Hydrostatic approximation

The hydrostatic approximation neglects vertical acceleration relative to gravity and vertical pressure gradients. It reduces vertical momentum balance to $p_z=-\rho g$.

Vertical pressure gradient balances gravitational force per unit volume. Subtracting the resting hydrostatic state and using kinematic pressure gives $p_z^{\prime }=b^{\prime }$ for a Boussinesq approximation buoyancy anomaly. The approximation neglects vertical acceleration; this diagnostic relation is what couples buoyancy perturbation to the vertical pressure profile.

For an ideal gas with constant composition, set $\mathcal{R}=k_B/\bar{m}$, where $\bar{m}$ is the mean particle mass. Constant downward gravitational acceleration $g$ and $T=T_0-\alpha z>0$ give $p^{\prime }=-(g/\mathcal{R}T)p$ by hydrostatic equilibrium. Integration gives $p/p_0=(T/T_0{)}^{g/(\mathcal{R}\alpha )}$, and the ideal gas law gives the displayed mass density ratio. The isothermal limit $\alpha \to 0$ is $\rho /{\rho }_0=\exp [-gz/(\mathcal{R}{T}_0)]$.