Large-eddy simulations of thermally forced circulations in the convective boundary layer. Part II: The effect of changes in wavelength and wind speed

1992 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Hadfield ◽  
W. R. Cotton ◽  
R. A. Pielke
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Pedersen ◽  
M. Kelly ◽  
S.-E. Gryning ◽  
R. Floors ◽  
E. Batchvarova ◽  
...  

Abstract. Vertical profiles of the horizontal wind speed and of the standard deviation of vertical wind speed from Large Eddy Simulations of a convective atmospheric boundary layer are compared to wind LIDAR measurements up to 1400 m. Fair agreement regarding both types of profiles is observed only when the simulated flow is driven by a both time- and height-dependent geostrophic wind and a time-dependent surface heat flux. This underlines the importance of mesoscale effects when the flow above the atmospheric surface layer is simulated with a computational fluid dynamics model.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 728-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Gentine ◽  
Gilles Bellon ◽  
Chiel C. van Heerwaarden

Abstract The inversion layer (IL) of a clear-sky, buoyancy-driven convective boundary layer is investigated using large-eddy simulations covering a wide range of convective Richardson numbers. A new model of the IL is suggested and tested. The model performs better than previous first-order models of the entrainment and provides physical insights into the main controls of the mixed-layer and IL growths. A consistent prognostic equation of the IL growth is derived, with explicit dependence on the position of the minimum buoyancy flux, convective Richardson number, and relative stratification across the inversion G. The IL model expresses the interrelationship between the position and magnitude of the minimum buoyancy flux and inversion-layer depth. These relationships emphasize why zero-order jump models of the convective boundary layer perform well under a strong inversion and show that these models miss the additional parameter G to fully characterize the entrainment process under a weak inversion. Additionally, the position of the minimum buoyancy flux within the new IL model is shown to be a key component of convective boundary layer entrainment. The new IL model is sufficiently simple to be used in numerical weather prediction or general circulation models as a way to resolve the IL in a low-vertical-resolution model.


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