Aerospace Blockset™

CIRA-86 Atmosphere Model - Implement mathematical representation of 1986 CIRA atmosphere

Library

Environment/Atmosphere

Description

The CIRA-86 Atmosphere Model block implements the mathematical representation of the 1986 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA). The block provides values for absolute temperature, pressure, density, and speed of sound for the input geopotential altitude.

The CIRA-86 Atmosphere Model block icon displays the input and output units selected from the Units list.

Dialog Box

Units

Specifies the input and output units:

Units	Height	Temperature	Speed of Sound	Air Pressure	Air Density
`Metric (MKS)`	Meters	Kelvin	Meters per second	Pascal	Kilograms per cubic meter
`English (Velocity in ft/s)`	Feet	Degrees Rankine	Feet per second	Pound-force per square inch	Slug per cubic foot
`English (Velocity in kts)`	Feet	Degrees Rankine	Knots	Pound-force per square inch	Slug per cubic foot

Coordinate type

Specify the representation of the coordinate type. The default is GPHeight.

Pressure
Indicates pressure in pascal.
GPHeight
Indicates geopotential height in meters.

Mean value type

Specify mean value types. The default is Monthly.

Monthly
Indicates monthly values. If you select Monthly, you must also set the Month parameter.
Annual
Indicates annual values. Valid when Coordinate type has a value of Pressure.

Month

Indicates the month in which the mean values are taken. From the list, select the desired month. This parameter applies only when Mean value type has a value of Monthly.

Action for out or range input

Specify if out-of-range input invokes a warning, error, or no action.

Inputs and Outputs

Input Dimension Type Description

Input	Dimension Type	Description
First	Array	Contains the latitude in degrees (limited to +/-80 degrees).
Second	Array	Contains an `m` array of either: Geopotential heights in selected length units (Coordinate type is `GPHeight`) Pressures in selected pressure units (Coordinate type is `Pressure`)

First

Array

Contains the latitude in degrees (limited to +/-80 degrees).

Second

Array

Contains an m array of either:

Geopotential heights in selected length units (Coordinate type is GPHeight)
Pressures in selected pressure units (Coordinate type is Pressure)

Output	Dimension Type	Description
First	Array	Contains mean temperature in selected units.
Second	Array	Contains geopotential heights in selected units.
Third	Array	Contains mean zonal windows in selected units.

Assumptions and Limitations

This function uses a corrected version of the CIRA data files provided by J. Barnett in July 1990 in ASCII format.

This function has the limitations of the CIRA 1986 model. The values for the CIRA 1986 model are limited to the regions of 80 degrees S to 80 degrees N on the Earth and geopotential heights of 0 to 120 kilometers. In each monthly mean data set, values at 80 degrees S for 101,300 pascal or 0 meters were omitted because these levels are within the Antarctic land mass. Zonal mean pressure in constant altitude coordinates: pressure data was not available below 20 kilometers. Therefore, this is the bottom level of the CIRA climatology.

Reference

Fleming, E. L., Chandra, S., Shoeberl, M. R., Barnett, J. J., Monthly Mean Global Climatology of Temperature, Wind, Geopotential Height and Pressure for 0-120 km, NASA TM100697, February 1988

http://modelweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/atmos/cospar1.html