Abstract
The statistics of tracer variability on small scales (<200 km) is investigated using high resolution aircraft measurements of ozone in the northern winter middle/high latitudes. Conditioning based on potential temperature is used to isolate the statistics of filamentation on isentropic surfaces from spurious variability due to cross‐isentropic motion of the platform. The distribution of isentropic increments Δrχ in the tracer field χ across a horizontal scale r have non‐Gaussian tails and are consistent with stretched exponential functions of the form P(Δrχ) ∼ exp(−a|Δrχ|p), where a is a scale‐dependent parameter and the exponent p increases overall with r. A scale break in the second order structure function suggests a dissipation scale rd ∼ 20 km during northern winter 91–92, but the scale break is closer to 100 km during northern winter 88–89. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call