The potential temperature of a parcel of fluid at pressure is the temperature that the parcel would acquire if adiabatically brought to a standard reference pressure, usually 1000 millibars. The potential temperature is denoted and, for air, is often given by
where is the current absolute temperature (in K) of the parcel, is the gas constant of air, and is the specific heat capacity at a constant pressure. This equation is often known as Poisson's equation.
Read more about Potential Temperature: Contexts, Comments, Potential Temperature Perturbations, Derivation, Related Quantities
Famous quotes containing the words potential and/or temperature:
“And what is the potential man, after all? Is he not the sum of all that is human? Divine, in other words?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“The siren south is well enough, but New York, at the beginning of March, is a hoyden we would not care to miss—a drafty wench, her temperature up and down, full of bold promises and dust in the eye.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)