On the application of Rice's exceedance statistics to atmospheric turbulence.

Discrepancies produced by the application of Rice's exceedance statistics to atmospheric turbulence are examined. First- and second-order densities from several data sources have been measured for this purpose. Particular care was paid to each selection of turbulence that provides stationary mean and variance over the entire segment. Results show that even for a stationary segment of turbulence, the process is still highly non-Gaussian, in spite of a Gaussian appearance for its first-order distribution. Data also indicate strongly non-Gaussian second-order distributions. It is therefore concluded that even stationary atmospheric turbulence with a normal first-order distribution cannot be considered a Gaussian process, and consequently the application of Rice's exceedance statistics should be approached with caution.