The gravitational potential energy per unit mass, including the centrifugal contribution when using the effective gravity of a rotating planet. In a local atmosphere with approximately constant effective gravitational acceleration, up to a constant. Its horizontal gradient on an isobaric surface drives the balanced wind.
A surface on which geopotential is constant. Effective gravity is perpendicular to it. In a local constant-gravity approximation these surfaces are horizontal; comparing their slopes with isopycnals identifies the geometry permitting an adiabatic parcel exchange to release available potential energy.
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Geopotential is a term used in geodesy, meteorology, and various fields of geophysical sciences to describe the potential energy per unit mass of an object due to its position within a gravitational field. The geopotential at a given point in space is a measure of the work done against gravity to move a mass from a reference level (usually sea level) to that point.