A Study of Lateral and Longitudinal Intensities of Turbulence

Abstract

An analysis of the lateral and longitudinal intensifies of turbulence measured on a 62-m meteorological tower over a two-year period at White Sands Missile Range shows that both intensifies decrease with height in all thermal stratifications. This decrease can be expressed in terms of a simple power law in which the value of the exponent on height varies from about ?0.1 to ?0.3 as the stratification changes from lapse to inversion. Also, the turbulent intensifies at all heights and in all thermal stratification tend to be inversely proportional to the mean wind speed. This relationship is most pronounced during lapse conditions when the product of mean wind speed and turbulent intensity is practically constant. Diurnal variations of the intensifies at five heights are presented for three wind speed regimes, and the results are compared with measurements made previously at other locations.