Pseudopotential temperature

The pseudopotential temperature in  K is a fictitious temperature measure that is used, especially in meteorology , to compare the temperatures of different air masses . While the potential temperature takes different air pressures into account, the pseudopotential temperature also takes into account the latent heat contained in moist air . This enables a comparison of the energies contained in the air masses . ${\displaystyle T_{ps}}$

Vividly described one obtains the pseudo-potential temperature by as long as the air adiabatic relaxed until all the moisture condenses out is then removed and then the moisture dry air adiabatic again brings to the reference pressure.

This gives the pseudopotential temperature:

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}T_{ps}&=\theta \cdot e^{\frac {L\cdot m}{c_{p}\cdot T}}\\&=T\cdot e^{\frac {L\cdot m}{c_{p}\cdot T}}\cdot \left({\frac {p_{0}}{p}}\right)^{\frac {R_{L}}{c_{p}}}\end{aligned}}}$

The individual symbols stand for the following quantities :

• θ : potential temperature in [K]
• L : specific heat of vaporization of water in [J / kg]
• m : Mixing ratio of water vapor / air
• c _p : specific heat capacity of air at constant pressure = 1003 J / (kg K)
• R _L : specific gas constant for dry air = 287 J / (kg K)
• T : absolute temperature
• p : pressure
• p ₀ : reference pressure (usually 1000 hPa)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Agricultural Meteorology: Pseudopotential Temperature. Retrieved October 3, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne: Explanations of the radiosonde diagrams. (PDF; 58 kB) Retrieved October 3, 2009 .