The Interaction Between the Turbulence and Gravity Wave Observed in the Middle Stratosphere Based on the Round‐Trip Intelligent Sounding System

Abstract

AbstractBased on the round‐trip intelligent sounding system, the structure function and spectrum analysis method were carried out to analyze the scale interactions between the small‐scale gravity wave and turbulence in the middle stratosphere. The result showed that the generation of turbulence was closely related to the Kelvin‐Helmholtz (KH) billows. An upscale energy cascade occurred on the spatial scale of KH billows, while a downscale energy cascade occurred on a larger spatial scale (gravity wave scale), which resulted in the breaking of the gravity wave and generation of turbulence. From the multilevel signal measurement, the obvious interactions between turbulence and gravity can be found. The two‐dimensional turbulence that the inverse energy cascade in 2‐D exists simultaneously with a direct enstrophy cascade to the small scales was found, which is considered to be the first‐hand observation result of relevant height.