Scale height is a concept used in atmospheric science and astrophysics to describe the rate at which the pressure or density of an atmosphere decreases with altitude (or distance from the center of a celestial body).
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A scale height is a characteristic distance over which a vertically stratified physical quantity varies. For a decreasing exponential , it is . The local pressure scale height applies this logarithmic measure to pressure; density and pressure scale heights need not coincide when temperature varies.