Book Description

The U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962 is a product of COESA generated under the impetus of increased knowledge of the higher atmosphere and more accurate determinations of basic quantities, such as redefinition of the absolute thermodynamic temperature scale. For all practical purposes the U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1962 is in agreement with the ICAO Standard over their common altitude range. Background information, including a brief historical statement, is given in the Foreword. The document is arranged in three parts. Part I gives the basis for the main tables of atmospheric properties and contains a full development of gravity and geopotential as well as the basic assumptions, formulas, and derived quantities. In Part II additional information relating to the atmosphere is given, including discussion of systematic variations, observed and inferred extremes, and representations of atmospheric variables as approximate analytic functions of altitude. Part III contains the main tables of atmospheric properties to 700 kilometers calculated in both metric and English units. Throughout the document figures and short tables are introduced to aid in visualizing the variation with altitude of atmospheric parameters and to provide conversions between various units.