Parameterization of Nonlocal Mixing in the Marine Boundary Layer: A Study Combining Measurements and Large-Eddy Simulation

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric D. Skyllingstad
2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
pp. 2265-2271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yuan Huang ◽  
Alex Hall ◽  
Joao Teixeira

Abstract The performance of five boundary layer parameterizations in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model is examined for marine boundary layer cloud regions running in single-column mode. Most parameterizations show a poor agreement of the vertical boundary layer structure when compared with large-eddy simulation models. These comparisons against large-eddy simulation show that a parameterization based on the eddy-diffusivity/mass-flux approach provides a better performance. The results also illustrate the key role of boundary layer parameterizations in model performance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1489-1526 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Jarecka ◽  
H. Pawlowska ◽  
W. W. Grabowski ◽  
A. A. Wyszogrodzki

Abstract. This paper discusses aircraft observations and large-eddy simulation (LES) of the 15 May 2008, North Sea boundary-layer clouds from the EUCAARI-IMPACT field campaign. These clouds were advected from the north-east by the prevailing lower-tropspheric winds, and featured stratocumulus-over-cumulus cloud formations. Almost-solid stratocumulus deck in the upper part of the relatively deep weakly decoupled marine boundary layer overlaid a field of small cumuli with a cloud fraction of ~10%. The two cloud formations featured distinct microphysical characteristics that were in general agreement with numerous past observations of strongly-diluted shallow cumuli on the one hand and solid marine boundary-layer stratocumulus on the other. Macrophysical and microphysical cloud properties were reproduced well by the double-moment warm-rain microphysics large-eddy simulation. A novel feature of the model is its capability to locally predict homogeneity of the subgrid-scale mixing between the cloud and its cloud-free environment. In the double-moment warm-rain microphysics scheme, the homogeneity is controlled by a single parameter α, that ranges from 0 to 1 and limiting values representing the homogeneous and the extremely inhomogeneous mixing scenarios, respectively. Parameter α depends on the characteristic time scales of the droplet evaporation and of the turbulent homogenization. In the model, these scales are derived locally based on the subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy, spatial scale of cloudy filaments, the mean cloud droplet radius, and the humidity of the cloud-free air entrained into the cloud. Simulated mixing is on average quite inhomogeneous, with the mean parameter α around 0.7 across the entire depth of the cloud field, but with local variations across almost the entire range, especially near the base and the top of the cloud field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1959-1976
Author(s):  
Grant W. Petty

Abstract. A high-resolution (1.25 m) large eddy simulation (LES) of the nocturnal cloud-topped marine boundary layer is used to evaluate random error as a function of continuous track length L for virtual aircraft measurements of turbulent fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat, and horizontal momentum. Results are compared with the widely used formula of Lenschow and Stankov (1986). In support of these comparisons, the relevant integral length scales and correlations are evaluated and documented. It is shown that for heights up to approximately 100 m (z/zi=0.12), the length scales are accurately predicted by empirical expressions of the form If=Azb. The Lenschow and Stankov expression is found to be remarkably accurate at predicting the random error for shorter (7–10 km) flight tracks, but the empirically determined errors decay more rapidly with L than the L-1/2 relationship predicted from theory. Consistent with earlier findings, required track lengths to obtain useful precision increase sharply with altitude. In addition, an examination is undertaken of the role of uncertainties in empirically determined integral length scales and correlations in flux uncertainties as well as of the flux errors associated with crosswind and along-wind flight tracks. It is found that for 7.2 km flight tracks, flux errors are improved by factor of approximately 1.5 to 2 for most variables by making measurements in the crosswind direction.


Author(s):  
Chin-Hoh Moeng ◽  
Margaret A. LeMone ◽  
Marat F. Khairoutdinov ◽  
Steve K. Krueger ◽  
Peter A. Bogenschutz ◽  
...  

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Rayonil Carneiro ◽  
Gilberto Fisch ◽  
Theomar Neves ◽  
Rosa Santos ◽  
Carlos Santos ◽  
...  

This study investigated the erosion of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) over the central Amazon using a high-resolution model of large-eddy simulation (LES) named PArallel Les Model (PALM) and observational data from Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon) project 2014/5. This data set was collected during four intense observation periods (IOPs) in the dry and rainy seasons in the years 2014 (considered a typical year) and 2015, during which an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event predominated and provoked an intense dry season. The outputs from the PALM simulations represented reasonably well the NBL erosion, and the results showed that it has different characteristics between the seasons. During the rainy season, the IOPs exhibited slow surface heating and less intense convection, which resulted in a longer erosion period, typically about 3 h after sunrise (that occurs at 06:00 local time). In contrast, dry IOPs showed more intensive surface warming with stronger convection, resulting in faster NBL erosion, about 2 h after sunrise. A conceptual model was derived to investigate the complete erosion during sunrise hours when there is a very shallow mixed layer formed close to the surface and a stable layer above. The kinematic heat flux for heating this layer during the erosion period showed that for the rainy season, the energy emitted from the surface and the entrainment was not enough to fully heat the NBL layer and erode it. Approximately 30% of additional energy was used in the system, which could come from the release of energy from biomass. The dry period of 2014 showed stronger heating, but it was also not enough, requiring approximately 6% of additional energy. However, for the 2015 dry period, which was under the influence of the ENSO event, it was shown that the released surface fluxes were sufficient to fully heat the layer. The erosion time of the NBL probably influenced the development of the convective boundary layer (CBL), wherein greater vertical development was observed in the dry season IOPs (~1500 m), while the rainy season IOPs had a shallower layer (~1200 m).


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