The standard 2D/3D picture of atmospheric dynamics of two distinct isotropic regimes separated by a "meso-scale gap" has been seriously questioned in recent years. Using satellite cloud images and the formalism of generalized scale invariance (GSI), we test the contrary hypothesis that cloud radiance fields are scaling in the range 1-1000 km. / Using a two-dimensional representation of GSI and three new analysis techniques, we test the following relation for each picture: $ langle vert F( lambda sp{ tilde G} vec k) vert sp2 rangle = lambda sp{-s} langle vert F( vec k) vert sp2 rangle$, where $F( vec k)$ is the Fourier amplitude at wavenumber $ vec k$, $ lambda$ is the scale ratio and $ tilde G$ is the generator of the semi-group of scale changes in Fourier space. Since we test only the linear approximation to GSI, $ tilde G$ is approximated here as a matrix. / For the three texturally--and meteorologically--very different images analyzed, we find three different generators that generally well reproduce the Fourier space anisotropy. These results show that linear GSI is a workable approximation for studying the atmosphere and that GSI can be used for cloud classification and modeling over this important mesoscale range.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.61076 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Pflug, Karen |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001272002, proquestno: AAIMM74674, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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