Geopotentiaalihöyhenet
Geopotentiaalihöyhenet, a Finnish term, translates to geopotential heights in English. These heights are crucial in meteorology and oceanography. Instead of measuring altitude directly from a reference surface like sea level, geopotential heights represent the amount of work needed to move a unit mass from a reference level to a given point in the Earth's gravitational field. This means that a geopotential height of, for example, 500 geopotential decameters (gpm) at the 500 hPa pressure level indicates the altitude where the atmospheric pressure is 500 hectopascals.
The advantage of using geopotential heights is that they are more directly related to the gravitational force.
In essence, geopotential heights provide a measure of altitude that accounts for variations in gravity. This