Proposed water body reclassification

[cmungall]

The lentic vs lotic distinction was introduced in #206.

Currently water body has children along multiple axes:

• [] ENVO:00000063 ! water body "An accumulation of water of varying size."
  • [i] ENVO:00000045 ! estuary "A semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea."
  • [i] ENVO:00000061 ! underground water body "A geographical feature associated with water that is under the surface of the earth."
  • [i] ENVO:00000483 ! plunge pool "A hollow eroded by the force of the falling water at the base of a waterfall, particularly by the eddying effect."
  • [i] ENVO:01000617 ! lentic water body "A lentic water body is a water body in which the accumulated water, in its totality, has very little to no directed flow."
  • [i] ENVO:01000618 ! lotic water body "A lotic water body is a water body in which the accumulated water, in its totality, is flowing."
  • [i] ENVO:01000710 ! flood "An unusual accumulation of water above the ground caused by high tide, heavy rain, melting snow or rapid runoff from paved areas."
  • [i] ENVO:01001319 ! saline water body "A body of water which is primarily composed of saline water."
  • [i] ENVO:01001320 ! fresh water body "A body of water which is primarily composed of freshwater, with low solute content."
  • [i] ENVO:03000040 ! melt pond "A water body which forms as a result of localised melting taking place on the surface of a glacier or a mass of sea ice and which is contained in the cavity formed by such melting."
  • [i] ENVO:03600094 ! stream pool "A water body which is created in a stream by local scour or impoundment and has some structural control."

Note that ENVO includes oceans and seas under "lentic". This is a little unusual. Layperson definitions of "lentic" all reflect the etymology and define as still/standing. While oceans are sometimes classified as lentic (e.g this), it is much more common to use the lentic/lotic distinction for freshwater systems (e.g https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/83428).

The ENVO definition doesn't have a source: A lentic water body is a water body in which the accumulated water, in its totality, has very little to no directed flow.

This is nicely (mostly) complementary to lotic: A lotic water body is a water body in which the accumulated water, in its totality, is flowing

Oceans of course exhibit directed flows at multiple scales. The "in its totality" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

I recommend one of two paths. I favor the second:

Clarify and source definition and add more precise criteria

As the definition of lentic is fairly non-standard it's important to come up with an authoritative source. I recommend adding additional details about what is meant by "in its totality".

I think having additional examples and clarifications in the gloss would be helpful (e.g. "while lentic is often applied to freshwater systems, in ENVO we include oceans and seas, because...")

I would also consider trying to make lentic/lotic JEPD in OWL, making the definitions completely complementary, and being very intentional about the placement or non-placement of estuary.

Note that this would still leave the level under "water body" as ragged.

Apply lentic/lotic to freshwater only

This could lead to a much simpler less ragged classification following a classic genus-differentia distinction

• water body
  • terrestrial water body
    • lentic terrestrial water body
      • lake
      • pond
    • lotic terrestrial water body
      • waterfall
      • watercourse
        • stream
        • ...
  • marine water body (Clean up mereology of ocean/sea components  #1594)
    • sea
    • ocean
  • marine/terrestrial interface water body
    • estuary

Note this classification can be made JEPD, which is much more ontologically clean, simpler for users, simpler for maintenance, and simpler for curators and annotators.

The above doesn't account for the subterranean/surface distinction, my preference would be to introduce this distinction at a deeper level