TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS AND CLEAR-AIR TURBULENCE PROBABILITIES.

Abstract

The observations were compared with satellite-derived radiance gradients, conventional temperature gradients from analyzed maps, and temperature gradients obtained from a Rosemount total air temperature sensor on the plane. The results led to the following conclusions: (1) In regions of weak gradients of temperature or of CO//2 band radiance, the probability of CAT is extremely small. (2) CAT probabilities are significantly higher over mountains than flat terrain. (3) Even over mountains the probability of CAT is greatly increased by large gradients of temperature of radiance.