ClimateMachine Variable List

This document is currently for collaborators within the project with access to the Overleaf CliMA-Atmos docs. The purpose of this page is to unify the naming conventions used in the Overleaf document in a manner useful for coding. This document suggests 'reserved' variable names in <property>_<species> format with the default working fluid (no-subscript) being moist air. Contributors to the CliMA repository are welcome to suggest changes when necessary.

Type parameters

The Julia code typically uses T as a type parameter, however this conflicts with the typical usage for temperature. Instead, good choices are:

  • FT for floating point values

Names reserved for debug variables

dummy
scratch

2.1 Working Fluid and Equation of State

q_dry = dry air mass fraction
q_vap = specific humidity, vapour
q_liq = specific humidity, liquid
q_ice = specific humidity, ice
q_con = specific humidity, condensate
q_tot = specific humidity, total

P_<species>     = pressure, species (no subscript == default working fluid moist air)
ρ_<species>     = density, species (no subscript == default working fluid moist air)
R_m             = gas constant, moist
R_d             = gas constant, dry
R_v             = gas constant, water vapour
T               = temperature, moist air
T_<species>     = temperature, species

2.2 Mass Balance

dt              = time increment
u               = x-velocity
v               = y-velocity
w               = z-velocity
U               = x-momentum
V               = y-momentum
W               = z=momentum

2.3 Moisture balances

source_qt           = local source/sink of water mass [S_qt]
diffusiveflux_vap   = diffusive flux, water vapour
diffusiveflux_liq   = diffusive flux, cloud liquid
diffusiveflux_ice   = diffusive flux, cloud ice
diffusiveflux_tot   = diffusive flux, total

2.4 Momentum balances

U               = x-momentum
V               = y-momentum
W               = z-momentum (2D/3D: this is the vertical coordinate)
Ω_x             = x-angular momentum
Ω_y             = y-angular momentum
Ω_z             = z-angular momentum
τ_xx            = stress tensor ((1,1) component)
τ_<ij>          = replace ij with combination of x/y/z to recover appropriate value
λ_stokes        = Stokes parameter

2.5 Energy balance

<Lower case e_<type> suggests specific (per unit mass) quantities>
e_kin_<spe>      = specific energy per unit volume, kinetic
e_pot_<spe>      = specific energy per unit volume, potential
e_int_<spe>      = specific energy per unit volume, internal
e_tot_<spe>      = specific energy per unit volume, total

E_kin_<spe>      = energy, kinetic
E_pot_<spe>      = energy, potential
E_int_<spe>      = energy, internal
E_tot_<spe>      = energy, total

cv_m             = isochoric specific heat, moist air
cv_d             = isochoric specific heat, dry air
cv_l             = isochoric specific heat, liquid water
cv_v             = isochoric specific heat, water vapour
cv_i             = isochoric specific heat, ice

cp_m             = isobaric specific heat, moist air
cp_d             = isobaric specific heat, dry air
cp_l             = isobaric specific heat, liquid water
cp_v             = isobaric specific heat, water vapour
cp_i             = isobaric specific heat, ice

2.6 Microphysics

q_rai = specific humidity, rain [kg/kg]

terminal_velocity = mass weighted average rain fall speed [m/s]

conv_q_vap_to_q_liq      = tendency to q_liq and q_ice due to
                           condensation/evaporation and
                           sublimation/resublimation from q_vap [1/s]
conv_q_liq_to_q_rai_acnv = tendency to q_rai due to autoconversion from q_liq [1/s]
conv_q_liq_to_q_rai_accr = tendency to q_rai due to accretion from q_liq [1/s]
conv_q_rai_to_q_vap      = tendency to q_vap due to evaporation from q_rai [1/s]

2.7 Diagnostics

Please see the diagnostic variable list.

TODO

Update with list of additional parameters / source terms as necessary