Airborne measurements and large-eddy simulations of small-scale gravity waves at the tropopause inversion layer over Scandinavia

Abstract. Coordinated airborne measurements were performed by two research aircraft – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Falcon and High Altitude and Long Range Aircraft (HALO) – in Scandinavia during the GW-LCYCLE II (Investigation of the life cycle of gravity waves) campaign in 2016 to investigate gravity wave processes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. A mountain wave event was probed over southern Scandinavia on 28 January 2016. The collected dataset constitutes a valuable combination of in situ measurements and horizontal- and altitude-resolved Doppler wind lidar and water vapour measurements with the differential absorption lidar (DIAL). In situ data at different flight altitudes and downward-pointing wind lidar measurements show pronounced changes of the horizontal scales in the vertical velocity field and of the leg-averaged momentum fluxes (MFs) in the UTLS region. The vertical velocity field was dominated by small horizontal scales with a decrease from around 20 to < 10 km in the vicinity of the tropopause inversion layer (TIL). These small scales were also found in the water vapour data and backscatter data of the DIAL. The leg-averaged MF profile determined from the wind lidar data is characterized by a pronounced kink of positive fluxes in the TIL and negative fluxes below. The largest contributions to the MF are from waves with scales > 30 km. The combination of the observations and idealized large-eddy simulations revealed the occurrence of interfacial waves having scales < 10 km on the tropopause inversion during the mountain wave event. The contribution of the interfacial waves to the leg-averaged MF is basically zero due to the phase relationship of their horizontal and vertical velocity perturbations. Interfacial waves have already been observed on boundary-layer inversions but their concept has not been applied to tropopause inversions so far. Our idealized simulations reveal that the TIL affects the vertical trend of leg-averaged MF of mountain waves and that interfacial waves can occur also on tropopause inversions. Our analyses of the horizontal- and altitude-resolved airborne observations confirm that interfacial waves actually do occur in the TIL. As predicted by linear theory, the horizontal scale of those waves is determined by the wind and stability conditions above the inversion. They are found downstream of the main mountain peaks and their MF profile varies around zero and can clearly be distinguished from the MF profile of Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. Further, the idealized large-eddy simulations reveal that the presence of the TIL is crucial in producing this kind of trapped wave at tropopause altitude.

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Airborne measurements and large-eddy simulations of small-scale Gravity Waves at the tropopause inversion layer over Scandinavia

10.5194/acp-2020-121 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sonja Gisinger ◽

Johannes Wagner ◽

Benjamin Witschas

Keyword(s):

Velocity Field ◽

Gravity Waves ◽

Vertical Velocity ◽

Inversion Layer ◽

Small Scale ◽

Airborne Measurements ◽

In Situ Data ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Wind Lidar

Abstract. Coordinated airborne measurements were performed by the two research aircraft DLR Falcon and HALO (High Altitude and Long Range Aircraft) in Scandinavia during the GW-LCYCLE~II (Investigation of the life cycle of gravity waves) campaign in 2016 to investigate gravity wave processes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. A mountain wave event was probed over Southern Scandinavia on 28 January 2016. The collected dataset constitutes a valuable combination of in-situ measurements and horizontal- and altitude-resolved wind lidar and water vapour lidar measurements. In-situ data at different flight altitudes and downward pointing Doppler wind lidar measurements show pronounced changes of the horizontal scales in the vertical velocity field and of the leg-averaged momentum fluxes (MF) in the UTLS region. The vertical velocity field was dominated by small horizontal scales with a decrease from around 20 km to

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Large-Eddy Simulations of realistic atmospheric turbulence with the DLR-TAU-code initialized by in situ airborne measurements

Computers & Fluids ◽

10.1016/j.compfluid.2012.06.013 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 66 ◽

pp. 121-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Torsten Auerswald ◽

Jens Bange ◽

Tobias Knopp ◽

Keith Weinman ◽

Rolf Radespiel

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Turbulence ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Airborne Measurements ◽

Large Eddy

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Daytime and nighttime turbulence on Mars monitored by InSight

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21327 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Aymeric Spiga ◽

Naomi Murdoch ◽

Don Banfield ◽

Ralph Lorenz ◽

Claire Newman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gravity Waves ◽

High Frequency ◽

Seismic Signal ◽

Atmospheric Science ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Dust Devil ◽

Large Eddy ◽

The Many ◽

Convective Vortices

<p>The InSight instrumentation for atmospheric science combines high frequency, high accuracy and continuity. This makes InSight a mission particularly suitable for studies of the variability in the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) of Mars -- all the more since this topic is of direct interest for quake detectability given that turbulence is the main contributor to atmosphere-induced seismic signal. For the strong daytime buoyancy-driven PBL convection, InSight significantly extends the statistics of dust-devil-like convective vortices and turbulent wind gustiness, both of which are of strong interest for aeolian science. For the moderate nighttime shear-induced PBL convection, InSight enables to explore phenomena and variability left unexplored by previous in-situ measurements on Mars. In both daytime and nighttime environments, how the gravity waves and infrasound signals discovered by InSight are being guided within the PBL is also a central topic to InSight's atmospheric investigations, with the tantalizing possibility to identify possible sources for those phenomena. InSight has been operating at the surface of Mars since 18 months, thus the seasonal evolution of the many phenomena occurring in the PBL will be an emphasis of this report. Comparisons with turbulence-resolving modeling such as Large-Eddy Simulations will be also discussed.</p>

