The challenge of calculating turbulence parameters from aircraft data

Airborne meteorological data from a Canadian field campaign was used to compute turbulent characteristics, yielding a mix of similarities and differences. Data are from PrAIRie2005, conducted in Alberta Canada with a Cessna 188 using the AIMMS20 system. Flights were undertaken over both rural and urban geographies under developing and/or fully developed convective environments. A level-flight segment of one mission is examined in detail, using spectral analysis and other techniques, to assess data validity. Challenges remain in appropriately interpreting and processing data from a moving platform, but this analysis suggests some specific flight profiles which should be included in field campaigns that are tasked to collect turbulence data. The calculated parameters are compared with model values from the Canadian Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model as a step to identifying areas for meteorological and chemical transport model development.