| | Geopotential height - collegetextbooks.net (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-06) |
 | | Geopotential is usually represented by the symbol F. Geopotential height is just the geopotential divided by g0, the standard value of gravity (i.e., the globally averaged value of gravity at Earth's surface). |
 | | Thus, in this region of the atmosphere, the geopotential height Z is within 1% of the actual geometric height z throughout the lowest 100 km -- the troposphere and stratosphere -- of Earth's atmosphere. |
 | | Geopotential height variations such as these have been observed intensively in the atmosphere since the International Geophysical Year in 1957, giving us a good, long-term record of their behavior and providing a useful record of atmospheric temperature changes. |
| www.collegetextbook.net /sci_geopotential.shtml (289 words) |