scholarly journals Vertical Velocities and Available Potential Energy Generated by Landscape Variability—Theory

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Baldi ◽  
G. A. Dalu ◽  
R. A. Pielke
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Ambient Wind ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Landscape Variability ◽  
Thermal Perturbations

Abstract It is shown that landscape variability decreases the temperature in the surface layer when, through mesoscale flow, cool air intrudes over warm patches, lifting warm air and weakening the static stability of the upper part of the planetary boundary layer. This mechanism generates regions of upward vertical motion and a sizable amount of available potential energy and can make the environment of the lower troposphere more favorable to cloud formation. This process is enhanced by light ambient wind through the generation of trapped propagating waves, which penetrate into the midtropospheric levels, transporting upward the thermal perturbations and weakening the static stability around the top of the boundary layer. At moderate ambient wind speeds, the presence of surface roughness changes strengthens the wave activity, further favoring the vertical transport of the thermal perturbations. When the intensity of the ambient wind is larger than 5 m s−1, the vertical velocities induced by the surface roughness changes prevail over those induced by the diabatic flux changes. The analysis is performed using a linear theory in which the mesoscale dynamics are forced by the diurnal diabatic sensible heat flux and by the surface stress. Results are shown as a function of ambient flow intensity and of the wavelength of a sinusoidal landscape variability.

scholarly journals Energy of Midlatitude Transient Eddies in Idealized Simulations of Changed Climates

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (22) ◽  
pp. 5797-5806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. O’Gorman ◽  
Tapio Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Eddy Kinetic Energy ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract As the climate changes, changes in static stability, meridional temperature gradients, and availability of moisture for latent heat release may exert competing effects on the energy of midlatitude transient eddies. This paper examines how the eddy kinetic energy in midlatitude baroclinic zones responds to changes in radiative forcing in simulations with an idealized moist general circulation model. In a series of simulations in which the optical thickness of the longwave absorber is varied over a wide range, the eddy kinetic energy has a maximum for a climate with mean temperature similar to that of present-day earth, with significantly smaller values both for warmer and for colder climates. In a series of simulations in which the meridional insolation gradient is varied, the eddy kinetic energy increases monotonically with insolation gradient. In both series of simulations, the eddy kinetic energy scales approximately linearly with the dry mean available potential energy averaged over the baroclinic zones. Changes in eddy kinetic energy can therefore be related to the changes in the atmospheric thermal structure that affect the mean available potential energy.

Linear stability and energetics of rotating radial horizontal convection

2016 ◽  
Vol 795 ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory J. Sheard ◽  
Wisam K. Hussam ◽  
Tzekih Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Boundary Layer Thickness ◽  
Thermal Boundary Layer ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Thermal Boundary Layer Thickness ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Horizontal Convection ◽  
The Mean

The effect of rotation on horizontal convection in a cylindrical enclosure is investigated numerically. The thermal forcing is applied radially on the bottom boundary from the coincident axes of rotation and geometric symmetry of the enclosure. First, a spectral element method is used to obtain axisymmetric basic flow solutions to the time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations coupled via a Boussinesq approximation to a thermal transport equation for temperature. Solutions are obtained primarily at Rayleigh number $\mathit{Ra}=10^{9}$ and rotation parameters up to $Q=60$ (where $Q$ is a non-dimensional ratio between thermal boundary layer thickness and Ekman layer depth) at a fixed Prandtl number $\mathit{Pr}=6.14$ representative of water and enclosure height-to-radius ratio $H/R=0.4$. The axisymmetric solutions are consistently steady state at these parameters, and transition from a regime unaffected by rotation to an intermediate regime occurs at $Q\approx 1$ in which variation in thermal boundary layer thickness and Nusselt number are shown to be governed by a scaling proposed by Stern (1975, Ocean Circulation Physics. Academic). In this regime an increase in $Q$ sees the flow accumulate available potential energy and more strongly satisfy an inviscid change in potential energy criterion for baroclinic instability. At the strongest $Q$ the flow is dominated by rotation, accumulation of available potential energy ceases and horizontal convection is suppressed. A linear stability analysis reveals several instability mode branches, with dominant wavenumbers typically scaling with $Q$. Analysis of contributing terms of an azimuthally averaged perturbation kinetic energy equation applied to instability eigenmodes reveals that energy production by shear in the axisymmetric mean flow is negligible relative to that produced by conversion of available potential energy from the mean flow. An evolution equation for the quantity that facilitates this exchange, the vertical advective buoyancy flux, reveals that a baroclinic instability mechanism dominates over $5\lesssim Q\lesssim 30$, whereas stronger and weaker rotations are destabilised by vertical thermal gradients in the mean flow.

