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We present the derivation of turbulent energy dissipation rate <i>ε</i> from a total of 522 days of observations with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar SYstem (MAARSY) mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere (MST) radar running tropospheric experiments during the period of 2010–2013 as well as with balloon-borne radiosondes based on a campaign in the summer 2013. Spectral widths are converted to <i>ε</i> after the removal of the broadening effects due to the finite beam width of the radar. With the simultaneous in situ measurements of <i>ε</i> with balloon-borne radiosondes at the MAARSY radar site, we compare the <i>ε</i> values derived from both techniques and reach an encouraging agreement between them. Using all the radar data available, we present a preliminary climatology of atmospheric turbulence in the UTLS (upper troposphere and lower stratosphere) region above the MAARSY site showing a variability of more than 5 orders of magnitude inherent in turbulent energy dissipation rates. The derived <i>ε</i> values reveal a log-normal distribution with a negative skewness, and the <i>ε</i> profiles show an increase with height which is also the case for each individual month. Atmospheric turbulence based on our radar measurements reveals a seasonal variation but no clear diurnal variation in the UTLS region. Comparison of <i>ε</i> with the gradient Richardson number <i>Ri</i> shows that only 1.7 % of all the data with turbulence occur under the condition of <i>Ri</i> &lt; 1 and that the values of <i>ε</i> under the condition of <i>Ri</i> &lt; 1 are significantly larger than those under <i>Ri</i> &gt; 1. Further, there is a roughly negative correlation between <i>ε</i> and <i>Ri</i> that is independent of the scale dependence of <i>Ri</i>. Turbulence under active dynamical conditions (velocity of horizontal wind <i>U</i> &gt; 10 m s⁻¹) is significantly stronger than under quiet conditions (<i>U</i> &lt; 10 m s⁻¹). Last but not least, the derived <i>ε</i> values are compared with the corresponding vertical shears of background wind velocity showing a linear relation with a corresponding correlation coefficient <i>r</i> = 58 % well above the 99.9 % significance level. This implies that wind shears play an important role in the turbulence generation in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (through the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability).