Intermittency of energy-containing scales in atmospheric surface layer

Orthonormal wavelets are applied to quantify the level of intermittency of energy-containing scales in the surface layer of the atmospheric boundary l ayer. These scales contain most of the kinetic energy, arise through instab ilities, and usually exhibit nonstationary characteristics. The results sho w that the energy of each of these scales varies significantly with time. S ome of these scales have a significant contribution to the total energy ove r short periods of time. Moreover, from the wavelet coefficients, several q uantities are determined. These include the level of contribution of energy by each scale to the total signal, the percentage of time of high-energy e vents, and the percentage of energy in these events. These quantities allow us to characterize the level of energetic events and intermittency of the energy-containing scales in the surface layer.