2 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- ItemLITOS - A new balloon-borne instrument for fine-scale turbulence soundings in the stratosphere(Göttingen : Copernicus, 2011) Theuerkauf, A.; Gerding, M.; Lübken, F.-J.We have developed a new compact balloon payload called LITOS (Leibniz-Institute Turbulence Observations in the Stratosphere) for high resolution wind turbulence soundings in the stratosphere up to 35 km altitude. The wind measurements are performed using a constant temperature anemometer (CTA) with a vertical resolution of ∼2.5 mm, i.e. 2 kHz sampling rate at 5 m/s ascent speed. Thereby, for the first time, it is possible to study the entire turbulence spectrum down to the viscous subrange in the stratosphere. Including telemetry, housekeeping, batteries and recovery unit, the payload weighs less than 5 kg and can be launched from any radiosonde station. Since autumn 2007, LITOS has been successfully launched several times from the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Kühlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E). Two additional soundings were carried out in 2008 and 2009 in Kiruna, Sweden (67° N, 21° E) as part of the BEXUS program (Balloon-borne EXperiments for University Students). We describe here the basic principle of CTA measurements and prove the validity of this method in the stratosphere. A first case study allows a clear distinction between non-turbulent regions and a turbulent layer with a thickness of some tens of meters. Since our measurements cover the transition between the inertial and viscous subrange, energy dissipation rates can be calculated with high reliability.
- ItemComparing turbulent parameters obtained from LITOS and radiosonde measurements(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2015) Schneider, A.; Gerding, M.; Lübken, F.-J.Stratospheric turbulence is important for the mixing of trace species and the energy balance, but direct measurements are sparse due to the required resolution and accuracy. Recently, turbulence parameters such as the energy dissipation rate ε were inferred from standard radiosonde data by means of a Thorpe analysis. To this end, layers with vertically decreasing potential temperature are analysed, which is expected to indicate turbulence. Such an application assumes a proportionality between the Thorpe length LT and the Ozmidov scale LO. While this relation is accepted for the ocean, experimental evidence for such proportionality in the stratosphere is sparse. We have developed a high-resolution (8 kHz) turbulence measurement system called LITOS (Leibniz Institute Turbulence Observations in the Stratosphere), which for the first time resolves the inner scale of turbulence in the stratosphere. Therewith the energy dissipation rate ε can be determined by spectral analysis. This independent value for ε enables us to check the relation LO ∝ LT. In our measurements no such proportionality can be seen, although the mean of the ratio LO/LT is close to what is assumed in radiosonde analyses. Dissipation rates for individual layers obtained from radiosondes deviate up to a factor of ~3000 from those obtained by spectral analysis. Some turbulent layers measured by LITOS are not observed by the radiosonde at all, and vice versa. However, statements about the statistical mean seem to be possible by Thorpe analysis.