Variable names — HARP 1.17 documentation

# Variable names

To allow HARP to perform automatic operations on variables, it imposes a strict naming convention for variables. This naming convention applies to the variable name itself and is therefore fully complementary to naming conventions that apply to the value of a variable attribute, such as `standard_name` (as specified by netCDF-CF).

Note that it is possible to use variables inside HARP products with names that do not follow the convention, but then these variables may not be handled correctly by operations that you perform on the product. The general rule is that if you have a quantity that can be represented by the naming convention below then you should use the HARP variable name for it.

HARP defines the following variable names:

Name | Prefixes | Postfixes | Quality | Vert | Lat/Lon | Spect | Default unit | Comments
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
absolute_vorticity |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/s] |
absorbing_aerosol_index |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
aerosol_backscatter_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m/sr] |
aerosol_base_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
aerosol_base_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
aerosol_column_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m2] |
aerosol_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m3] |
aerosol_extinction_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m] |
aerosol_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
aerosol_lidar_ratio | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [sr] |
aerosol_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m3] |
aerosol_optical_depth | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X | X | X | X | [] | this is equal to ‘aerosol optical thickness’
aerosol_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
aerosol_top_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
aerosol_top_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_backscatter_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m/sr] |
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_base_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_base_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_column_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m2] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m3] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_extinction_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m] |
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_lidar_ratio | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [sr] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m3] |
<aerosol_size>_aerosol_optical_depth | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X | X | X | X | [] | this is equal to ‘aerosol optical thickness’
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_top_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
<aerosol_type>_aerosol_top_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
altitude | sensor, surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m] |
altitude_bounds |  |  | X | X | X |  | [m] |
angstrom_exponent |  |  | X | X | X |  | [] |
area |  |  | X |  |  |  | [m2] | the size of an area defined by latitude/longitude bounds
backscatter_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m/sr] |
circular_depolarization_ratio |  |  | X | X | X | X | [] |
cloud_albedo |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
cloud_base_albedo |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
cloud_base_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
cloud_base_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
cloud_base_temperature |  |  | X |  | X |  | [K] |
cloud_fraction |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
cloud_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
cloud_optical_depth |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] | this is equal to ‘cloud optical thickness’
cloud_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
cloud_temperature |  |  | X |  | X |  | [K] |
cloud_top_albedo |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
cloud_top_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
cloud_top_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
cloud_top_temperature |  |  | X |  | X |  | [K] |
cloud_type |  |  | X |  | X |  |  |
collocation_index |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | zero-based index as provided in the collocation result file
column_density | stratospheric, tropospheric | amf, apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [kg/m2] |
column_number_density | stratospheric, tropospheric | amf, apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [molec/m2] |
count |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | number of samples per bin for binning/averaging
datetime |  |  |  |  |  |  | [s since 2000-01-01] |
datetime_bounds |  |  |  |  |  |  | [s since 2000-01-01] |
datetime_length |  |  |  |  |  |  | [s] |
datetime_start |  |  |  |  |  |  | [s since 2000-01-01] |
datetime_stop |  |  |  |  |  |  | [s since 2000-01-01] |
density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m3] |
extinction_coefficient | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [1/m] |
frequency |  |  | X |  |  | X | [Hz] |
frequency_bounds |  |  | X |  |  | X | [Hz] |
frequency_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/m2/Hz] |
frequency_photon_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/s/m2/Hz] |
frequency_photon_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/s/sr/m2/Hz] |
frequency_photon_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
frequency_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/sr/m2/Hz] |
frequency_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
geoid_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
geopotential | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m2/s2] |
geopotential_height | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m] |
geopotential_height_bounds |  |  | X | X | X |  | [m] |
gravity | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m/s2] |
hlos_wind_velocity | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m/s] | hlos means ‘horizontal line of sight’
index |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | zero-based index of the sample within the source product
integration_time |  |  |  | X | X | X | [s] | provides measurement specific integration time (at e.g. altitude or wavelength) compared to overal datetime_length; only use if integration time differs from datetime_length; integration_time longer than datetime_length that covers multiple datetime values means replication of measured value in time dimension
land_type |  |  | X |  | X |  |  |
latitude | sensor |  | X |  | (lat) |  | [degree_north] |
latitude_bounds |  |  |  |  | (lat) |  | [degree_north] |
lidar_ratio | surface |  | X | X | X | X | [sr] |
linear_depolarization_ratio |  |  | X | X | X | X | [] |
location_name |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | name of the geographical location of the data
longitude | sensor |  | X |  | (lon) |  | [degree_east] |
longitude_bounds |  |  |  |  | (lon) |  | [degree_east] |
meridional_wind_velocity | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m/s] |
