Geopotential Altitude Calculator

Geopotential altitude represents the height above a reference surface called the geopotential surface, which is a hypothetical surface where the gravitational acceleration is constant. Geopotential altitude helps in understanding the potential energy per unit mass of an aircraft in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The formula to calculate geopotential altitude ($Z$) from geometric altitude ($h$) and the average gravitational acceleration ($g$) is given by:

Where:

• $Z$ is the geopotential altitude (in meters),
• $h$ is the geometric altitude (in meters),
• R_e​ is the mean radius of the Earth (approximately 6371 kilometers),
• g is the average gravitational acceleration (approximately 9.80665 m/s).