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Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level varies in different countries due to different reference points and historic measurement periods.
The greater the altitude, the lower the pressure. When a barometer is supplied with a nonlinear calibration so as to indicate altitude, the instrument is a type of altimeter called a pressure altimeter or barometric altimeter. A pressure altimeter is the altimeter found in most aircraft, and skydivers use wrist-mounted versions for similar ...
A barometric altimeter, used along with a topographic map, can help to verify one's location. It is more reliable, and often more accurate, than a GPS receiver for measuring altitude; the GPS signal may be unavailable, for example, when one is deep in a canyon, or it may give wildly inaccurate altitudes when all available satellites are near the horizon.
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When flying at a flight level, the altimeter is always set to standard pressure (29.92 inHg or 1013.25 hPa). On the flight deck, the definitive instrument for measuring altitude is the pressure altimeter, which is an aneroid barometer with a front face indicating distance (feet or metres) instead of atmospheric pressure.
In ISA temperature conditions the altimeter will read the height above the airfield/runway in the vicinity of the airfield. SPS/STD - 'Standard Pressure Setting' or just 'Standard' refers to the altimeter being set to the standard pressure of 1013.25 hPa. It is the setting that causes an altimeter to read the aircraft's flight level (FL).
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It indicates altitude obtained when an altimeter is set to an agreed baseline pressure under certain circumstances in which the aircraft’s altimeter would be unable to give a useful altitude readout. Examples would be landing at a high altitude or near sea level under conditions of exceptionally high air pressure.