre_adjective) (function_of) (layer) (scalar) |
5 | (pre_adjective) (function_of) (scalar) |
2 | (pre_adjective) (function_of) (scalar) of_(layer) |
1 | (pre_adjective) (function_of) (surface) (scalar) |
2 | (pre_adjective) (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
21 | (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
2 | (pre_adjective) (scalar) of_(layer) |
1 | (pre_adjective) cloud (scalar) |
2 | (quantity_of) (layer) (scalar) |
7 | (quantity_of) (species) (per_unit) in_(medium) |
102 | (scalar) |
3 | (scalar) (assuming_condition) |
4 | (scalar) (post_adjective) |
1 | (scalar) (post_adjective) due_to_(phenomenon) |
1 | (scalar) (post_adjective) in_(medium) |
2 | (scalar) (preposition)_(medium) |
6 | (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
6 | (scalar) at_(surface) |
1 | (scalar) at_(surface) defined_by (scalar) |
1 | (scalar) at_maximum_upward_derivative_of (medium) (scalar) |
11 | (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) |
3 | (scalar) due_to_(phenomenon) expressed_as (vector) (preposition)_(medium) |
1 | (scalar) expressed_as (surface) (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
4 | (scalar) for_(property) in_(medium) |
20 | (scalar) in_(medium) |
1 | (scalar) in_(medium) (assuming_condition) |
13 | (scalar) of_(layer) |
1 | (scalar) of_(layer) (assuming_condition) |
1 | (scalar) of_(layer) due_to_(species) |
5 | (scalar) of_(medium) |
3 | (scalar) wrt (medium) |
2 | (species) (scalar) |
2 | (surface) (component) (component) (tensor) |
2 | (surface) (component) (grid_component) (tensor) |
2 | (surface) (component) (grid_component) (tensor) (post_adjective) |
2 | (surface) (component) (medium) (vector) |
4 | (surface) (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) |
21 | (surface) (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) in_(medium) |
2 | (surface) (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) in_(medium) (preposition)_(medium) |
20 | (surface) (component) (vector) |
7 | (surface) (component) (vector) (assuming_condition) |
16 | (surface) (component) (vector) in_(medium) |
4 | (surface) (component) (vector) in_(medium) (assuming_condition) |
2 | (surface) (component) (vector) in_(medium) (preposition)_(medium) |
2 | (surface) (dynamic) (component) (medium) (vector) |
2 | (surface) (dynamic) (component) (medium) (vector) (assuming_condition) |
2 | (surface) (dynamic) (medium) (grid_component) (vector) |
2 | (surface) (dynamic) (medium) (grid_component) (vector) (assuming_condition) |
1 | (surface) (function_of) (vector) |
3 | (surface) (medium) (scalar) |
4 | (surface) (pre_adjective) (direction) |
24 | (surface) (pre_adjective) (scalar) |
9 | (surface) (pre_adjective) (scalar) (frequency_moment) |
1 | (surface) (pre_adjective) (scalar) (post_adjective) |
30 | (surface) (scalar) |
3 | (surface) (scalar) (assuming_condition) |
1 | (surface) (scalar) (post_adjective) |
8 | (surface) (scalar) (post_adjective) due_to_(phenomenon) |
7 | (surface) (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
1 | (surface) (species) (vector) |
1 | (surface) (species) partial_pressure_difference_between (medium) and (medium) |
1 | (surface) ratio_of (component) (vector) (preposition)_(medium) to (component) (vector) in_(medium) |
4 | (time_while) (medium) (scalar) (status) |
3 | (time_while) (pre_adjective) (function_of) (scalar) (status) |
1 | (time_while) (scalar) (status) |
2 | (vector) (direction) |
4 | (vector) (post_adjective) |
4 | (vector) (preposition)_(medium) |
1 | (vector) (preposition)_(medium) (assuming_condition) |
11 | (vector) (preposition)_(medium) due_to_(phenomenon) |
6 | (vector) (preposition)_(medium) from_(water_source) |
2 | angle_of_rotation_from_east_to (grid_component) |
1 | angstrom_exponent_of (species) in_(medium) |
2 | cloud (scalar) |
1 | cloud (scalar) in_(medium) |
3 | cloud (scalar) of_(layer) |
2 | cloud (species) (scalar) |
9 | effective_radius_of (cloud_type) cloud (particles) |
1 | histogram_of (pre_adjective) (scalar) over (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
1 | histogram_of (scalar) over (scalar) (preposition)_(surface) |
2 | integral_of (medium) (scalar) (post_adjective) wrt (scalar) |
1 | integral_of (medium) (scalar) wrt (scalar) expressed_as (scalar) |
1 | integral_of (medium) (scalar) wrt (scalar) in_(medium) |
2 | integral_of (surface) (component) (component) (tensor) wrt (scalar) |
2 | integral_of (surface) (component) (pre_adjective) (vector) wrt (scalar) |
2 | integral_of (surface) (component) (vector) in_(medium) wrt (scalar) |
4 | integral_of (surface) (component) (vector) wrt (scalar) |
1 | mole_ratio_of (species) to (species) in_(medium) |
1 | product_of (component) (medium) (vector) and (medium) (scalar) |
5 | product_of (component) (medium) (vector) and (scalar) |
2 | product_of (component) (vector) and (component) (medium) (vector) |
1 | product_of (component) (vector) and (component) (vector) |
2 | product_of (component) (vector) and (medium) (scalar) |
6 | product_of (component) (vector) and (scalar) |
2 | product_of (medium) (scalar) and (scalar) |
1 | product_of (scalar) and (medium) (scalar) |
3 | product_of (scalar) and (scalar) |
2 | ratio_of (grid_component) derivative_of (scalar) to (surface) (scalar) |