scholarly journals Using Commercial Aircraft Meteorological Data to Assess the Heat Budget of the Convective Boundary Layer Over the Santiago Valley in Central Chile

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo C. Muñoz ◽  
C. David Whiteman ◽  
René D. Garreaud ◽  
José A. Rutllant ◽  
Jacqueline Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Convective Boundary Layer ◽  
Heat Budget ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Sonic Anemometer ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Commercial Aircraft ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Central Chile

AbstractThe World Meteorological Organization Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) programme refers to meteorological data gathered by commercial aircraft and made available to weather services. It has become a major source of upper-air observations whose assimilation into global models has greatly improved their performance. Near busy airports, AMDAR data generate semi-continuous vertical profiles of temperature and winds, which have been utilized to produce climatologies of atmospheric-boundary-layer (ABL) heights and general characterizations of specific cases. We analyze 2017–2019 AMDAR data for Santiago airport, located in the centre of a $$40\times 100$$ 40 × 100  km$$^2$$ 2 subtropical semi-arid valley in central Chile, at the foothills of the Andes. Profiles derived from AMDAR data are characterized and validated against occasional radiosondes launched in the valley and compared with routine operational radiosondes and with reanalysis data. The cold-season climatology of AMDAR temperatures reveals a deep nocturnal inversion reaching up to 700 m above ground level (a.g.l.) and daytime warming extending up to 1000 m a.g.l. Convective-boundary-layer (CBL) heights are estimated based on AMDAR profiles and the daytime heat budget of the CBL is assessed. The CBL warming variability is well explained by the surface sensible heat flux estimated with sonic anemometer measurements at one site, provided advection of the cool coastal ABL existing to the west is included. However, the CBL warming accounts for just half of the mean daytime warming of the lower troposphere, suggesting that rather intense climatological diurnal subsidence affects the dynamics of the daytime valley ABL. Possible sources of this subsidence are discussed.

scholarly journals Trends in Land–Atmosphere Interactions from CMIP5 Simulations

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 829-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Dirmeyer ◽  
Yan Jin ◽  
Bohar Singh ◽  
Xiaoqin Yan
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Boreal Winter ◽  
The Future

Abstract Data from 15 models of phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) for preindustrial, historical, and future climate change experiments are examined for consensus changes in land surface variables, fluxes, and metrics relevant to land–atmosphere interactions. Consensus changes in soil moisture and latent heat fluxes for past-to-present and present-to-future periods are consistent with CMIP3 simulations, showing a general drying trend over land (less soil moisture, less evaporation) over most of the globe, with the notable exception of high northern latitudes during winter. Sensible heat flux and net radiation declined from preindustrial times to current conditions according to the multimodel consensus, mainly due to increasing aerosols, but that trend reverses abruptly in the future projection. No broad trends are found in soil moisture memory except for reductions during boreal winter associated with high-latitude warming and diminution of frozen soils. Land–atmosphere coupling is projected to increase in the future across most of the globe, meaning a greater control by soil moisture variations on surface fluxes and the lower troposphere. There is also a strong consensus for a deepening atmospheric boundary layer and diminished gradients across the entrainment zone at the top of the boundary layer, indicating that the land surface feedback on the atmosphere should become stronger both in absolute terms and relative to the influence of the conditions of the free atmosphere. Coupled with the trend toward greater hydrologic extremes such as severe droughts, the land surface seems likely to play a greater role in amplifying both extremes and trends in climate on subseasonal and longer time scales.

Numerical Simulation of Baroclinic Waves with a Parameterized Boundary Layer

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 4383-4399 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Plant ◽  
S. E. Belcher
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Conveyor Belt ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Turbulent Fluxes ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Ekman Pumping ◽  
Basic States

Abstract A dry three-dimensional baroclinic life cycle model is used to investigate the role of turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum within the boundary layer on midlatitude cyclones. Simulations are performed of life cycles for two basic states: with and without turbulent fluxes. The different basic states produce cyclones with contrasting frontal and mesoscale flow structures. The analysis focuses on the generation of potential vorticity (PV) in the boundary layer and its subsequent transport into the free troposphere. The dynamic mechanism through which friction mitigates a barotropic vortex is that of Ekman pumping. This has often been assumed to also be the dominant mechanism for baroclinic developments. The PV framework highlights an additional, baroclinic mechanism. Positive PV is generated baroclinically due to friction to the northeast of a surface low and is transported out of the boundary layer by a cyclonic conveyor belt flow. The result is an anomaly of increased static stability in the lower troposphere, which restricts the growth of the baroclinic wave. The reduced coupling between lower and upper levels can be sufficient to change the character of the upper-level evolution of the mature wave. The basic features of the baroclinic damping mechanism are robust for different frontal structures, with and without turbulent heat fluxes, and for the range of surface roughness found over the oceans.

