High resolution radiosonde observations of turbulence associated with breaking gravity waves

High vertical resolution radiosonde observations from operational US upper air stations provide new opportunities to study gravity wave breaking processes and their association with clear air turbulence on both individual and climatological bases, through the derivation of turbulence parameters facilitated by 1-second resolution. High resolution sounding data are used to identify gravity waves in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere. Turbulence parameters are derived from the same soundings by direct measurements of the Thorpe scale from the potential temperature profiles. The association of turbulent layers with gravity wave induced shear instability is assessed in relation to energy budget and theoretical thresholds for turbulence onset. Particular source processes and regions are determined for gravity waves that are observed to induce turbulence by employing reverse ray-tracing techniques.