vertical_velocity#

metpy.calc.vertical_velocity(omega, pressure, temperature, mixing_ratio=0)[source]#

Calculate w from omega assuming hydrostatic conditions.

This function converts vertical velocity with respect to pressure \(\left(\omega = \frac{Dp}{Dt}\right)\) to that with respect to height \(\left(w = \frac{Dz}{Dt}\right)\) assuming hydrostatic conditions on the synoptic scale. By Equation 7.33 in [Hobbs2006],

\[\omega \simeq -\rho g w\]

so that

\[w \simeq \frac{- \omega}{\rho g}\]

Density (\(\rho\)) is calculated using the density() function, from the given pressure and temperature. If mixing_ratio is given, the virtual temperature correction is used, otherwise, dry air is assumed.

Parameters:

omega (pint.Quantity) – Vertical velocity in terms of pressure
pressure (pint.Quantity) – Total atmospheric pressure
temperature (pint.Quantity) – Air temperature
mixing_ratio (pint.Quantity, optional) – Mixing ratio of air

Returns:

pint.Quantity – Vertical velocity in terms of height (in meters / second)

Examples

>>> from metpy.calc import vertical_velocity
>>> from metpy.units import units
>>> vertical_velocity(-15 * units('Pa/s'), 700 * units.hPa, 5 * units.degC)
<Quantity(1.74463814, 'meter / second')>