molar_mass |  |  | X | X | X |  | [g/mol] | this is the molar mass of the total substance (it is defined by the relation between the variables ‘density’ and ‘number_density’)
month |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | category variable for month of year (‘January’, …, ‘December’)
number_density | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [molec/m3] |
O3_effective_temperature |  |  | X |  | X |  | [K] |
optical_depth |  |  | X | X | X | X | [] | this is equal to ‘optical thickness’
orbit_index |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | the absolute orbit number for data from polar orbiting satellites
<particle>_column_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m2] |
<particle>_effective_radius |  |  |  |  |  |  | [m] |
<particle>_number_density |  |  | X | X | X |  | [1/m3] |
particle_type |  |  | X |  | X |  |  |
planetary_boundary_layer_height |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] |
<pm>_column_density | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m2] |
<pm>_density | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m3] |
potential_temperature | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [K] |
pressure | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [Pa] |
pressure_bounds |  |  | X | X | X |  | [Pa] |
radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/sr/m2] |
rain_rate |  |  | X |  | X |  | [mm/h] |
reflectance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
relative_azimuth_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] | absolute difference between sensor and solar azimuth angles
relative_humidity | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [] |
relative_vorticity |  |  | X | X | X |  | [] |
scan_direction_type |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
scan_subindex |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
scattering_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
scene_albedo |  |  | X |  | X |  | [] |
scene_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [Pa] |
scene_type |  |  | X |  | X |  |  |
sensor_azimuth_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
sensor_elevation_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
sensor_name |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | used mainly for ground based networks to provide a unique sensor id
sensor_zenith_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
<species>_column_density | stratospheric, tropospheric | amf, apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [kg/m2] |
<species>_column_number_density | stratospheric, tropospheric | amf, apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [molec/m2] |
<species>_column_mass_mixing_ratio | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X |  | X |  | [kg/kg] |
<species>_column_mass_mixing_ratio_dry_air | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X |  | X |  | [kg/kg] |
<species>_column_volume_mixing_ratio | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X |  | X |  | [ppv] |
<species>_column_volume_mixing_ratio_dry_air | stratospheric, tropospheric |  | X |  | X |  | [ppv] |
<species>_density | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m3] |
<species>_mass_flux |  |  | X | X | X |  | [kg/m2/s] |
<species>_mass_mixing_ratio | surface | apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [kg/kg] |
<species>_mass_mixing_ratio_dry_air | surface | apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [kg/kg] |
<species>_number_density | surface | apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [molec/m3] |
<species>_partial_pressure | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [Pa] |
<species>_partial_pressure_dry_air | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [Pa] |
<species>_slant_column_density |  |  | X |  | X |  | [kg/m2] |
<species>_slant_column_number_density |  |  | X |  | X |  | [molec/m2] |
<species>_volume_mixing_ratio | surface | apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [ppv] | this is equal to ‘number mixing ratio’
<species>_volume_mixing_ratio_dry_air | surface | apriori, avk, dfs, sic | X | X | X |  | [ppv] |
solar_azimuth_angle | sensor, surface, toa |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
solar_declination_angle |  |  |  |  |  |  | [degree] |
solar_elevation_angle | sensor, surface, toa |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
solar_hour_angle |  |  |  |  |  |  | [degree] |
solar_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/m2] |
solar_zenith_angle | sensor, surface, toa, |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
sun_normalized_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [degree] |
surface_albedo |  |  | X |  | X | X | [] |
temperature | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [K] |
tropopause_altitude |  |  | X |  | X |  | [m] | altitude of the troposphere/stratosphere boundary location
tropopause_pressure |  |  | X |  | X |  | [K] | pressure level of the troposphere/stratosphere boundary location
validity |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | validity flag for each time sample or whole product; only to be used if validity flag is for multiple variables combined
viewing_azimuth_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
viewing_elevation_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
viewing_zenith_angle |  |  | X |  |  |  | [degree] |
virtual_temperature |  |  | X | X | X |  | [K] |
wavelength |  |  | X |  |  | X | [m] |
wavelength_bounds |  |  | X |  |  | X | [m] |
wavelength_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/m2/m] |
wavelength_photon_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/s/m2/m] |
wavelength_photon_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/s/sr/m2/m] |
wavelength_photon_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
wavelength_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [W/sr/m2/m] |
wavelength_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
wavenumber |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/m] |
wavenumber_bounds |  |  | X |  |  | X | [1/m] |
wavenumber_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [Wm/m2] |
wavenumber_photon_irradiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [m/s/m2] |
wavenumber_photon_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [m/s/sr/m2] |
wavenumber_photon_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
wavenumber_radiance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [Wm/sr/m2] |
wavenumber_transmittance |  |  | X |  |  | X | [] |
weekday |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | category variable for day of week (‘Monday’, …, ‘Sunday’)
week |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | integer value representing an ISO week number within a year (1, …, 53)
weekyear |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | integer value representing an ISO week year
weight |  |  |  |  | X |  |  | weighting factors used for binning/averaging
wind_speed | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m/s] |
wind_direction | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [degree] |
year |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | integer value representing a year
zonal_wind_velocity | surface |  | X | X | X |  | [m/s] |

