Contour line factors in a weather system. An isobar (from or "baros", meaning 'weight') is a line of equal or constant pressure on a graph, plot, or map; an isopleth or contour line of pressure. More accurately, isobars are lines drawn on a map joining places of equal average atmospheric pressure reduced to sea level for a specified period of time. In meteorology, the barometric pressures shown are reduced to sea level, not the surface pressures at the map locations. The distribution of isobars is closely related to the magnitude and direction of the wind field, and can be used to predict
Atmospheric-pressure laser ionization combined energy of the absorbed photons in this process must be above the ionization potential of the atom or molecule. In the simplest case, a single photon has sufficient energy to overcome the ionization potential. This process is therefore called single photon ionization, it is the basic principle of atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI). For sufficiently high power densities of the incident light also nonlinear absorption processes like the absorption of at least two photons in a rapid sequence via virtual or real states can occur. If the combined energy of the absorbed photons is higher than the ionization potential, this