ARTICLE Methods for Evaluating the Temperature Structure-Function Parameter Using Unmanned Aerial Systems and Large-Eddy Simulation

Abstract Small-scale turbulent fluctuations of temperature are known to affect the propaga-tion of both electromagnetic and acoustic waves. Within the inertial-subrange scale, where the turbulence is locally homogeneous and isotropic, these temperature perturbations can be described, in a statistical sense, using the structure-function parameter for temperature, C2T. Here we investigate different methods of evaluating C2T, using data from a numerical large-eddy simulation together with atmospheric observations collected by an unmanned aerial system and a sodar. An example case using data from a late afternoon unmanned aerial system flight on April 24 2013 and corresponding large-eddy simulation data is presented and discussed