ES2007/ES8007/ES7013

CLIMATE AND CLIMATE

CHANGE
DYNAMICS PART I
Assoc. Prof. KOH Tieh Yong
School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences
Nanyang Technological University

PRESSURE AND IDEAL GAS LAW

Pressure is the force exerted per unit area.

In a fluid, the pressure at a location is the same from
all directions.
In our atmosphere, the pressure p is well described by
the ideal gas law, which states that

p RT

where is the density, T is the temperature (in K) and

R is the specific gas constant (287 J K-1 kg-1 for air).
So the pressure of air
increases with increasing density if temperature is
kept constant
increases with increasing temperature if density is
kept constant.

HYDROSTATIC BALANCE

Consider a thin slab of fluid of density , area A and

thickness z located at height z.
pressure p(z+z) at z+ z
z+ z
z
weight of the
slab of fluid

pressure p(z) at z
mass of the slab

Weight of the slab = A z g

where g is the gravity field strength (9.8 m s-2)
Pressure force acting upward on the slab = p(z) A
Pressure force acting downward on the slab = p(z+ z) A

HYDROSTATIC BALANCE

For the slab of fluid to remain at the same height z, there

must be no net resultant force acting on it.
g A z p ( z z ) A p ( z ) A
Exercise: How does pressure
vary for the ocean, assuming
p ( z z ) p ( z ) g z
that water is incompressible?
p dp
(i.e. assume the density is constant.)

g
Hint: the gradient is constant
z dz
Hydrostatic balance is the equilibrium that exists
between the force due to vertical pressure gradient and the
weight of a fluid such that the fluid remains at rest in the
vertical direction.
This is a very good approximation for the atmosphere
and the oceans because vertical motion is generally weak.
Since the right-hand-side of the equation is negative,
pressure must decrease upwards for the fluid to
support its own weight.

ATMOSPHERIC MASS DISTRIBUTION

Pressure in the atmosphere falls roughly exponentially
with height.
From the ideal gas law, the atmospheric density also
falls roughly exponentially with height (for constant
temperature is roughly constant)
Pressure and density falls roughly by a factor of e
2.718 for every ascent of H in height in the atmosphere.

Assume that T = 250 K on average,

RT
H
g

(287 J K 1 kg 1 )(250 K)

7300 m 7.3 km
2
9.8 m s

ATMOSPHERIC MASS DISTRIBUTION

unit of atmospheric pressure: 1 mb = 100 Pa = 1 hPa

What is the pressure at the tropical tropopause (z = 15.5 km) if it

is 1000 mb at the surface?
p0 is the
pressure
at the
surface
i.e. when
z=0

p0
Ascend to z H , p
e
p
Ascend to z 2H , p 20
e
p
p
1000mb
Ascend to z nH , p n0 z /0H
120mb
15.5/7.3
e
e
2.718

REVISIT: ATMOSPHERIC STRUCTURE

Since pressure ALWAYS
decreases with increasing height,
we can use PRESSURE as a
VERTICAL COORDINATE!

250 K

75 to
0C

~15.9% of mass is in the stratosphere

The
120 250 mbor 120 mb
9-16 km tropical tropopause is roughly at 15.5km
Weather

~84% of mass is in the troposphere

tropics

extratropics
30 to
75 C

Modified from http://www.agci.org/classroom/images/Atm_Structure.png

ATMOSPHERIC MASS

The n
ext tw
f
o
r
DISTRIBUTIONES1007 o slides are
only!

Combine the ideal gas law and the hydrostatic balance

equation:
dp
pg

dz
RT
If the atmosphere has uniform temperature T,

dp
p
RT

; H
constant
dz
H
g
You can readily confirm that the exponential function for
pressure would satisfy the above relation.

p p0 exp
H
p
dp
z
p

0 exp
dz
H
H
H

same units as f

APPENDIX: EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

(EXAMINABLE ONLY FOR ES1007)

same units as x

The exponential function is generally of the form:

f ( x) Ae x / a A exp( ax ) for some constants a, A

The number e is the natural base and is also known as Eulers

number. It cannot be expressed as a fraction:
never ending &

never repeating digits

e = 2.7182818284590452353602874713527

The derivatives of the exponential function are proportional to

itself.
df
dx

d2 f
dx 2

a1 Ae x / a

d
dx

df
dx

f
a

d
dx

f
a

1 df
a dx

f
a2

Therefore, the exponential function is the solution to these

differential equationss:
df
f
dx
d2 f
dx

a 0

af2 0

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