scholarly journals Turbulent diffusivities and energy dissipation rates in the stratosphere from GOMOS satellite stellar scintillation measurements

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 18007-18030
Author(s):  
N. M. Gavrilov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Satellite Measurements ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Turbulent Characteristics ◽  
Low Latitudes ◽  
Standard Deviations ◽  
Stellar Scintillation ◽  
Balloon Measurements

Abstract. Parameters of anisotropic and isotropic spectra of refractivity, density and temperature perturbations obtained from GOMOS satellite measurements of stellar scintillations are used to estimate turbulent Thorpe scales, LT, diffusivities, K, and energy dissipation rates, ε, in the stratosphere. At low latitudes, average values for altitudes 30–45 km in September–November 2004 are LT~1–1.1 m, ε~(1.8–2.4)×10−5 W kg−1, and K ~ (1.2–1.6) × 10−2 m2 s−1 depending on different assumed values of parameters of anisotropic and isotropic spectra. Respective standard deviations of individual values including all kinds of variability are δLT ~ 0.6–0.7 m, δε ~(2.3–3.5)×10−5 W kg−1, and δK ~ (1.7–2.6)×10−2 m2 s−1. These values correspond to high-resolution balloon measurements of turbulent characteristics in the stratosphere, and to previous satellite stellar scintillation measurements. Distributions of turbulent characteristics at altitudes 30–45 km in low latitudes have maxima at longitudes 30–100° W, 0–60° E and 90–180° E, which correspond to continent locations. Correlations between parameters of anisotropic and isotropic spectra are studied.

scholarly journals Estimates of turbulent diffusivities and energy dissipation rates from satellite measurements of spectra of stratospheric refractivity perturbations

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 12107-12116 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Gavrilov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Satellite Measurements ◽  
Wave Dissipation ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Turbulent Characteristics ◽  
Low Latitudes ◽  
Stellar Scintillation ◽  
Balloon Measurements

Abstract. Approaches for estimations of effective turbulent diffusion and energetic parameters from characteristics of anisotropic and isotropic spectra of perturbations of atmospheric refractivity, density and temperature are developed. The approaches are applied to the data obtained with the GOMOS instrument for measurements of stellar scintillations on-board the Envisat satellite to estimate turbulent Thorpe scales, LT, diffusivities, K, and energy dissipation rates, ϵ, in the stratosphere. At low latitudes, effective values are LT ~ 1–1.1 m, ϵ ~ (1.8–2.4) × 10−5 W kg−1, and K ~ (1.2–1.6) × 10−2 m2 s−1 at altitudes of 30–45 km in September–November 2004, depending on different assumed values of parameters of anisotropic and isotropic spectra. Respective standard deviations of individual values, including all kinds of variability, are δLT ~ 0.6–0.7 m, δϵ ~ (2.3–3.5) × 10−2 W kg−1, and δK ~ (1.7–2.6) × 10−2 m2 s−1. These values correspond to high-resolution balloon measurements of turbulent characteristics in the stratosphere, and to previous satellite stellar scintillation measurements. Distributions of turbulent characteristics at altitudes of 30–45 km in low latitudes have maxima at longitudes corresponding to regions of increased gravity wave dissipation over locations of stronger convection. Correlations between parameters of anisotropic and isotropic spectra are evaluated.

Observations of Small-Scale Turbulence and Energy Dissipation Rates in the Cloudy Boundary Layer

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1451-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Siebert ◽  
Katrin Lehmann ◽  
Manfred Wendisch
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
Wind Velocity ◽  
Turbulence Theory ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Inertial Subrange ◽  
Intermittent Flow ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Tethered balloon–borne measurements with a resolution in the order of 10 cm in a cloudy boundary layer are presented. Two examples sampled under different conditions concerning the clouds' stage of life are discussed. The hypothesis tested here is that basic ideas of classical turbulence theory in boundary layer clouds are valid even to the decimeter scale. Power spectral densities S( f ) of air temperature, liquid water content, and wind velocity components show an inertial subrange behavior down to ≈20 cm. The mean energy dissipation rates are ∼10−3 m2 s−3 for both datasets. Estimated Taylor Reynolds numbers (Reλ) are ∼104, which indicates the turbulence is fully developed. The ratios between longitudinal and transversal S( f ) converge to a value close to 4/3, which is predicted by classical turbulence theory for local isotropic conditions. Probability density functions (PDFs) of wind velocity increments Δu are derived. The PDFs show significant deviations from a Gaussian distribution with longer tails typical for an intermittent flow. Local energy dissipation rates ɛτ are derived from subsequences with a duration of τ = 1 s. With a mean horizontal wind velocity of 8 m s−1, τ corresponds to a spatial scale of 8 m. The PDFs of ɛτ can be well approximated with a lognormal distribution that agrees with classical theory. Maximum values of ɛτ ≈ 10−1 m2 s−3 are found in the analyzed clouds. The consequences of this wide range of ɛτ values for particle–turbulence interaction are discussed.

