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To obtain the geopotential height (h) in metres (of the land and sea surface or at particular heights in the atmosphere), simply divide the geopotential by the Earth's gravitational acceleration, which has a fixed value of 9.80665 m/s2 in the IFS. This geopotential height is relative to mean sea level - for more information see ERA5: data documentation.
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Note, in the Climate Data Store (CDS) for ERA5, geopotential at the surface is called orography. |
Geometric height
The geometric height or altitude (alt) is given by:
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