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The earth atmosphere's scale height is about 8.5 km, as can be confirmed from this diagram of air pressure p by altitude h: At an altitude of 0, 8.5, and 17 km, the pressure is about 1000, 370, and 140 hPa, respectively.
Instead, assuming constant temperature, integrating gives the second barometric formula: = / In this formulation, R * is the gas constant, and the term R * T/Mg gives the scale height (approximately equal to 8.4 km for the troposphere).
Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as 101,325 Pa (1,013.25 hPa ), which is equivalent to 1,013.25 millibars , [ 1 ] 760 mm Hg , 29.9212 inches Hg , or 14.696 psi . [ 2 ]
a lapse rate given per kilometer of geopotential altitude (A positive lapse rate (λ > 0) means temperature decreases with height) In the above table, geopotential altitude is calculated from a mathematical model that adjusts the altitude to include the variation of gravity with height, while geometric altitude is the standard direct vertical ...
For this reason, this model may also be called barotropic (density depends only on pressure). For the isothermal-barotropic model, density and pressure turn out to be exponential functions of altitude. The increase in altitude necessary for P or ρ to drop to 1/e of its initial value is called the scale height:
In aviation, pressure altitude is the height above a standard datum plane (SDP), which is a theoretical level where the weight of the atmosphere is 29.921 inches of mercury (1,013.2 mbar; 14.696 psi) as measured by a barometer. [2]
A plot of geopotential height for a single pressure level in the atmosphere shows the troughs and ridges (highs and lows) which are typically seen on upper air charts. The geopotential thickness between pressure levels – difference of the 850 hPa and 1000 hPa geopotential heights for example – is proportional to mean virtual temperature in ...
= pressure . In meteorology, and are isobaric surfaces. In radiosonde observation, the hypsometric equation can be used to compute the height of a pressure level given the height of a reference pressure level and the mean virtual temperature in between. Then, the newly computed height can be used as a new reference level to compute the height ...