brunt_vaisala_frequency_squared

metpy.calc.brunt_vaisala_frequency_squared(heights, potential_temperature, axis=0)[source]

Calculate the square of the Brunt-Vaisala frequency.

Brunt-Vaisala frequency squared (a measure of atmospheric stability) is given by the formula:

\[N^2 = \frac{g}{\theta} \frac{d\theta}{dz}\]

This formula is based off of Equations 3.75 and 3.77 in [Hobbs2006].

Parameters

  • heights (pint.Quantity) – One-dimensional profile of atmospheric height

  • potential_temperature (pint.Quantity) – Atmospheric potential temperature

  • axis (int, optional) – The axis corresponding to vertical in the potential temperature array, defaults to 0.

Returns

pint.Quantity – The square of the Brunt-Vaisala frequency.

See also

brunt_vaisala_frequency(), brunt_vaisala_period(), potential_temperature()