Numerical simulation of the development of the convective boundary layer during a cold air outbreak

During cold air outbreaks, cold and stably stratified air masses are advected from land or ice surfaces over a warmer sea surface. Due to the heating from below, a convective boundary layer develops. For small fetches, convection is organized in the form of horizontal roll vortices, which at greater distances join in a zone with open or closed cells. The formation of the convective boundary layer, and the associated roll vortices, is simulated with a numerical model and results are compared with observations obtained during the MASEX experiment off the east coast of the United States. To validate the model, a comparison with a one-dimensional mixed-layer model is also made, with special attention given to the exact representation of the observed initial and boundary conditions. Comparisons between model results and observations show good qualitative and quantitative correspondence in mean temperature and heat flux profiles respectively at different distances from the coast. Maximum values of vertical velocity are well reproduced. Turbulent kinetic energy is found to be concentrated in the small updraft regions of the rolls, which is in accordance with observations from the MASEX-experiment.     

The Atmospheric Boundary Layer In An Arctic Wintertime On-Ice Air Flow

A warm on-ice air flow from the open water over the Arctic sea ice in the Fram Straitwas, for the first time, systematically measured on 12 March 1998 by aircraft in thelowest 3 km over a 300-km long distance. The air mass modification and the processesinvolved are discussed.Over the water, air temperature was lower than water temperature so that a convectiveboundary layer (CBL) was present as initial condition. As soon as the CBL passed theice edge, a shallow stable internal boundary layer (IBL) was formed. In the residual CBL, turbulence and pre-existing convective clouds dissolved within about 20 km. Within about the same distance, due to the transition from unstable to stable stratification, the influence of surface friction increased in the IBL and decreased above the IBL with consequent generation of a low-level jet at IBL top. The IBL was strongly stratified with respect to both temperature and wind. The wind shear was around 0.1 s^-1 so that the Richardson number in the IBL was subcritical and turbulence was generated. The IBL top grew to about 145 m over 230 km distance. The growth of the IBL was not monotonic and was influenced by (a) inhomogeneous ice surface temperatures causedby both different ice thickness and changes in the cloud conditions, and (b) leads in theice deck. At the front side of the on-ice flow, the air mass boundary between the warmair and the cold Arctic air was sharp (12 K over 10 km) at low levels and tilted withheight. Observations suggest that the stratified IBL was lifted as a slab on top of thecold air.     

A box model study of the Greenland Sea,Norwegian Sea,and Arctic Ocean

We develop a simple dynamical system model of the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas by applying the Martinson, Killworth and Gordon box model of a high-latitude two-layer ocean to four regions connected together: the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the Greenland Gyre. The latter is a small convective region embedded in the northwest corner of the Norwegian Sea. The model for each region consists of a thermodynamic ice layer that covers two layers of saline water which can, under specific conditions, become statically unstable and hence create a state of active overturning. The system is forced by monthly mean atmospheric temperatures in the four regions, by continental runoffs and by inflows from adjacent oceans. The model predicts the ice thickness, and the temperature and salinity of the water in the upper layer of the four regions. Also determined are the water temperature and salinity of the lower layer in the Arctic Ocean box. The convective state of any given region, i.e. whether it is in an active overturning mode or not, is also determined as a continuous function of time. The different output variables of the model, which are the response to climatological forcing conditions, compare favourably with observed data. In the control run, the Arctic Ocean region is characterized by continuous ice cover, the Greenland Sea and Greenland Gyre have ice cover only during winter, and the Norwegian Sea region never forms an ice cover. Another feature of the control run is the winter time occurrence of convective overturning in the upper 200 m in the Greenland Gyre region. The model is also used for different anomaly experiments: a positive air temperature anomaly which represents a global warming of the earth, a negative salt anomaly in the Norwegian Sea which simulates the great salinity anomaly of the 1960s and 1970s, and an increase in the ice flux through Fram Strait which parameterizes anomalous ice production in the Arctic.     

