Geopotential

Geopotential (symbol W) is the potential of the Earth's gravity field. It has SI units of square metre per square seconds (m2/s2). For convenience it is often defined as the negative of the potential energy per unit mass, so that the gravity vector is obtained as the gradient of the geopotential, without the negation. In addition to the actual potential (the geopotential), a theoretical normal potential (symbol U) and their difference, the disturbing potential (T = W − U), can also be defined.

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