The use of high resolution simulations to reproduce turbulence encounters

We present several examples of high resolution (~100 m) mesoscale simulations that show a robust ability to reproduce observed turbulence events. The simulations use a multi-nested approach. The outer domains, initialized with standard NWP model output (such as RUC or GFS), provide a realistic representation of the large scales, while the innermost domains resolve turbulence scales that are relevant to aircraft motions. Turbulence information is provided from aircraft flight data recorders. This allows reconstruction of turbulent events and provides a method to analyze the linkage between the large scale environment and the small scale turbulence. In the simulations to be presented, gravity wave production, propagation, and breakdown is the linkage mechanism.