Patent ID: 7788035

Claim:
A method for determining turbulent mixing characteristics, comprising: obtaining sounding data associated with an atmospheric column via at least one radiosonde or dropsonde, the sounding data including at least temperature information for one or more levels of the atmospheric column; determining first vertical potential temperature profiles for one or more levels of the atmospheric column from the sounding data that includes at least the temperature information; sorting the first vertical potential temperature profiles to determine second vertical profiles of displacement scales, the displacement scales providing an estimate of overturn scales, wherein the displacement scales are Thorpe scales; and determining turbulent mixing characteristics in the atmospheric column based at least in part on a comparison of the displacement scales to an Ozmidov scale, the turbulent mixing characteristics including at least one of a turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate or eddy diffusivity, wherein the prior steps are performed by one or more computers associated with a turbulence modeling system.