[mpas-developers] specifying tracers

[Mark Petersen]

Michael,

I need to assign an index number to temperature and salinity within the 
tracer array.  Eventually we will have numerous tracers that will need a 
corresponding tracer index.

The easiest idea is to have integer variables
iTemperature=1
iSalinity=2
But that requires manual manipulation and reordering as we add tracers.

A more advanced method is to have an unnumbered list of tracers, perhaps 
in the Registry, and some function like
   ind = getTracerIndex('temperature')
so that the numbering is automatic and hidden.

Have you given this any thought?  Perhaps mpas already has some indexing 
capabilities?

Thanks,
Mark