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Aircraft measurements of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy
Author(s) -
Taylor R. J.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49709841713
Subject(s) - turbulence kinetic energy , turbulence , dissipation , kinetic energy , buoyancy , range (aeronautics) , mechanics , wind speed , root mean square , meteorology , physics , clear air turbulence , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , classical mechanics , materials science , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , composite material
Fifty values of the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy, ε, deduced from spectra of vertical air velocity component made from an aircraft are presented. While generally in the range of values found by other authors the distribution of ε with height shows a good deal of scatter. This can in large measure be resolved by grouping the observations according to site roughness, season and wind speed, thus allowing for the varying contributions to ε of the wind‐shear and buoyancy‐force terms. The characteristic decay time of the turbulence (defined as the variance of vertical velocity divided by ε) increases consistently as the square root of height.