Physics Dictionary

The time for radiative cooling to occur following the imposition of a small temperature gradient. From Holton (1979), the change in energy flux as a function of height z in an atmosphere is given by

(1)

where is the density, is the heat capacity at constant pressure in J K-1 kg-1, and T is the temperature. Rearranging and integrating gives

(2)

If and are constant with z, then

(3)

where is the column density. Energy balance requires that

(4)

Holton, J. R. An Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology, 2nd ed. New York: Academic Press, 1979.

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