Aircraft measurements of atmospheric kinetic energy spectra

Abstract

Wind velocity data obtained from a jet airliner have been used to construct kinetic energy spectra over the range of wavelengths from 2.5 to 2500 km. The spectra exhibit an approximate -5/3 slope for wavelengths of less than about 150 km, steepening to about — 2.2 at larger scales. These results support and extend the measurements of spatial and temporal spectra of Vinnichenko and Dutton (1969), Brown and Robinson (1979), and Balsley and Carter (1982), and are generally consistent with the recent results of Nastrom and Gage (1983).