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Aircraft measurements of gravity waves in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere during the START08 field experiment

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-7667-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (13) ◽

pp. 7667-7684 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Fuqing Zhang ◽

Junhong Wei ◽

Meng Zhang ◽

K. P. Bowman ◽

L. L. Pan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Law ◽

Gravity Waves ◽

Lower Stratosphere ◽

Potential Temperature ◽

Shear Instability ◽

Aircraft Measurements ◽

Upper Troposphere ◽

Airborne Measurements ◽

Wide Range

Abstract. This study analyzes in situ airborne measurements from the 2008 Stratosphere–Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport (START08) experiment to characterize gravity waves in the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (ExUTLS). The focus is on the second research flight (RF02), which took place on 21–22 April 2008. This was the first airborne mission dedicated to probing gravity waves associated with strong upper-tropospheric jet–front systems. Based on spectral and wavelet analyses of the in situ observations, along with a diagnosis of the polarization relationships, clear signals of mesoscale variations with wavelengths ~ 50–500 km are found in almost every segment of the 8 h flight, which took place mostly in the lower stratosphere. The aircraft sampled a wide range of background conditions including the region near the jet core, the jet exit and over the Rocky Mountains with clear evidence of vertically propagating gravity waves of along-track wavelength between 100 and 120 km. The power spectra of the horizontal velocity components and potential temperature for the scale approximately between ~ 8 and ~ 256 km display an approximate −5/3 power law in agreement with past studies on aircraft measurements, while the fluctuations roll over to a −3 power law for the scale approximately between ~ 0.5 and ~ 8 km (except when this part of the spectrum is activated, as recorded clearly by one of the flight segments). However, at least part of the high-frequency signals with sampled periods of ~ 20–~ 60 s and wavelengths of ~ 5–~ 15 km might be due to intrinsic observational errors in the aircraft measurements, even though the possibilities that these fluctuations may be due to other physical phenomena (e.g., nonlinear dynamics, shear instability and/or turbulence) cannot be completely ruled out.

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Comparison of Large Eddy Simulations of a convective boundary layer with wind LIDAR measurements

Advances in Science and Research ◽

10.5194/asr-8-83-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 83-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. G. Pedersen ◽

M. Kelly ◽

S.-E. Gryning ◽

R. Floors ◽

E. Batchvarova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Wind Speed ◽

Geostrophic Wind ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Horizontal Wind ◽

Convective Boundary ◽

Horizontal Wind Speed ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Wind Lidar

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.

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Disruption of the bottom log layer in large-eddy simulations of full-depth Langmuir circulation

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/jfm.2012.84 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 699 ◽

pp. 79-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

A. E. Tejada-Martínez ◽

C. E. Grosch ◽

N. Sinha ◽

C. Akan ◽

G. Martinat

Keyword(s):

Gravity Waves ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Stokes Drift ◽

Navier Stokes ◽

Wake Region ◽

Langmuir Circulation ◽

Mean Velocity ◽

Wave Forcing ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Shear Current

AbstractWe report on disruption of the log layer in the resolved bottom boundary layer in large-eddy simulations (LES) of full-depth Langmuir circulation (LC) in a wind-driven shear current in neutrally-stratified shallow water. LC consists of parallel counter-rotating vortices that are aligned roughly in the direction of the wind and are generated by the interaction of the wind-driven shear with the Stokes drift velocity induced by surface gravity waves. The disruption is analysed in terms of mean velocity, budgets of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and budgets of TKE components. For example, in terms of mean velocity, the mixing due to LC induces a large wake region eroding the classical log-law profile within the range $90\lt { x}_{3}^{+ } \lt 200$. The dependence of this disruption on wind and wave forcing conditions is investigated. Results indicate that the amount of disruption is primarily determined by the wavelength of the surface waves generating LC. These results have important implications for turbulence parameterizations for Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations of the coastal ocean.

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A new subgrid-scale representation of hydrometeor fields using a multivariate PDF

10.5194/gmd-2015-280 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Brian M. Griffin ◽

Vincent E. Larson

Keyword(s):

Probability Density Function ◽

Probability Density ◽

Density Function ◽

Vertical Velocity ◽

Lognormal Distribution ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Subgrid Scale ◽

Microphysical Process ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Probability Density Function Pdf

Abstract. The subgrid-scale representation of hydrometeor fields is important for calculating microphysical process rates. In order to represent subgrid-scale variability, the Cloud Layers Unified By Binormals (CLUBB) parameterization uses a multivariate Probability Density Function (PDF). In addition to vertical velocity, temperature, and moisture fields, the PDF includes hydrometeor fields. Previously, each hydrometeor field was assumed to follow a multivariate single lognormal distribution. Now, in order to better represent the distribution of hydrometeors, two new multivariate PDFs are formulated and introduced. The new PDFs represent hydrometeors using either a delta-lognormal or a delta-double-lognormal shape. The two new PDF distributions, plus the previous single lognormal shape, are compared to histograms of data taken from Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) of a precipitating cumulus case, a drizzling stratocumulus case, and a deep convective case. Finally, the warm microphysical process rates produced by the different hydrometeor PDFs are compared to the same process rates produced by the LES.

