Homogeneous atmosphere

From Glossary of Meteorology
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homogeneous atmosphere[edit | edit source]

  1. A hypothetical atmosphere in which the density is constant with height.

    The lapse rate of temperature in such an atmosphere is known as the autoconvective lapse rate and is equal to g/R (or approximately 3.4°C/100 m), where g is the acceleration of gravity and R is the gas constant for air. A homogeneous atmosphere has a finite total thickness that is given by RdTv/g, where Rd is the gas constant for dry air and Tv is the virtual temperature (K) at the surface. For a surface temperature of 273 K, the vertical extent of the homogeneous atmosphere is approximately 8000 m. At the top of such an atmosphere both the pressure and absolute temperature vanish.


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