A NEW METHOD FOR ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE DETERMINATION.
Abstract
Number-density-versus-altitude data for two gases having large differences in molecular weight permit the accurate determination of the temperature of planetary atmospheres in diffusive equilibrium. A well-known equation relating temperature and number density of a single gas when applied alternately to the heavy and light gases determines a temperature-altitude profile with associated uncertainties which are minimized by an iterative process. A new equation simultaneously involving both the light-and heavy-gas number densities permits accurate temperature calculations in a single-step process. This dualgas equation applied to the upper half of a region of observed number-density data, together with the heavy-gas-down equation applied to the lower half of the region provides a minimum-error, temperature-altitude profile over the entire altitude range of number-density data. A rigorous error analysis demonstrates how the integration limits may be optimized. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0427618
Entities
People
- Gerhard Sauermann
- Lennart R. Peterson
- Raymond A. Minzner