CSN Basic Rules

  CSDMS Standard Names — Basic Rules

• This section provides some basic rules but many additional rules and naming patterns are given in other sections as explained below.
  
  

• Every standard name has an object part that describes a particular object and a quantity part that describes a particular attribute of that object that can be quantified with a number. Numerous templates, patterns and rules for constructing object names and quantity names are provided on the CSDMS Quantity Templates and CSDMS Object Templates pages. Quantity names are sometimes constructed using one of the CSDMS Process Names.
  
  

• A standard name may have an optional operation prefix that ends with "_of". See the CSDMS Operation Templates page for more information.
  
  

• Standard names consist of lower-case letters and digits. They contain no blank spaces. Underscores are the only non-alphanumeric character that is allowed in a standard name. All hyphens are converted to underscores.
  
  

• A single underscore is used between separate words in either object names or quantity names. A double underscore is used between the object part and the quantity part of the name. (But this rule has not yet been used in the examples.)
  
  

• The rightmost word in an object name is the base object to which the quantity applies. If the rightmost word in a quantity name is a quantity suffix, then the base quantity is the last two words in the quantity name. Otherwise, the base quantity is the last word. See the CSDMS Quantity Templates for an explanation of "quantity suffix".
  
  

• There are several short reserved words such as of, in, on (or and?), at and to. These are used within patterns that deal with various issues as described in the CSDMS Object Templates, CSDMS Quantity Templates and CSDMS Operation Templates.
  
  

• Many CSDMS Standard Names contain a person's last name. If the last name ends with the letter "s" — as in Burgers, Gibbs, Jones, Reynolds, Shields and Stokes — then it is retained. However, a possessive "s" is never added to the name, so we would use "newton" vs. "newtons" in a standard name.
  
  

• Approved acronyms may be included in standard names, but they are usually spelled out explicitly as in "counterclockwise" instead of "ccw". Standard symbols for the chemical elements (but lower-case, like "h" and "c") can be used in naming quantities like "bond_angle" that involve multiple atoms in a molecule. See Attributes of Molecules on the CSDMS Quantity Templates page. Other possible acronyms are: stp = standard temperature and pressure, toa = top of atmosphere (used in CF). The acronym "wrt" = "with respect to" is used in some operation templates.
  
  

• Numbers may be used as part of an object name or in adjectives. Examples include "cesium_133" and "550_nm_light_in_air_refraction_index". In the second example, "550_nm" would be preferable to "green".
  
  

• As explained at the top of the CSDMS Process Names page, the "ing" ending on process names such as "shearing" and "melting" is often dropped for quantities like "shear_stress" and "melt_rate" that use the Process_name + Quantity Pattern. However, the "ing" ending may be retained when the same word is used in a quantity like "melting_point_temperature" (vs. "melt_temperature").
  
  

• Word order in object names. Starting with a base object, descriptive words are added to the left in an effort to construct an unambiguous and easily understood object name. The addition of each new word (or words) produces a more restrictive or specific name from the previous name. For example:

bear
black_bear
alaskan_black_bear
 
spider
black_widow_spider

However, object names may contain either a single object name or multiple object names. In the Part of Another Object Pattern, there is generally some sort of "containment" and the separate object names are ordered from the general to the specific, left to right. In addition, some quantities — like concentration, partial pressure and solubility — require specifying multiple objects. Each of these quantities has a template that explains how words are ordered. For example, the "kinetic_friction_coefficient" associated with two objects that are in contact (e.g. rubber and pavement) doesn't imply an ordering, so the ordering is alphabetical in order to avoid multiple names for the same thing.

• Word order in quantity names. Starting with a base quantity (which could end with a quantity suffix), descriptive words are added to the left in an effort to construct an unambiguous and easily understood quantity name. The addition of each new word (or words) produces a more restrictive or specific name from the previous name. For example:

conductivity
hydraulic_conductivity
saturated_hydraulic_conductivity   (which uses the "Saturated Quantity Rule)
effective_saturated_hydraulic_conductivity

The order in which adjectives/modifiers are added to the left may not always be clear, but in this example "hydraulic_conductivity" and "saturated_hydraulic_conductivity" are two fundamental quantities that would be used in a groundwater model and "effective" could be applied to either of them to indicate application at a given scale. Note also that "saturated" could have been applied to "soil", the associated object, but in models "saturated_hydraulic_conductivity" is a fundamental quantity.

• Object vs. Adjective Rule. There are many cases where an adjective refers directly to a specific object. Examples include:

atmospheric, atmosphere:  mars_atmosphere_thickness
axial, axis:              earth_axis_tilt_angle
basal, base:              glacier_base_shear_stress
orbital, orbit:           earth_orbit_eccentricity
refractive, refraction:   550_nm_light_in_air_refraction_index
sectional, section:       channel_cross_section_area
solar, sun:               earth_to_sun_distance

Instead of using this type of adjective in a quantity name, the corresponding object name is used (as in the examples above), usually within the Part of Another Object Pattern. This will sometimes result in an instance of the Process_name + Quantity Pattern since process names are nouns/objects. (As in "550_nm_light_in_air_refraction_index" above.)

• State of Matter Rule. (Under review.) For some standard names it may be important to clarify the relevant (or assumed) state of matter. See: State of matter. For example, "gaseous_carbon_dioxide_refraction_index". In such cases, the adjective "gaseous", "liquid" or "solid" is inserted before the object name (e.g. "liquid_nitrogen"). But for a general quantity like "temperature", the state of matter would generally be omitted.
  
  

• Additional Rules. Some cases will most likely require new rules to avoid ambiguity. For example, should we use:

channel_bed_shear_stress
channel_bed_water_shear_stress
channel_water_at_bed_shear_stress or
channel_water_bed_shear_stress

Similarly, should we use:

channel_water_flow_speed or channel_water_speed ?
forest_area_fraction or forested_area_fraction ?