2010/03/07 by Gerhard Gerlich, Gerlich, Gerhard, Ralf D. Tscheuschner +1
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) #Climate variability and models #FOS: Physical sciences #Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #physics.ao-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1003.1508
14 pages (typo corrected)
openalex publication_date 2010/03/07 · arxiv created 2010/03/09 · arxiv updated 2010/03/11 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We derive the approximate pressure profiles, density profiles, and temperature profiles of an atmosphere, also called barometric formulas. Our variant of a derivation goes beyond the common standard exercise of a thermodynamics lecture, where commonly the discussion of the underlying physical assumptions is missed. We depart from the Navier-Stokes equation and explicitly point our attention on the physical assumptions disregarded elsewhere. We show that the usual assumptions can be relaxed leading to generalized formulas that hold even in the case of horizontal winds. This fundamental physics has some relevance to the current discussions on the climate debate.