Remote Sensing Of Turbulence

This book offers a unique multidisciplinary integration of the physics of turbulence and remote sensing technology. Remote Sensing of Turbulence provides a new vision on the research of turbulence and summarizes the current and future challenges of monitoring turbulence remotely. The book emphasizes sophisticated geophysical applications, detection, and recognition of complex turbulent flows in oceans and the atmosphere. Through several techniques based on microwave and optical/IR observations, the text explores the technological capabilities and tools for the detection of turbulence, their signatures, and variability. FEATURES Covers the fundamental aspects of turbulence problems with a broad geophysical scope for a wide audience of readers Provides a complete description of remote-sensing capabilities for observing turbulence in the earth’s environment Establishes the state-of-the-art remote-sensing techniques and methods of data analysis for turbulence detection Investigates and evaluates turbulence detection signatures, their properties, and variability Provides cutting-edge remote-sensing applications for space-based monitoring and forecasts of turbulence in oceans and the atmosphere This book is a great resource for applied physicists, the professional remote sensing community, ecologists, geophysicists, and earth scientists.

Anyone who has experienced turbulence in flight knows that it is usually not pleasant, and may wonder why this is so difficult to avoid. The book includes papers by various aviation turbulence researchers and provides background into the nature and causes of atmospheric turbulence that affect aircraft motion, and contains surveys of the latest techniques for remote and in situ sensing and forecasting of the turbulence phenomenon. It provides updates on the state-of-the-art research since earlier studies in the 1960s on clear-air turbulence, explains recent new understanding into turbulence generation by thunderstorms, and summarizes future challenges in turbulence prediction and avoidance.

The book is a concise guide dealing with the subject of air turbulence and its methods of detection with particular applications to aviation turbulence. It begins with a general description of turbulence and provides a background into the nature and causes of atmospheric turbulence that affect aircraft motion, giving updates on the state-of-the-art research on clear air turbulence (CAT). Important physical processes leading to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, a primary producer of CAT, are also explained. The several categories of CAT along with its impact on commercial aviation are also presented in a separate chapter, with particular emphasis on the structural damages to planes and injuries. The central theme of the book deals with both the earlier and the latest CAT detecting methods and techniques for remote and in situ sensing and forecasting. A concise presentation of new technologies for reducing aviation weather-related accidents is also offered. A chapter on the weather accident prevention project of the NASA aviation safety program is also included. Additionally, the book ends with a full description of the recent research activities on CAT and future challenges in turbulence detection, prediction and avoidance.

The field of optical and laser remote sensing has grown rapidly in recent years. This dynamic growth has been stimulated not only by technological advances in lasers, detectors, and optical system design, but also by the potential application of remote sensing systems to a wide variety of atmo spheric measurements. Optical and laser remote sensing can allow single ended measurement capability not offered by conventional point-detection techniques. While many past measurements have been associated with labo ratory research. practical systems have recently been developed which are capable of remotely detecting. measuring. and tracking a wide range of molecular and atomic species in the atmosphere with concentrations of parts per billion and at ranges over 100 km. This book is a compilation of papers which represent an overview of the present state of development of optical and laser remote sensing tech nology. The subjects covered include both passive and active remote sen sing techniques in the UV, visible, and IR spectral regions. related laser and detector technology, and atmospheric propagation and system analysis considerations. While the papers do not constitute an exhaustive treat ment of the excellent research being conducted in this field, they are representative of the wide diversity of present efforts. It is hoped that the reader will gain a general understanding of the current research in optical and laser remote sensing as well as an overview of current systems development.