Turbulent atmospheric parameters determined from radio meteor trails

The application of turbulence theory to atmospheric structure revealed by radio meteor trails clearly demonstrates that Batchelor and Obhukoff's structure function for isotropic turbulence explains some of the observed relations. From these measurements, parameters such as the rate of viscous dissipation, the eddy intensity of the scales up to k' within the isotropic range, the local eddy Reynolds number describing the turbulence up to a scale k', and turbulent diffusion coefficient up to scale k', are determined. Also, an estimate of the rate at which turbulence extracts wind energy from the diurnal tide is given. The results of the parametric study suggest very strongly that the universal range of the turbulent spectrum, in the upper atmosphere, contains little or no energy extending into the inertial subrange, but lies for the most part near the viscous (high wavenumber) region. (Author).