Using stellar scintillation for studies of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere

Viktoria F. Sofieva (1) , Francis Dalaudier (2) , J. Vernin (3)

1 FMI - Finnish Meteorological Institute
2 STRATO - LATMOS
3 LAGRANGE - Joseph Louis LAGRANGE

Stellar scintillation observed through the Earth's atmosphere is the result of interaction of light waves and the turbulent atmosphere. This review is dedicated to using stellar scintillation measurements for studies of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. We present an overview of ground-based, air-borne and satellite stellar scintillation measurements, discuss the approaches to data analyses and give an overview of the main geophysical results. We also discuss the benefits of the scintillation method in studies of the structure of air density irregularities and its limitations.

Mots clés: Remote sensing; Gravity waves; Turbulence; Stellar scintillation

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]

Viktoria F. Sofieva, Francis Dalaudier, J. Vernin. Using stellar scintillation for studies of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2013, 371 (1982), pp.20120174. ⟨10.1098/rsta.2012.0174⟩. ⟨hal-00785210⟩