MISCELLANEOUS ASTRONOMICAL CONSTANTS* 



Angular velocity of earth rotation —0.729211 X 10~*sec~' 



Mean solar day 86,400 sec = 1.0027379 si- 

 dereal day 



Sidereal day 86,164.09054 mean solar sec 



{23 hr 56 min 4.09054 sec) 



Solar parallax 8.80 sec of arc 



Mean distance of sun 1 .4945 X 10^ km 



Mean density of sun 1 .41 gm/cm 



Solar diameter 1.393 X 10® km 



Obliquity of the ecliptic 23°26'59" 



fTidal constituents, mean increase in hour angle 



of sun 1 5°/hr 



celestial longitude of sun 0.041 l°/hr 



celestial longitude of moon 0.5490°/hr 



celestial longitude of lunar perigee 0.0046°/hr 



Mean distance of moon from earth 384,393 km 



Moon's sidereal period 27.322 days 



Moon's synodic period 29.5 ± 0.5 days 



Earth's mass 5.975 X lO'^' gm 



Sun's mass , 1.987 X IO"gm 



(330,000 earth masses) 



Moon's mass 7.343 X 10^^ gm 



(1/81.56 earth mass) 



Gravitation constant G (6.670 ± 0.005) X 10"^ 



dyne • cm^/gm^ 

 §Acceleration due to gravity^ 



sea level, 0" latitude 978.039 cm/sec^ 



sea level, 90" latitude 983.217 cm/sec^ 



* Adapted from Smithsonian Physical Tables, 1954 (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections, Vol. 120), 9th revised ed,, prepared by W. E. Forsythe, Washington, D.C.: 

 The Smithsonian Institution. 



t P- Schureman, 1940, Manual of Harmonic Analysis and Prediction oj Tides, 2nd ed., 

 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Special Publication No. 98, Washington, D.C: 

 U.S. Government Printing Office; A. T. Doodson and H. D. Warburg, 1941, Ad- 

 miraltji Manual of Tides, London: H.M. Stationery Office. 



§ Based on a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey formula. 



MISCELLANEOUS TERRESTRIAL CONSTANTS* 



Area of the earth 510.100 X 10*' km' 



Area of the land 148.847 X lO" km^ 



Area of the oceans 361.254 X 10° km^ 



Mean depth of oceans 3.790 km 



Volume of the oceans 1.369 X 10^ km^ 



Percent ocean volume colder than 10°C. . . .93% 



Percent ocean volume colder than 4''C 76% 



Mean depth of thermocline 0.2 km 



Volume of lower atmosphere 4 X 10^ km^ 



Standard sea level pressure of 



atmosphere 1.01325 X 10^ dynes/cm* 



Approximate pressure gradient of 



oceans 0.1 atm/m or 0.5 Ib/inVft 



Maximum insolation at top of 



atmosphere 2 ly/min 



24-hr mean insolation at top of 



atmosphere 0.5 ly/min 



24-hr mean insolation at surface 0.25 ly/min 



Mean temperature of earth surface 287"^ 



Mean albedo of earth 0.34 



fHeat flux through sea floor 1.2 X 10~® ly/sec 



§Evaporation rate from oceans 93 — 106 cm/year 



EUipticity of earth 1/297 



Equatorial radius 6378 km 



* Smithsonian Meteorological Tables, 1951 (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 

 Vol. 114), 6th revised ed., prepared by Robert J. List, Washington, D.C: The 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



t R. Revelle and A. E. Maxwell, 1952, /Mature, Land., 170: 199-200. 



§G. Wust, 1936, Landerkundliche Forsckung, Festschrift Norbcrt Krebs: 347-359; 

 H. Mosby, 1936, Ann. Hydrogr., Berl., 64: 281-286. 



GROSS PROPERTIES OF SEA WATER 



(For physical units and chemical definitions see B. Hclland*Hanscn, J. P. Jacob- 

 sen, and T. G. Thompson, 1948, Un. giod. giophys. int.. Ass. Ocianogr. phys. Publ. Sci., 

 9: 28 pp.) 



Characteristic density, /(j, t,p) 1.025 gm/cm^ 



Velocity of sound, /(j, t,p) atsurface = 1448.6 m/sec 



Specific heat, Cpf (s) 0.932 cal/gm/*'C at 35 7oo 



Adiabatic lapse rate,/(j,/>) approx. 0.1*C/km 



Maximum surface temperature 32*C 



Minimum surface temperature — 2'*C 



Median surface temperature 20°C 



Average temperature . 3.8°C 



Latent heat of fusion and vaporization same as pure v^-ater 



Specific Heat at Constant Pressure for Various Salinities* 



Effects of Pressure on the Properties of Sea Water 

 at 0°C and Salinity of 35 Voo* 



* Adapted from R. B. Montgomery, 1957, "Occanographic Data," pp. 2-115 to 

 2-124, American Inslituie of Physics Handbook, New York: McGraw-Hill. 



(From "An Introduction to Physical Oceanography" 

 by Wiliiam S. von Arx, Addlson-Wesley Publishing 

 Co», copright owners.) 



13^ 