The supported partical types are:

Partical type | Description
--- | ---
aerosol | aerosol particles
<aerosol_size>_aerosol | any of the aerosol sizes
<aerosol_type>_aerosol | any of the aerosol types
ice_particle | ice particles
liquid_particle | liquid droplets
particle | any generic set of particles
<pm> | any of the particulate matter types
rain_particle | rain droplets
snow_particle | snow flakes

The supported aerosol sizes are:

Aerosol size | Description
--- | ---
ultrafine | particles < 0.1 um
fine | particles < threshold, 0.5 um <= threshold <= 2.5 um
coarse | particles > threshold, 0.5 um <= threshold <= 2.5 um

The supported aerosol types are:

Aerosol type | Description
--- | ---
black_carbon | black carbon
dust | dust
organic_matter | organic matter
sea_salt | sea salt
sulphate | sulphate

The supported PM (particulate matter) types are:

Name | Description
--- | ---
PM1 | particulate matter with d < 1 um
PM2p5 | particulate matter with d < 2.5 um
PM10 | particulate matter with d < 10 um

The supported species are:

Name | Description | Aliases (not used by HARP)
--- | --- | ---
dry_air | dry air |
BrO | bromine oxide |
BrO2 | bromine dioxide |
CCl2F2 | dichlorodifluoromethane | freon-12, CFC-12, R-12, F12
CCl3F | trichlorofluoromethane | freon-11, CFC-11, R-11, F11
CCl4 | tetrachloromethane |
CF4 | tetrafluoromethane | CFC-14, F14
CHClF2 | chlorodifluoromethane | HCFC-22, R-22, F22
CH3Cl | chloromethane, methyl chloride | HCC-40, R-40
CH3CN | acetonitrile, methyl cyanide |
CH3OH | methanol |
CH4 | methane |
CO | carbon monoxide |
COF2 | carbonyl fluoride |
COS | carbonyl sulfide | OCS
CO2 | carbon dioxide |
C2H2 | acetylene | HCCH
C2H2O2 | glyoxal | OCHCHO, CHOCHO
C2H3NO5 | peroxyacetyl nitrate | PAN
C2H6 | ethane |
C3H8 | propane |
C5H8 | isoprene |
ClNO3 | chlorine nitrate |
ClO | chlorine monoxide |
HCHO | formaldehyde | CH2O, H2CO
HCOOH | formic acid | HCO2H
HCN | hydrogen cyanide |
HCl | hydrogen chloride |
HF | hydrogen fluoride |
HNO2 | nitrous acid |
HNO3 | nitric acid |
HNO4 | peroxynitric acid |
HOCl | hypochlorous acid |
HO2 | hydroperoxyl |
H2O | water |
H2O_161 | water (H1/O16/H1 isotopes) |
H2O_162 | water (H1/O16/H2 isotopes) | HDO
H2O_171 | water (H1/O17/H1 isotopes) |
H2O_181 | water (H1/O18/H1 isotopes) |
H2O2 | hydrogen peroxide |
IO | hypoiodite |
ice_water | H2O in clouds in ice state | IWC
liquid_water | H2O in clouds in liquid state | LWC
NH3 | ammonia |
NO | nitric oxide |
NOCl | nitrosyl chloride |
NO2 | nitrogen dioxide |
NO3 | nitrate |
N2 | nitrogen gas |
N2O | nitrous oxide | NOS
N2O5 | dinitrogen pentoxide |
OClO | chlorine dioxide | ClO2
OH | hydroxyl |
O2 | oxygen |
O3 | ozone |
O3_666 | ozone (O16/O16/O16 isotopes) |
O3_667 | ozone (O16/O16/O17 isotopes) |
O3_668 | ozone (O16/O16/O18 isotopes) |
O3_686 | ozone (O16/O18/O16 isotopes) |
O4 | tetraoxygen, oxozone |
rain_water | H2O as rain | RWC
SF6 | sulfur hexafluoride |
SO2 | sulfur dioxide |
snow_water | H2O as snow/ice | SWC
water_vapour | H2O as water vapour |

Variables for which a prefix and/or postfix is provided can have any of the given prefixes and/or any of the given postfixes (separated by underscores). It is not allowed to provide more than one prefix or more than one postfix. Variables having an ‘X’ in the Quality column can have any of the following additional versions of the variable (where <variable> can include any of the allowed prefix and/or postfix combinations):

- <variable>_covariance

- <variable>_uncertainty

- <variable>_uncertainty_random

- <variable>_uncertainty_systematic

- <variable>_validity

Some examples of valid variable names are: `tropospheric_O3_column_number_density`, `tropospheric_O3_column_number_density_apriori`, `O3_column_number_density_apriori`, `tropospheric_O3_column_number_density_uncertainty`, `O3_column_number_density_apriori_uncertainty`.