scholarly journals Representation of Vertical Atmospheric Structures by Radio Occultation Observations in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere: Comparison to High-Resolution Radiosonde Profiles

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Zeng ◽  
Sergey Sokolovskiy ◽  
William S. Schreiner ◽  
Doug Hunt
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Radio Occultation ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Low Latitudes ◽  
Observational Noise ◽  
Horizontal Inhomogeneity ◽  
Cold Point

AbstractGlobal positioning system (GPS) radio occultation (RO) is capable of retrieving vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters with high resolution (<100 m), which can be achieved in spherically symmetric atmosphere. Horizontal inhomogeneity of real atmosphere results in representativeness errors of retrieved profiles. In most cases these errors increase with a decrease of vertical scales of atmospheric structures and may not allow one to fully utilize the physical resolution of RO. Also, GPS RO–retrieved profiles are affected by observational noise of different types, which, in turn, affect the representation of small-scale atmospheric structures. This study investigates the effective resolution and optimal smoothing of GPS RO–retrieved temperature profiles using high-pass filtering and cross correlation with collocated high-resolution radiosondes. The effective resolution is a trade-off between representation of real atmospheric structures and suppression of observational noise, which varies for different latitudes (15°S–75°N) and altitudes (10–27 km). Our results indicate that at low latitudes the effective vertical resolution is about 0.2 km near the tropical tropopause layer and about 0.5 km in the lower stratosphere. The best resolution of 0.1 km is at the cold-point tropical tropopause. The effective resolutions at the midlatitudes are slightly worse than at low latitudes, varying from ~0.2 to 0.6 km. At high latitudes, the effective resolutions change notably with altitude from ~0.2 km at 10–15 km to ~1.4 km at 22–27 km. Our results suggest that the atmospheric inhomogeneity plays an important role in the representation of the vertical atmospheric structures by RO measurements.

scholarly journals Turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rates estimated from concurrent UAV and MU radar measurements

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Luce ◽  
Lakshmi Kantha ◽  
Hiroyuki Hashiguchi ◽  
Dale Lawrence ◽  
Abhiram Doddi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Turbulence Kinetic Energy ◽  
Mu Radar ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Radar Measurements

scholarly journals Observations of Breaking Waves and Energy Dissipation in Modulated Wave Groups

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 2937-2948 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Wang ◽  
Hemantha W. Wijesekera
Keyword(s):  
Energy Dissipation ◽  
Wave Height ◽  
Wave Breaking ◽  
Dissipation Rate ◽  
Breaking Waves ◽  
Wave Groups ◽  
Dissipation Rates ◽  
Local Wave ◽  
Tke Dissipation Rate ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIt has been recognized that modulated wave groups trigger wave breaking and generate energy dissipation events on the ocean surface. Quantitative examination of wave-breaking events and associated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rates within a modulated wave group in the open ocean is not a trivial task. To address this challenging topic, a set of laboratory experiments was carried out in an outdoor facility, the Oil and Hazardous Material Simulated Environment Test Tank (203 m long, 20 m wide, 3.5 m deep). TKE dissipation rates at multiple depths were estimated directly while moving the sensor platform at a speed of about 0.53 m s−1 toward incoming wave groups generated by the wave maker. The largest TKE dissipation rates and significant whitecaps were found at or near the center of wave groups where steepening waves approached the geometric limit of waves. The TKE dissipation rate was O(10−2) W kg−1 during wave breaking, which is two to three orders of magnitude larger than before and after wave breaking. The enhanced TKE dissipation rate was limited to a layer of half the wave height in depth. Observations indicate that the impact of wave breaking was not significant at depths deeper than one wave height from the surface. The TKE dissipation rate of breaking waves within wave groups can be parameterized by local wave phase speed with a proportionality breaking strength coefficient dependent on local steepness. The characterization of energy dissipation in wave groups from local wave properties will enable a better determination of near-surface TKE dissipation of breaking waves.

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