An Unusual Hailstorm on 24 June 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. Part I: Mesoscale Setting and Radar Features

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (8) ◽  
pp. 2813-2832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T. Schlatter ◽  
Thomas W. Schlatter ◽  
Charles A. Knight
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Low Density ◽  
The South ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Available Potential Energy

Abstract An unusual, isolated hailstorm descended on Boulder, Colorado, on the evening of 24 June 2006. Starting with scattered large, flattened, disk-shaped hailstones and ending with a deluge of slushy hail that was over 4 cm deep on the ground, the storm lasted no more than 20 min and did surprisingly little damage except to vegetation. Part I of this two-part paper examines the meteorological conditions preceding the storm and the signatures it exhibited on Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) displays. There was no obvious upper-tropospheric forcing for this storm, vertical shear of the low-level wind was minimal, the boundary layer air feeding the storm was not very moist (maximum dewpoint 8.5°C), and convective available potential energy calculated from a modified air parcel was at most 1550 J kg−1. Despite these handicaps, the hail-producing storm had low-level reflectivity exceeding 70 dBZ, produced copious low-density hail, exhibited strong rotation, and generated three extensive bounded weak-echo regions (BWERs) in succession. The earliest of these filled with high reflectivities as the second one to the south poked up through precipitation-filled air. This has implications for low-density hail growth, as discussed in Part II.

scholarly journals Role of Hamiltonian energy in thunderstorms

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-528
Author(s):  
G. K. SAWAISARJE ◽  
SOMENATH DUTTA ◽  
S. JAGTAP
Keyword(s):  
Free Convection ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Available Potential Energy ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Meteorological Observatory ◽  
Synoptic Conditions ◽  
Convective Inhibition

In the present study, we propose a hypothesis that “Hamiltonian energy of thunder storm is contributing towards the energy that overcomes convective inhibition energy to lift the parcel to the level of free convection and releases convective available potential energy in the environment”. We attempt to substantiate the hypothesis. We have applied Hamiltonian structure to a thundercloud which has occurred vertically above the meteorological observatory station. Further, a total of 62 cases of thunderstorms are selected for both stations Palam and Dumdum. Hamiltonian energy is computed and investigated the cases having significant large convective inhibition energy as compared to that of convective available potential energy. We attempt to show that Hamiltonian is the energy that overcomes convective inhibition energy to lift the parcel to the level of free convection and plays a major role in thunderstorms for giving rain.     Results reveal that Hamiltonian energy is seen to be maximum at the surface and contributes to both convective inhibition energy and convective available potential energy. At the lower troposphere, it overcomes the convective inhibition energy and provides necessary trigger for air mass to move from surface to the level of free convection. While in the upper troposphere, it is contributing to the convective available potential energy such that the part of potential energy converted into kinetic energy & warm and moist air mass (unstable) acceleration is enhanced by pressure energy.                          Further, in all the six special cases stability indices had indicated possibility of thunderstorm. In addition, synoptic conditions were also favorable for the same.   

scholarly journals On Boundary Layer Separation in the Lee of Mesoscale Topography

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingfang Jiang ◽  
James D. Doyle ◽  
Shouping Wang ◽  
Ronald B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Boundary Layer Separation ◽  
Surface Wind Speed ◽  
Trapped Waves ◽  
Layer Separation

Abstract The onset of boundary layer separation (BLS) forced by gravity waves in the lee of mesoscale topography is investigated based on a series of numerical simulations and analytical formulations. It is demonstrated that BLS forced by trapped waves is governed by a normalized ratio of the vertical velocity maximum to the surface wind speed; other factors such as the mountain height, mountain slope, or the leeside speedup factor are less relevant. The onset of BLS is sensitive to the surface sensible heat flux—a positive heat flux tends to increase the surface wind speed through enhancing the vertical momentum mixing and accordingly inhibits the occurrence of BLS, and a negative heat flux does the opposite. The wave forcing required to cause BLS decreases with an increase of the aerodynamical roughness zo; a larger zo generates larger surface stress and weaker surface winds and therefore promotes BLS. In addition, BLS shows some sensitivity to the terrain geometry, which modulates the wave characteristics. For a wider ridge, a higher mountain is required to generate trapped waves with a wave amplitude comparable to that generated by a lower but narrower ridge. The stronger hydrostatic waves associated with the wider and higher ridge play only a minor role in the onset of BLS. It has been demonstrated that although hydrostatic waves generally do not directly induce BLS, undular bores may form associated with wave breaking in the lower troposphere, which in turn induce BLS. In addition, BLS could occur underneath undular jump heads or associate with trapped waves downstream of a jump head in the presence of a low-level inversion.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document