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Langmuir turbulence in shallow water. Part 1. Observations

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/s0022112006004575 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 576 ◽

pp. 27-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

ANN E. GARGETT ◽

JUDITH R. WELLS

Keyword(s):

Shallow Water ◽

Turbulent Flows ◽

Deep Water ◽

Vertical Velocity ◽

Surface Stress ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Wave Groups ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Langmuir Circulations ◽

Langmuir Cells

During extended deployment at an ocean observatory off the coast of New Jersey, a bottom-mounted five-beam acoustic Doppler current profiler measured large-scale velocity structures that we interpret as Langmuir circulations filling the entire water column. These circulations are the large-eddy structures of wind-wave-driven turbulent flows that occur episodically when a shallow water column experiences prolonged strong wind forcing. Many observational characteristics agree with former descriptions of Langmuir circulations in deep water. The three-dimensional velocity field reveals quasi-organized structures consisting of pairs of surface-intensified counter-rotating vortices, aligned approximately downwind. Maximum downward velocities are stronger than upward velocities, and the downwelling region of each cell, defined as a pair of vortices, is narrower than the upwelling region. Maximum downward vertical velocity occurs at or above mid-depth, and scales approximately with wind speed. The estimated crosswind scale of cells is roughly 3–6 times their vertical scale, set under these conditions by water depth. The long axis of the cells appears to lie at an angle ∼10°–20° to the right of the wind. A major difference from deep-water observations is strong near-bottom intensification of the downwind ‘jets’ found typically centred over downwelling regions. Accessible observational features such as cell morphology and profiles of mean velocities, turbulent velocity variances, and shear stress components are compared with the results of associated large-eddy simulations (reported in Part 2) of shallow water flows driven by surface stress and the Craik–Leibovich vortex forcing generally used to represent generation of Langmuir cells. A particularly sensitive diagnostic for identification of Langmuir circulations as the energy-containing eddies of the turbulent flow is the depth trajectory of invariants of the turbulent stress tensor, plotted in the Lumley ‘triangle’ corresponding to realizable turbulent flows. When Langmuir structures are present in the observations, the Lumley map is distinctly different from that of surface-stress-driven Couette flow, again in agreement with the large-eddy simulations (LES). Unlike the LES, observed velocity fields contain two distinct and significant scales of variability, documented by wavelet analysis of observational records of vertical velocity. Variability with periods of many minutes is that expected from Langmuir cells drifting past the instrument at the slowly time-varying crosswind velocity. Shorter period variability, of the order of 1–2 min, has roughly the observed periodicity of surface wave groups, suggesting a connection with the wave groups themselves and/or the wave breaking associated with them in high wind conditions.

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A Closer Look at Boundary Layer Inversion in Large-Eddy Simulations and Bulk Models: Buoyancy-Driven Case

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences ◽

10.1175/jas-d-13-0377.1 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 72 (2) ◽

pp. 728-749 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Pierre Gentine ◽

Gilles Bellon ◽

Chiel C. van Heerwaarden

Keyword(s):

Boundary Layer ◽

Convective Boundary Layer ◽

Weather Prediction ◽

Inversion Layer ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Buoyancy Flux ◽

Convective Boundary ◽

Strong Inversion ◽

Wide Range ◽

Large Eddy

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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A new subgrid-scale representation of hydrometeor fields using a multivariate PDF

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-9-2031-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 2031-2053 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Brian M. Griffin ◽

Vincent E. Larson

Keyword(s):

Probability Density Function ◽

Probability Density ◽

Density Function ◽

Vertical Velocity ◽

Lognormal Distribution ◽

Large Eddy Simulations ◽

Subgrid Scale ◽

Microphysical Process ◽

Large Eddy ◽

Probability Density Function Pdf

Abstract. The subgrid-scale representation of hydrometeor fields is important for calculating microphysical process rates. In order to represent subgrid-scale variability, the Cloud Layers Unified By Binormals (CLUBB) parameterization uses a multivariate probability density function (PDF). In addition to vertical velocity, temperature, and moisture fields, the PDF includes hydrometeor fields. Previously, hydrometeor fields were assumed to follow a multivariate single lognormal distribution. Now, in order to better represent the distribution of hydrometeors, two new multivariate PDFs are formulated and introduced.The new PDFs represent hydrometeors using either a delta-lognormal or a delta-double-lognormal shape. The two new PDF distributions, plus the previous single lognormal shape, are compared to histograms of data taken from large-eddy simulations (LESs) of a precipitating cumulus case, a drizzling stratocumulus case, and a deep convective case. Finally, the warm microphysical process rates produced by the different hydrometeor PDFs are compared to the same process rates produced by the LES.

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