s^-1

[Steve Dedman]

What is this? In looking at the vert vel prog on TwisterData.com, the scale unit is Pa s^-1. I know the Pa is a Paschal. I know the s^-1 is a conversion unit. But what is the operational significance of the "Pa s^-1" unit?

Also, what are the contour lines on that chart indicating?

 

[rdale]

Contours are the 700mb heights, s to the -1 means you put it on the bottom of the equation (so under the / ) so it's "per second"

 

[David Goines]

The s^-1 means "per second".
A negative exponent means "1 divided by".
eg. 5^-1 = 1/5 and 5^-2 = 1/25
I'm not sure if you knew about negative exponents but there ya go.

And being vertical velocity, a unit of Paschals/second would mean the rate at which a particle is changing height. A negative number would mean the particle is rising because pressure decreases with an increase in altitude. And a positive number would indicate sinking air as pressure increases as altitude decreases.

As for the contour lines, in the link you posted (700mb), they are the height contours at 700mb with a unit of decameters. The units of everything on their maps are on the bottom left.

Hope this helps.

Edit: ha, rdale beat me to it. I was wondering where you were. lol