Atmospheric Optical Turbulence Profile Measurement and Model Improvement over Arid and Semi-arid regions

Abstract. From August 4th to 30th, 2020 and from November 27th to December 25th, 2020, a self-developed radiosonde balloon system was used to observe high-altitude atmospheric optical turbulence at three sites in northwestern China, and an improved model based on the observational data was established. Through comparative analysis of the observational data and the improved model, the distribution characteristics of atmospheric optical turbulence under the combined action of different meteorological parameters and different landform features in different seasons were obtained. The improved model can show the variation of the detailed characteristics of turbulence with the height distribution, and the degree of correlation with the measured values is above 0.82. The improved model can provide a theoretical basis and supporting data for turbulence estimation and forecasting in northwestern China.