Kontur: Observations of cloud streets and open cellular structures

In September and October 1981 the experiment KonTur (Convection and turbulence) was conducted over the North Sea. Its objectives were to investigate organized convective patterns, like cloud streets (boundary layer rolls) and cellular cloud structures. Two aircraft (British Hercules C-130 and German Falcon 20) performed detailed measurements within these patterns. Several cases of cloud streets and open cells were observed.Boundary layer rolls appear to be connected with an inflection point in the cross-roll wind component. The aspect ratio of the rolls (wavelength versus depth) is between three and four in accordance with other observations and linear stability analysis. Four scales of motion are involved: the mean flow, the roll circulation, individual clouds and turbulence. The vertical transport are dominated at lower levels by turbulence and at higher levels by roll-scale motions.Open cellular cloud structures are connected with large air-sea temperature differences due to cold air outbreaks from the northwest. The aspect ratio of the cells is of the order of 10. The bulk contribution to the total transport of heat and momentum originates from the cloudy walls of the cells. A vertical cross section through a composite open cell is presented.     

利用COSMIC掩星资料研究青藏高原地区大气边界层高度

以往关于青藏高原边界层的研究都是基于个别站点的常规观测,对青藏高原边界层的整体性认识受限。GPS掩星资料具有测量精度高和垂直分辨率高的特性,其廓线中含有大量有价值的边界层信息。利用2007—2013年COSMIC掩星资料,通过计算大气折射率最小梯度来确定边界层高度,并用无线电探空资料对结果进行了检验。在此基础上,对青藏高原地区边界层高度的特征及其形成机制展开了研究,比较了COSMIC掩星确定的边界层高度和ERA-Int的差别,讨论了最小梯度法用于边界层研究的不确定性。结果表明:青藏高原上COSMIC掩星和无线电探空数据检测的边界层高度相关系数为0.786,平均值偏差为0.049 km,均方根误差为0.363 km,COSMIC掩星数据检测的边界层高度和无线电探空的结果非常接近。青藏高原上边界层高度呈现西高东低的分布特征,高原中西部边界层高度主要为1.8—2.3 km,而高原东部边界层为1.4—1.8 km,最大值在高原西南部。青藏高原地区边界层有明显的季节差异,冬季高原上大部分地区边界层高度超过2.0 km;春季大部分地区高度降低,但在受印度季风影响的高原南部有明显的抬升,最大值可超过3.0 km;夏季高原上边界层高度开始升高,大部分地区超过1.8 km;秋季又开始回落。青藏高原以北塔克拉玛干沙漠和高原以南印度季风活动区是两个高值区,北部的沙漠地区边界层高度在夏季最高,南部印度季风活动区在季风爆发前（4月）达到全年最大值。青藏高原中西部地区有水平风辐合以及广泛的上升运动,为边界层的发展提供了动力条件,而东部的下沉运动对边界层的发展有抑制作用。青藏高原边界层各个季节的空间分布与地表感热通量分布一致。COSMIC掩星资料确定的边界层高度和ERA-Int相比,空间分布基本一致但ERA-Int边界层高度明显偏低。当有系统性强逆温存在的时候,或者云中液态水或冰水含量较大时,用最小梯度法检测的边界层高度不确定性增加。      

Long-wavelength Cloud Rolls Over the Arctic Ice

Cloud bands observed over the Arctic sea ice are interpreted in terms of long-wavelength gravity-wave modes trapped between the ground and a vertically-thin over-reflecting layer in the mid-troposphere. The over-reflecting layer is neutrally-stratified and lies between the counter-streaming upper troposphere and lower troposphere in a strong high-pressure system. The Arctic cloud bands appear to share many features with the long-wavelength roll waves observed in more temperate latitudes.     

Convection and cloud formation over snow-covered surface

This paper discusses the vapor-driven convection over snow and its limitations. It is shown on the basis of the moist convective plume model that vapor flux from the evaporating snow surface can drive convection, and maintain a super-cooled water cloud layer, without the assistance of heat flux from the surface, or entrainment or radiative cooling, at cloud top.Since the saturation vapor pressure over water is higher than that over ice, the base of the super-cooled water cloud has a lower limiting height. When the cloud base is lowered to this height, the air at the bottom of the convective layer is just saturated with respect to ice and the evaporation of snow stops, as does the vapor-driven convection. This limiting cloud base height varies with snow-surface temperature. The lower the snow temperature, the higher the cloud base height limit for continued convective transfer from the surface.     

