vertical_velocity¶

metpy.calc.vertical_velocity(omega, pressure, temperature, mixing=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 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 (pint.Quantity, optional) – Mixing ratio of air

Returns

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