Back to cf_standard_names | Category Index
CF Standard Names (copied into data request to facilitate validation, particularly validation of consistency of definition in the CF standard with usage in the data request).
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| canonical_units | Pa |
| description | The surface called "surface" means the lower boundary of the atmosphere. "Surface stress" means the shear stress (force per unit area) exerted by the wind at the surface. A downward stress is a downward flux of momentum. Over large bodies of water, wind stress can drive near-surface currents. "Downward" indicates a vector component which is positive when directed downward (negative upward). "Northward" indicates a vector component which is positive when directed northward (negative southward). "Downward northward" indicates the ZY component of a tensor. A downward northward stress is a downward flux of northward momentum, which accelerates the lower medium northward and the upper medium southward. The specification of a physical process by the phrase "due_to_" process means that the quantity named is a single term in a sum of terms which together compose the general quantity named by omitting the phrase. "Boundary layer mixing" means turbulent motions that transport heat, water, momentum and chemical constituents within the atmospheric boundary layer and affect exchanges between the surface and the atmosphere. The atmospheric boundary layer is typically characterised by a well-mixed sub-cloud layer of order 500 metres, and by a more extended conditionally unstable layer with boundary-layer clouds up to 2 km. (Reference: IPCC Third Assessment Report, Working Group 1: The Scientific Basis, 7.2.2.3, https://archive.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg1/273.htm). |
| name | surface_downward_northward_stress_due_to_boundary_layer_mixing |
| uid | 3ba8db06-8ca2-11ef-944e-41a8eb05f654 |