Contour line future weather patterns. Isobars are commonly used in television weather reporting. Isallobars are lines joining points of equal pressure change during a specific time interval. These can be divided into "anallobars", lines joining points of equal pressure increase during a specific time interval, and "katallobars", lines joining points of equal pressure decrease. In general, weather systems move along an axis joining high and low isallobaric centers. Isallobaric gradients are important components of the wind as they increase or decrease the geostrophic wind. An isopycnal is a line of constant density. An "isoheight" or "isohypse" is a line of constant geopotential
Pressure expressed in units such as joules per cubic metre (J/m, which is equal to Pa). Mathematically: Some meteorologists prefer the hectopascal (hPa) for atmospheric air pressure, which is equivalent to the older unit millibar (mbar). Similar pressures are given in kilopascals (kPa) in most other fields, where the hecto- prefix is rarely used. The inch of mercury is still used in the United States. Oceanographers usually measure underwater pressure in decibars (dbar) because pressure in the ocean increases by approximately one decibar per metre depth. The standard atmosphere (atm) is an established constant. It is approximately equal to typical air