Regression Equations for Specifying Atmospheric Density Above 30 Km from Observational Data at Radiosonde Altitudes

摘要

Analysis of a small rocket data sample from the Soviet observing site at Heiss Island (81 degrees N) indicated a high correlation between the density of the upper stratosphere and the temperature and pressure at certain altitudes in the lower stratosphere. Strong density-temperature and density-pressure relationships may be anticipated under certain conditions from consideration of the hydrostatic equation and the equation of state, the latter differentiated with respect to height. Large samples of rocket observational data for a northerly and a southerly station were specially processed to yield correlation coefficients for all possible pairs of altitudes between 20 and 60 km. Knowledge of maxima in the vertical profiles of the correlation coefficients then made it possible to construct regression equations with minimum standard error of estimate. It is shown that such equations may be used to predict the density satisfactorily at altitudes up to about 50 km from radiosonde observational data on the thermodynamic state of the lower stratosphere. Incidental to the development of the prediction equations is a discussion of the observed patterns of the intra-level correlation of density with temperature and pressure and the inter-level correlation of density with temperature, pressure, and density, to 80 km. (Author)