difference_between_sea_surface_temperature_and_air_temperature

Sea surface temperature is usually abbreviated as "SST". It is the temperature of sea water near the surface (including the part under sea-ice, if any), not the skin or interface temperature, whose standard names are sea_surface_skin_temperature and surface_temperature, respectively. For the temperature of sea water at a particular depth or layer, a data variable of "sea_water_temperature" with a vertical coordinate axis should be used. Air temperature is the bulk temperature of the air, not the surface (skin) temperature. It is strongly recommended that a variable with this standard name should have the attribute units_metadata="temperature: difference", meaning that it refers to temperature differences and implying that the origin of the temperature scale is irrelevant, because it is essential to know whether a temperature is on-scale or a difference in order to convert the units correctly (cf. https://cfconventions.org/cf-conventions/cf-conventions.html#temperature-units).

List containing this term version: CF (85) CF (86)

Proposls with this term version:

Proposal: Jonathan Gregory & Lars Barring [Classification of existing standard name]

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