Kolmogorov's structure functions for the longitudinal and transverse components of locally homogeneous isotropic turbulence are combined vectorially to obtain an expression which permits the evaluation of ϵ (atmospheric dissipation rate) from climatological data. This is used to derive climatological patterns of ϵ in the free atmosphere from Crutcher's upper wind statistics of the Northern Hemisphere. The latter are combined with Kung's boundary-layer values to estimate the distribution of total atmospheric dissipation over the Northern Hemisphere.