parcel_model.thermo.rho_air

parcel_model.thermo.rho_air(T, P, RH=1.0)

Density of moist air with a given relative humidity, temperature, and pressure.

Uses the traditional formula from the ideal gas law (3.41)[Petty2006].

\[\begin{equation} \rho_a = \frac{P}{R_d T_v} \end{equation}\]

where \(T_v = T(1 + 0.61w)\) and \(w\) is the water vapor mixing ratio.

Parameters:

T : float

ambient air temperature, K

P : float

ambient air pressure, Pa

RH : float, optional (default=1.0)

relative humidity, decimal

Returns:

float

\(\rho_{a}\) in kg m**-3

References

[Petty2006]Petty, Grant Williams. A First Course in Atmospheric Radiation. Sundog Publishing, 2006. Print.