850mb height and vertical velocity

[jgf]

in the 850mb and vertical velocity chart.., the units of vertical velocity are dPa s^-1

i googled it, but couldn't find anything  -  i am very familiar with the Pascal (Pa) as a unit of pressure.., and i am assuming d is for deci ..,but how are pascals per second a unit of velocity?

[It's Always Sunny]

47 minutes ago, jgf said:

in the 850mb and vertical velocity chart.., the units of vertical velocity are dPa s^-1

i googled it, but couldn't find anything  -  i am very familiar with the Pascal (Pa) as a unit of pressure.., and i am assuming d is for deci ..,but how are pascals per second a unit of velocity?

Someone with more mathematical expertise can probably go into more detail here, but meteorology uses mainly pressure units when looking at things horizontally and vertically (think of it in a 3-D point of view) so a certain increase or decrease in pressure over a unit of time is indicative of how much ascent or descent there is when speaking in the vertical. Hope this helps.

[jgf]

well, i can understand that.., but given that density varies.., two equal values of dPa S^-1 might have completely different actual vertical velocities..

also.., the 850mb surface is itself defined by pressure.., so now we are talking about the rate of change of pressure, on a constant pressure surface...

i guess it could be looking, in a lagrangian sense, at the rate of change of pressure for a particle moving through that 850mb surface.., but maybe rather than speculate i will hope that someone clears it up.