Is there a formula or equation for figuring out the pressure of air at a certain altitude? — DLH, Conifer CO
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The atmosphere is too complicated to be described by a simple formula or equation, although you can always fit a formulaic curve to measured pressure values if you make that formula flexible enough. The complications arise largely because of thermodynamic issues: air expands as it moves upward in the atmosphere and this expansion causes the air to cool. As a result of this cooling, the air in the atmosphere doesn’t have a uniform temperature and, without a uniform temperature, the air’s pressure is difficult to predict. Radiative heating of the greenhouse gases and phase changes in the air moisture content further complicate the atmosphere’s temperature profile and consequently its pressure profile. If you want to know the air pressure at specific altitude, you do best to look it up in a table.