Experimental estimation of the spatial statistics of turbulence-induced index of refraction fluctuations in the upper atmosphere

摘要

We present results from an experiment to estimate the parameters of homogeneous, isotropic optical turbulence in the upper atmosphere. The balloon-borne experiment made high-resolution temperature measurements at seven points on a hexagonal grid for altitudes from 12,000 to 18,000 m. From the temperature data, we obtained index of refraction fluctuations that can be used to compute a sample-based estimate for a parameterized description of the spatial autocorrelation of the turbulence. The three parameters of interest were a proportionality constant P_(C), the power-law parameter α, and the outer scale L_(0). The results obtained for P_(C) are within the expected range and agree well with independent measurements made from a standard rising thermosonde measurement made approximately simultaneously with the data collection. Values for α were in the range 1.52≤α≤1.73 were observed, which are significantly less than the power law used in the Kolmogorov and von Karman models, α=1.833. Values observed for L_(O) were in the range 5≤L_(0)≤190 m. Evidence that α may be consistently less than that used in the Kolmogorov and von Karman models likely has the most significant implications for systems that must work in or through the tropopause.