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Articles | Volume 17, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15037-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15037-2017
Technical note
 | 
19 Dec 2017
Technical note |  | 19 Dec 2017

Technical note: A noniterative approach to modelling moist thermodynamics

Nadya Moisseeva and Roland Stull

Abstract. Formulation of noniterative mathematical expressions for moist thermodynamics presents a challenge for both numerical and theoretical modellers. This technical note offers a simple and efficient tool for approximating two common thermodynamic relationships: temperature, T, at a given pressure, P, along a saturated adiabat, T(P, θw), as well as its corresponding inverse form θw(P, T), where θw is wet-bulb potential temperature. Our method allows direct calculation of T(P, θw) and θw(P, T) on a thermodynamic domain bounded by −70 ≤ θw < 40 °C, P > 1 kPa and −100 ≤ T < 40 °C, P > 1 kPa, respectively. The proposed parameterizations offer high accuracy (mean absolute errors of 0.016 and 0.002 °C for T(P, θw) and θw(P, T), respectively) on a notably larger thermodynamic region than previously studied. The paper includes a method summary and a ready-to-use tool to aid atmospheric physicists in their practical applications.

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This technical note presents simple noniterative approximations for two common thermodynamic...
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