Investigation of Outer Length Scale In Optical Turbulence
Abstract
Atmospheric turbulence degrades the electromagnetic propagation medium and affects many military applications. The strength and spatial distribution of turbulence are critical parameters that arise in theoretical modeling and experimental situations. This thesis investigated three outer scales of turbulence using experimental data from two instruments: microthermal probes carried by a balloon and an acoustic sounder. The outer length scale is the size of the largest energy-containing eddy in a turbulent region of the atmosphere. The length scales considered were the thermal length scale 1m associated with temperature fluctuations, the momentum length scale 1m which represents the size of the velocity fluctuations and the boundary thermal convective cell size. The microthermal balloon data had excessive scatter when the thermal outer scale was expressed in terms of the gradient Richardson number.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA420590
Entities
People
- Steven S. Lin
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School