G.2 Development of models of the Earth’s atmosphere

A “Standard Atmosphere” is defined as a vertical distribution of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and density, which by international agreement is taken to be representative of the Earth’s atmosphere. The first “Standard Atmospheres” established by international agreement were developed in the 1920’s primarily for purposes of pressure altimeter calibrations, aircraft performance calculations, aircraft and rocket design, ballistic tables, etc. Later some countries, notably the United States, also developed and published “Standard Atmospheres”. The term “Reference Atmosphere” is used to identify vertical descriptions of the atmosphere for specific geographical locations or globally. These were developed by organizations for specific applications, especially as the aerospace industry began to mature after World War II. The term “Standard Atmosphere” has in recent years also been used by national and international organizations to describe vertical descriptions of atmospheric trace constituents, the ionosphere, atomic oxygen, aerosols, ozone, winds, water vapour, planetary atmospheres, etc.

Currently some of the most commonly used Standard and Reference Atmospheres include the ISO Standard Atmosphere, 1975 [RD.126], 1982 [RD.127] the U. S. Standard Atmosphere Supplements, 1962 [RD.123], 1966 [RD.124]] 1976 [RD.125], the COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA), 1986 [RD.128] (previously issued as CIRA 1961 [RD.129], CIRA 1965 [RD.130] and CIRA 1972 [RD.131]), the NASA/MSFC Global Reference Atmosphere Model (GRAM), 1999 [RD.136] (previously issued as GRAM-86 [RD.132]], GRAM-88 [RD.133], GRAM-90 [RD.134] and GRAM-95 [RD.135]), the NRLMSISE-00 Thermospheric Model, 2000 [RN.4] (previously issued as MSIS-77 [RD.35], -83 [RD.37], -86 [RD.38]] and MSISE-90 [RD.137]) and most recently the JB-2006 density Model [RN.5].