Divergence and vorticity from aircraft air motion measurements

The results indicate that the wind field technique is a viable approach for estimating mesoscale divergence if the wind measurements are accurate. The largest source of wind field systematic error may be the result of flow distortion effects on the air velocity measurement and limitations of in-flight calibrations. Because of flow distortion, the only way the current systems can be calibrated is by flight maneuvers, which assume a steady-state homogeneous nonturbulent atmosphere.

Analysis of the errors in this technique suggests that wind field measurements with minimal systematic errors should provide estimates of divergence with much greater accuracy than is now possible with other existing methods.