UCDs to describe atmospheric conditions

[Alberto Micol]

Dear Semantics WG,

ESO measures the atmospheric conditions at the various sites (Paranal, La Silla, Chajnantor, and later Armazones).
Here, a minimal list of the most important quantities measured:
·         Absolute humidity
·         Relative humidity
·         Turbulence intensity (in units of m**(1/3))
·         Temperature
·         Dew temperature
·         Precipitable water vapour
·         Wind direction
·         Wind speed component U, V, W
·         Rain (percentage)
·         Coherence time of the turbulence (Tau0)
·         Isoplanatic angle (Theta0)
·         Characteristic velocity of the turbulence
·         Small (0.5 micron) dust particle count per cube meter
·         etc.

Some of those quantities are measured at different altitudes around the domes (e.g. from -20m to +30m from the level of the VLT platform);
some others are measured at very different levels (from 0.5km to 16 km) to build the atmospheric vertical profiles of e.g., humidity, temperature, turbulence, etc..

All those measurements are offered via the ESO TAP (tap_obs).

The problem is that there are no UCDs I could use to describe those columns
(apart from the obvious phys.temperature, but then what to use for the dew temeperature?).

Would it be possible to introduce some new UCDs to cover those concepts?
I can provide the definitions for the listed quantities, if that helps defining those UCDs.

I also hope that other ground-based observatories have the same need, anybody out there?

Many thanks,
Alberto
--
Alberto Micol
Science Archive Group
European Southern Observatory

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