scholarly journals Effects of Atmospheric Surface Layer Stability on Turbulent Fluxes of Heat and Water Vapor across the Water–Atmosphere Interface

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 2835-2851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusri Yusup ◽  
Heping Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Vapor Pressure Gradient ◽  
Stability Ranges

Abstract Widely used numerical models to estimate turbulent exchange of latent heat flux (LE) and sensible heat flux H across the water–atmosphere interface are based on the bulk transfer relations linked indirectly to atmospheric stability, even though the accurate prediction of the influence of stability on fluxes is uncertain. Here eddy covariance data collected over the water surface of Ross Barnett Reservoir, Mississippi, was analyzed to study how atmospheric stability and other variables (wind speed, vapor pressure gradient, and temperature gradient) in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) modulated LE and H variations in different stability ranges. LE and H showed right-skewed, bell-shaped distributions as the ASL stability shifted from very unstable to near neutral and then stable conditions. The results demonstrate that the maximum (minimum) LE and H did not necessarily occur under the most unstable (stable) conditions, but rather in the intermediate stability ranges. No individual variables were able to explain the dependence of LE and H variations on stability. The coupling effects of stability, wind speed, and vapor pressure gradient (temperature gradient) on LE (H) primarily caused the observed variations in LE and H in different stability ranges. These results have important implications for improving parameterization schemes to estimate fluxes over water surfaces in numerical models.

scholarly journals The interaction between drifting snow and atmospheric turbulence

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bintanja
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Order Approximation ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Blowing Snow ◽  
Speed Profile ◽  
Stability Parameters ◽  
Wind Speed Profile ◽  
First Order

This paper presents a modelling study of the influence of suspended snow on turbulence in the atmospheric surface layer. Turbulence is diminished in drifting and blowing snow, since part of the turbulent energy is used to keep the particles in suspension. This decrease in turbulence directly affects the vertical turbulent fluxes of momentum and snow particles (and other scalars), and can effectively be simulated by introducing an appropriate Richardson number to account for the stability effects of the stably stratified air-snow mixture. We use a one-dimensional model of the atmospheric surface layer in which the Reynolds stress and turbulent suspended snow flux are parameterized in terms of their mean vertical gradients (first-order closure). The model calculates steady-state vertical profiles of mean wind speed, suspended snow mass in 16 size classes and stability parameters. Using the model, the influence of snowdrifting on the wind-speed profile is quantified for various values of the initial friction Velocity (which determines the steepness of the initial wind-speed profile). It will be demonstrated why the roughness length appears to increase when snowdrifting occurs. Finally, we present a parameterization of the effects of snowdrifting on atmospheric stability which can be used in data analyses as a first-order approximation.

scholarly journals Characteristics of the Heat Flux in the Unstable Atmospheric Surface Layer

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 4519-4529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maithili Sharan ◽  
Piyush Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Stability Parameter ◽  
Layer Potential ◽  
Power Law Function ◽  
The Stability

Abstract The behavior of the heat flux H with respect to the stability parameter (=z/L, where z is the height above the ground, and L is the Obukhov length) in the unstable atmospheric surface layer is analyzed within the framework of Monin–Obukhov similarity (MOS) theory. Using MOS equations, H is expressed as a function of and vertical surface-layer potential temperature gradient . A mathematical analysis is carried out to analyze the theoretical nature of heat flux with the stability parameter by considering the vertical potential temperature gradient as (i) a constant and (ii) a power-law function of heat flux. For a given value of H, two values of associated with different stability regimes are found to occur in both the conditions, suggesting the nonuniqueness of MOS equations. Turbulent data over three different sites—(i) Ranchi, India; (ii) the Met Office’s Cardington, United Kingdom, monitoring facility; and (iii) 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99; United States—are analyzed to compare the observed nature of H with that predicted by MOS. The analysis of observational data over these three sites reveals that the observed variation of H with is consistent with that obtained theoretically from MOS equations when considering the vertical temperature gradient as a power-law function of heat flux having the exponent larger than 2/3. The existence of two different values of the stability parameter for a given value of heat flux suggests that the application of heat flux as a boundary condition involves some intricacies, and it should be applied with caution in convective conditions.

scholarly journals The interaction between drifting snow and atmospheric turbulence

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bintanja
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Order Approximation ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Blowing Snow ◽  
Speed Profile ◽  
Stability Parameters ◽  
Wind Speed Profile ◽  
First Order

