[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[UDUNITS #XLB-595667]: Isotope conversions in the UDUNITS package



Jason,

Sounds intriguing.

Do you know what a use case is? If so, would you please describe one as an 
example.

> Hello,
> I've been reviewing some of the documentation and the units database 
> associated with the UDUNITS package and noticed a gap related to 
> isotope-specific units and conversions. Given the utility of isotopes in 
> atmospheric science, and scientific inquiry more generally, I was wondering 
> if I might propose additional functionality related to stable isotopes, as 
> well the conversion between different isotope units.
> 
> Problem statement:
> Isotope units are a bit of a mess. That is, we often use delta values (which 
> has both a permille and proportional version) for papers, presentations, 
> etc., but then do our actual calculations in isotope ratios, fractional 
> abundance, and sometimes atomic percent. And this is discounting radioactive 
> isotopes, which seem to have their own units (e.g., tritium units).
> 
> The conversions between these various units are fairly straight forward, but 
> requires attention to: 1) the element of interest (e.g., Oxygen vs Hydrogen), 
> 2) the isotope of interest (e.g., 18-O vs 17-O), 3) the standard being used 
> (e.g., VSMOW vs VPDB -- some isotopes have multiple standards; these have 
> been developed by the International Atomic Energy Authority and the World 
> Meteorological Organization) and 4) the specifications of the standard 
> (they've changed a little over time). Further, when working with standards, 
> there are some uncertainties associated with the outputs. It would be nice to 
> preserve these uncertainties, but this is not mission critical.
> 
> Proposal:
> Given the above, I am wondering if I might be able to work with you all to 
> provide information related to isotope units and converting between these 
> units in the UDUNITS package.
> 
> Thanks for your time and I hope to hear back from you in the near future.

Regards,
Steve Emmerson

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XLB-595667
Department: Support UDUNITS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed
===================
NOTE: All email exchanges with Unidata User Support are recorded in the Unidata 
inquiry tracking system and then made publicly available through the web.  If 
you do not want to have your interactions made available in this way, you must 
let us know in each email you send to us.