The Vert, Lat/Lon, and Spec columns indicate whether a variable can be dependent on the `vertical`, `latitude` & `longitude`, and/or `spectral` dimensions (any variable can be dependent on the `time` dimension).

surface quantities

The ‘surface’ prefix should only be used when quantities are combined together with quantities that have a vertical dimension. If a product just contains surface quantities then don’t use a ‘surface’ prefix but just omit the vertical dimension and indicate the vertical level (i.e. location of the surface) using a ‘pressure’, ‘altitude’, and/or ‘geopotential_height’ variable.

Surface wind velocity variables are actually near-surface wind velocities (usually at surface_altitude + 10m).

azimuth angles

All (horizontal) azimuth angles in HARP should follow the convention that 0 is North facing and the angle is increasing when moving Eastwards (i.e. clockwise). Wind direction follows the same rules as for azimuth angles (North = 0, East = 90 degrees), but the direction indicates where the wind is coming from.

differences

In addition to the conventions above there can also be variables that describe a ‘difference’. These difference variables can only be used to describe differences of the same quantity between different datasets (‘x’ and ‘y’) and only for variables that have a unit. All difference variables in a single product should apply to the same datasets ‘x’ and ‘y’ (i.e. the difference variables should only reflect a single comparison of datasets; you should not combine one difference variable for ‘x-y’ and another for ‘x-z’ (even for different quantities) within the same product). A difference variable is indicated by a postfix. The ‘difference postfix’ can come before a ‘quality postfix’ if we are talking about the ‘quality of the difference’. If the ‘difference postfix’ comes after a ‘quality postfix’ then we are talking about the ‘difference of the quality quantity’. The supported differences are:

- <variable>_diff (\(x-y\))

- <variable>_diffrelx (\(\frac{x-y}{|x|}\))

- <variable>_diffrely (\(\frac{x-y}{|y|}\))

- <variable>_diffrelmin (\(\frac{x-y}{\min(|x|,|y|)}\))

- <variable>_diffrelmax (\(\frac{x-y}{\max(|x|,|y|)}\))

- <variable>_diffrelavg (\(\frac{2(x-y)}{|x|+|y|}\))

- <variable>_diffabs (\(|x-y|\))

- <variable>_diffabsrelx (\(\frac{|x-y|}{|x|}\))

- <variable>_diffabsrely (\(\frac{|x-y|}{|y|}\))

- <variable>_diffabsrelmin (\(\frac{|x-y|}{\min(|x|,|y|)}\))

- <variable>_diffabsrelmax (\(\frac{|x-y|}{\max(|x|,|y|)}\))

- <variable>_diffabsrelavg (\(\frac{2|x-y|}{|x|+|y|}\))

statistics

There are also ‘postfix’ variables available for statistics. HARP only provides naming conventions for statistical quantities that can be propagated (i.e. deriving statistics of a joined set of values based on statistics of disjoint subsets of those values). Quantities like count, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, minimum, and maximum, can be propagated, but median and IQR cannot. Variances should be stored as standard deviations. For the mean of a value, the original variable name itself is used. Other quantities are indicated by a postfix:

- <variable>_count

- <variable>_weight

- <variable>_stddev (sample standard deviation)

- <variable>_skewness

- <variable>_kurtosis

- <variable>_min

- <variable>_max

The ‘count’ and ‘weight’ are also available as variables on their own. The variable-specific postfix versions of ‘count’ and ‘weight’ should only be used when filtering out invalid values of a variable during binning/averaging would result in different count/weight values.

vertical profiles

The postfix ‘avk’ is used for averaging kernels of atmospheric vertical profiles. An AVK that only depends once on the vertical dimension is a column averaging kernel, and an AVK that depends twice on the vertical dimension is a profile averaging kernel. The ‘amf’ postfix is used for air mass factors. The ‘dfs’ postfix is used for the ‘degree of freedom for signal’ for vertical profiles which equals the trace or diagonal of the two-dimensional AVK and provides information on the vertical resolution and information content of profiles. The ‘sic’ postfix is used for the ‘Shannon information content’ for vertical profiles which can be derived from the two-dimensional AVK.