AN INVESTIGATION OF VERTICAL-WIND-SHEAR INTENSITIES FROM BALLOON SOUNDINGS FOR APPLICATION TO AIRPLANE- AND MISSILE-RESPONSE PROBLEMS

摘要

An analysis was made of the daily upper-wind soundings obtained from one station for a period of one year in an attempt to obtain measurements of the vertical wind shear in a form applicable to airplane- and missile-response problems. On the basis of the variation with altitude of the wind speed and direction indicated by the soundings, significant wind-shear layers were resolved into two crosscomponents, the so-called longitudinal and normal shears, and their intensities and thicknesses determined.n These data are summarized in the form of frequency distributions of the shear intensity and the thickness of the shear layers for different altitude ranges and seasons of the year.nThe results indicate maximum longitudinal shear intensities of about 100 meters per second per kilometer occurring at altitudes of 10 to 15 kilometers during the winter and spring months and maximum normal shear intensities of about 60 meters per second per kilometer. Only about 10 percent of the shear layers were greater than 1 kilometer in thickness. The application of these results on the wind-shear intensities to the calculation of the normal response of a missile in vertical flight at two different altitudes is also considered briefly.