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A field trial was performed in the arid scrub area of White Sands, NM /USA in October 2017 investigating the atmospheric influence on imaging and sensor performance. In this paper we focus on the strength of optical turbulence. Optical turbulence is described by the structure function parameter of the refractive index C-n(2). It is responsible for beam wander, blurring. and scintillation. "Ground truth" measurements of optical turbulence were carried out using a Boundary Layer Scintillometer (BLS2000). The measurements were taken along an optical path of 3.64 km and a height of 1.5 m. Additionally, height dependency of C-n(2) is explored in the surface layer using 4 ultrasonic anemometers at discrete heights between 1 and 10 m. Power spectra of temperature were determined from time series of the ultrasonic anemometer data, which were inspected for the height dependency of spectral characteristics. The effect of the arid scrubs area on the applicability of Kolmogorov turbulence was investigated and discussed in this paper.