PISM, A Parallel Ice Sheet Model  stable v0.5
Standard names of NetCDF variables, including PISM current and proposed

Existing standard names

We start by listing standard names from the CF 1.6 Standard Name Table. The subset here is a small subset of the CF 1.6 standard name table. We list only

The existing names starting with "land_ice" are believed to have all been submitted by Magnus Hagdorn to the CF committee circa 2003. The SeaRISE assessment process now has a wiki on CF standard name use, which to a significant extent duplicates content regarding proposed names on this page. That wiki is an evolving community standard, and it supercedes this page when it comes to actual evolving standards.

If the "PISM short name" column is blank then PISM does not use that standard_name. Some of the short names are shared with GLIMMER and CISM.

Like the legendary Eskimo, the CF standard name table has a bazillion names for snow "amounts" and "fluxes". No attempt at using those names is made in PISM, which is an ice flow model not a snow process model.

Readers other than PISM programmers should ignore the final column, which gives the name of the corresponding IceModelVec, and the type thereof. Generally these are IceModel members.

Because of the use of UDUNITS, PISM input files do not have to have fields already in the canonical units. Rather, the units attribute has to be valid for UDUNITS conversion into the canonical units. Generally within PISM, the canonical units are used internally.

standard_name canonical units (SI) PISM short name (NetCDF variable name) PISM IceModelVec name [type]
bedrock_altitude m topg vbed [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_area_fraction1
land_ice_basal_melt_ratem s-1bmeltvbmr [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_basal_x_velocitym s-1ubvel_basal.u [IceModelVec2V]
land_ice_basal_y_velocitym s-1vbvel_basal.v [IceModelVec2V]
land_ice_calving_ratem s-1
land_ice_lwe_basal_melt_ratem s-1
land_ice_lwe_calving_ratem s-1
land_ice_lwe_surface_specific_mass_balancem s-1
land_ice_sigma_coordinate1
land_ice_surface_specific_mass_balancem s-1acabacab [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_temperatureKtempT3 [IceModelVec3]
land_ice_thicknessmthkvH [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_vertical_mean_x_velocitym s-1ubarvel_bar.u [IceModelVec2V]
land_ice_vertical_mean_y_velocitym s-1vbarvel_bar.v [IceModelVec2V]
land_ice_x_velocitym s-1uvelu3 [IceModelVec3]
land_ice_y_velocitym s-1vvelv3 [IceModelVec3]
latitudedegree_northlatvLatitude [IceModelVec2S]
longitudedegree_eastlonvLongitude [IceModelVec2S]
projection_x_coordinatemx
projection_y_coordinatemy
surface_altitudemusurfvh [IceModelVec2S]
tendency_of_bedrock_altitudem s-1dbdtvuplift [IceModelVec2S]
tendency_of_land_ice_thicknessm s-1dHdtvdHdt [IceModelVec2S]

PROPOSED standard names

These are merely proposed by Bueler and Aschwanden, for now.

proposed_standard_name canonical units (SI) PISM short name in NetCDF PISM IceModelVec name [type]comments
ice_shelf_basal_specific_mass_balancem s-1shelfbmassfluxshelfbmassflux [IceModelVec2S]positive is loss of ice shelf mass (i.e. use outward normal from ice shelf)
ice_shelf_basal_temperatureKshelfbtempshelfbtemp [IceModelVec2S]absolute (not pressure-adjusted) temperature
land_ice_agesagetau3 [IceModelVec3]thought about calendar required!; tau3 is only allocated in PISM if -age option
land_ice_basal_frictional_heatingW m-2bfrictvRb [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_basal_material_yield_stressPataucvtauc [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_basal_material_friction_angledegreetillphivtillphi [IceModelVec2S]majority of standard names with "angle" use canonical units "degree"
land_ice_surface_temperature_below_firnKartmartm [IceModelVec2S]
land_ice_upward_velocitym s-1wvelw3 [IceModelVec3]compare CF 1.6 names "upward_air_velocity" and "upward_sea_water_velocity"
lithosphere_temperatureKlitho_tempTb3 [IceModelVec3Bedrock]here top of lithosphere is at "bedrock_altitude"; is that standard?
upward_geothermal_flux_in_lithosphereW m-2bheatflxvGhf [IceModelVec2S]typically applied at depth in lithosphere; compare "upward_geothermal_heat_flux_at_sea_floor"
land_ice_specific_enthalpyJ kg-1enthalpyEnth3 [IceModelVec3]enthalpy is defined in PISM to be sensible plus latent heat, plus potential energy of pressure; there is a nontrivial issue of the scaling; the enthalpy value for 273.15 K (cold) ice at atmospheric pressure is a possible standard
land_ice_liquid_fraction1liqfracliquid water fraction in ice, a pure number between 0 and 1; a diagnostic function of enthalpy which is not stored during run

Orphans

Used in PISM but no proposed standard name for now. This is an incomplete list.

PISM long_name canonical units (SI) PISM short name in NetCDF PISM internal IceModelVec name comments
rate of strain heatingW m-3strainheatSigma3 [IceModelVec3]
grounded_dragging_floating integer maskmaskvMask [IceModelVec2Mask]assumes integer values
effective thickness of subglacial melt watermbwatvHmelt [IceModelVec2S]
subglacial pore water pressurePa

currently neither written as NetCDF or an IceModelVec, but it should be write-able as diagnostic

Final technical notes

 All Classes Namespaces Files Functions Variables Typedefs Friends Defines