This paper presents a modelling study of the influence of suspended snow on turbulence in the atmospheric surface layer. Turbulence is diminished in drifting and blowing snow, since part of the turbulent energy is used to keep the particles in suspension. This decrease in turbulence directly affects the vertical turbulent fluxes of momentum and snow particles (and other scalars), and can effectively be simulated by introducing an appropriate Richardson number to account for the stability effects of the stably stratified air-snow mixture. We use a one-dimensional model of the atmospheric surface layer in which the Reynolds stress and turbulent suspended snow flux are parameterized in terms of their mean vertical gradients (first-order closure). The model calculates steady-state vertical profiles of mean wind speed, suspended snow mass in 16 size classes and stability parameters. Using the model, the influence of snowdrifting on the wind-speed profile is quantified for various values of the initial friction Velocity (which determines the steepness of the initial wind-speed profile). It will be demonstrated why the roughness length appears to increase when snowdrifting occurs. Finally, we present a parameterization of the effects of snowdrifting on atmospheric stability which can be used in data analyses as a first-order approximation.

Evolution of Ground Level Scalar Concentrations Through a Compact Cylinder Array Embedded in the Atmospheric Surface Layer

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi E. Miner ◽  
Adam Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Stability Conditions ◽  
Plume Dispersion ◽  
Gas Dispersion ◽  
Stable Conditions

Experiments for this study were designed to understand gas dispersion in the presence of surface mounted obstacles. To this end, model field experiments were conducted in a compact barrel array employing a spatial distribution of concentration sensors. Specific aims were to explore the effects of atmospheric stability and plume source initial conditions on the plume dispersion through the barrel array. The present results indicate a relaxation towards Gaussian behavior along the plume centerline. The rate of this Gaussian-like behavior is dependent upon atmospheric stability conditions. Plume dispersion through the array appears to be independent of source initial conditions under neutrally stable conditions.

Daily cycle of the surface layer and energy balance on the high Antarctic Plateau

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIRK VAN AS ◽  
MICHIEL VAN DEN BROEKE ◽  
RODERIK VAN DE WAL
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Atmospheric Surface Layer ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Inertial Oscillation ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Daily Cycle ◽  
Near Surface

This paper focuses on the daily cycle of the surface energy balance and the atmospheric surface layer during a detailed meteorological experiment performed near Kohnen base in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, in January and February 2002. Temperature, specific humidity, wind speed and the turbulent scales of these quantities, exhibit a strong daily cycle. The sensible heat flux cycle has a mean amplitude of ∼8 W m−2, while the latent heat flux has an amplitude of less than 2 W m−2, which is small compared to the amplitude of net radiation (∼ 35 W m−2) and sub-surface heat (∼ 25 W m−2). Between ∼ 9 and 16 h GMT convection occurs due to a slightly unstable atmospheric surface layer. At the end of the afternoon, the wind speed decreases abruptly and the mixed layer is no longer supported by the sensible heat input; the stratification becomes stable. At night a large near-surface wind shear is measured due to the presence of a nocturnal jet, which is likely to be katabatically driven, but can also be the result of an inertial oscillation. No strong daily cycle in wind direction is recorded, since both the katabatic forcing at night and the daytime forcing by the large-scale pressure gradient were directed approximately downslope during the period of measurement.

A Simple, Efficient Solution of Flux–Profile Relationships in the Atmospheric Surface Layer

2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Pleim
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Iterative Solution ◽  
State Variables ◽  
Simple Scheme ◽  
Meteorological Model ◽  
Stable Regime ◽  
Stability Functions ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Aerodynamic Roughness

Abstract This note describes a simple scheme for analytical estimation of the surface-layer similarity functions from state variables. What distinguishes this note from the many previous papers on this topic is that this method is specifically targeted for numerical models in which simplicity and economic execution are critical. In addition, it has been in use in a mesoscale meteorological model for several years. For stable conditions, a very simple scheme is presented that compares well to the iterative solution. The stable scheme includes a very stable regime in which the slope of the stability functions is reduced to permit significant fluxes to occur, which is particularly important for numerical models in which decoupling from the surface can be an important problem. For unstable conditions, simple schemes generalized for varying ratios of aerodynamic roughness to thermal roughness (z0/z0h) are less satisfactory. Therefore, a simple scheme has been empirically derived for a fixed z0/z0h ratio, which represents quasi-laminar sublayer resistance.

Evaluation of similarity scales in the stratified surface layer using wind speed and temperature gradient

1986 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2465-2471 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Trombetti ◽  
M. Tagliazucca ◽  
F. Tampieri ◽  
T. Tirabassi
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Wind Speed ◽  
Temperature Gradient
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