ocean variables with dodgy units and names

[bnlawrence]

Here are a couple of outputs:

Field: sea_water_potential_temperature (ncvar%votemper2)
--------------------------------------------------------
Data            : sea_water_potential_temperature(time(1), depth(75), ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) degree_C
Cell methods    : time(1): mean
Dimension coords: depth(75) = [0.5057600140571594, ..., 5902.0576171875] m
Auxiliary coords: time(time(1)) = [1950-01-16 00:00:00] 360_day
                : latitude(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[-89.5, ..., 49.99550247192383]] degrees_north
                : longitude(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[72.75, ..., 73.0]] degrees_east
Cell measures   : measure:area(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[1000000.0, ..., 445.6573486328125]] m2

Field: sea_water_potential_temperature (ncvar%votemper)
-------------------------------------------------------
Data            : sea_water_potential_temperature(time(1), depth(75), ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) degree_C
Cell methods    : time(1): mean
Dimension coords: depth(75) = [0.5057600140571594, ..., 5902.0576171875] m
Auxiliary coords: time(time(1)) = [1950-01-16 00:00:00] 360_day
                : latitude(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[-89.5, ..., 49.99550247192383]] degrees_north
                : longitude(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[72.75, ..., 73.0]] degrees_east
Cell measures   : measure:area(ncdim%y(1207), ncdim%x(1442)) = [[1000000.0, ..., 445.6573486328125]] m2

On the face of it they are the same, but actually these represent two different quantities:

votemper is monthly avg of (toce_e3t )divided by the monthly average of (e3t)
votemper2 is monthly avg of ((toce_e3t)^2 divided by monthly average of (e3t)

This is the relevant xml

<field id="e3t"          long_name="Ocean Model cell Thickness"   standard_name="cell_thickness"   unit="m"   grid_ref="grid_T_3D"/>
  <field id="toce"         long_name="Sea Water Potential Temperature"         standard_name="sea_water_potential_temperature"   unit="degree_C"     grid_ref="grid_T_3D"/>
  <field id="toce_e3t"     long_name="temperature * e3t"                                                     unit="degree_C*m"   grid_ref="grid_T_3D" > toce * e3t </field >

and

<field ts_enabled="true" field_ref="toce"         name="votemper"        operation="average" freq_op="1mo" > @toce_e3t / @e3t </field>
<field ts_enabled="true" field_ref="toce"         name="votemper2"       operation="average" freq_op="1mo" > @toce2_e3t / @e3t </field>  

Clearly

1. the two variables cannot have the same units, and
2. the standard names are not very helpful,
3. neither are the long names

It would help to find out what these represent scientifically first ...

[grenville]

I asked Til to review and comment as a first step

[grenville]

votemper2 or vosaline2

have been discarded by NOC, so we don’t need to include them unless they are re-requested by someone else (unlikely).

Same for vozocrtx2, vomecrty2.