pvl_pres2alt
Determine altitude (m) from site pressure (Pa).
Contents
Syntax
altitude = pvl_pres2alt(pressure)
Description
altitide = pvl_pres2alt(pressure) determines the altitude (in meters above sea level) of a site on Earth's surface given its atmospheric pressure (in Pascals).
Assumptions
- Pressure at mean sea level = 101325 Pa.
- Temperature at zero altitude = 288.15 K.
- Gravitational acceleration = 9.80665 m/s^2.
- Lapse rate = -6.5E-3 K/m.
- Gas constant for air = 287.053 J/(kg*K).
- Relative Humidity = 0%.
Inputs
- pressure - atmospheric pressure (in Pascals) of a site on Earth's surface given its altitude
Outputs
- altitude - altitude (in meters above sea level) as a vector of the same size as pressure.
Example
Alt1 = pvl_pres2alt(101325) % Sea level, result should be near zero Alt2 = pvl_pres2alt(80000) % Approximate pressure near 2,000 meters abobe sea level
Alt1 = 0.1243 Alt2 = 1.9491e+03
References
Portland State Aerospace Society, 2004. A Quick Derivation relating altitude to air pressure, Version 1.03, http://psas.pdx.edu/RocketScience/PressureAltitude_Derived.pdf.
See Also
pvl_alt2pres, pvl_makelocationstruct
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