Roll Vortices and Boundary-Layer Development during a Cold Air Outbreak

The development of the boundary layer during a cold air outbreak in the FramStrait is documented by aircraft measurements. The convection was organisedinto roll vortices with aspect ratios increasing from 2.9 near the ice edgeto more than 6 at 100 km further downstream. This increase coincides with anincrease of the latent heat release in the cloud layer. The stability parameter-zi/L varies from about zero at the ice edge to 30 at a distance of 200 kmdownstream over open water where the satellite picture still shows cloudstreets. The increase is mainly due to the deepening of the boundary layer.The turbulent vertical sensible and latent heat fluxes near the surface amountto 400 W m^-2 within a 300 km off-ice zone. 25% of the upward heat fluxin the subcloud layer is carried out by organised roll motions. Experimentswith a 2-dimensional non-hydrostatic model show a similar roll aspect ratio inthe first 50 km, but further downstream where condensational heating is moreimportant the modelled roll wavelengths are distinctly smaller than the observedones.     

Mean circulations of boundary-layer rolls in lake-effect snow storms

An observational study of the roll-average flow fields of boundary-layer rolls is presented. Data used for this purpose were collected by dual-Doppler radar and aircraft measurements taken over southern Lake Michigan during the 1983/1984 field operations of Project Lake Snow. The roll circulations agreed well with findings of past observational, numerical and theoretical studies, with cross-roll components roughly 10% of the convective internal boundary layer (CIBL)-mean wind speeds and weaker vertical components. Along-roll winds were systematically stronger in the rollupdraft regions than in the roll-downdraft regions, probably due to distortion of the along-roll wind profile by the rolls. Comparison of observed wind profiles to those required by roll formation mechanisms found by past numerical and theoretical studies suggested that the observed rolls were formed by the along-roll wind shear (Asai, 1970) or wind shear curvature (Kuettner, 1971) in the lowest 0.2Z _i, whereZ _i is the height of the top of the CIBL.     

A Simple Parametrization for the Concentration Variance Dissipation in a Lagrangian Single-Particle Model

A new quasi-analytical mixed-layer model is formulated describing the evolution of the convective atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during cold-air outbreaks (CAO) over polar oceans downstream of the marginal sea-ice zones. The new model is superior to previous ones since it predicts not only temperature and mixed-layer height but also the height-averaged horizontal wind components. Results of the mixed-layer model are compared with dropsonde and aircraft observations carried out during several CAOs over the Fram Strait and also with results of a 3D non-hydrostatic (NH3D) model. It is shown that the mixed-layer model reproduces well the observed ABL height, temperature, low-level baroclinicity and its influence on the ABL wind speed. The mixed-layer model underestimates the observed ABL temperature only by about 10 %, most likely due to the neglect of condensation and subsidence. The comparison of the mixed-layer and NH3D model results shows good agreement with respect to wind speed including the formation of wind-speed maxima close to the ice edge. It is concluded that baroclinicity within the ABL governs the structure of the wind field while the baroclinicity above the ABL is important in reproducing the wind speed. It is shown that the baroclinicity in the ABL is strongest close to the ice edge and slowly decays further downwind. Analytical solutions demonstrate that the \(\mathrm{e}\)-folding distance of this decay is the same as for the decay of the difference between the surface temperature of open water and of the mixed-layer temperature. This distance characterizing cold-air mass transformation ranges from 450 to 850 km for high-latitude CAOs.     

A cold air outbreak near Spitsbergen in springtime — Boundary-layer modification and cloud development

A moderate cold air outbreak from the Arctic ice over the warm West-Spitsbergen current on 15 and 16 May 1988 during the field experiment ARKTIS '88 is analysed using data from four aircraft and one research vessel.The downstream development of cloud coverage appears to depend sensitively on the moisture content above the inversion. The cloud amount determines the energy balance at the sea surface. Under daytime conditions and little cloud cover, energy is added to the ocean in spite of sensible and latent heat losses.The downstream temperature increase in the boundary layer is controlled by sensible heat flux and by longwave radiation cooling. The entrainment sensible heat flux is the dominating term in the region near the ice edge. The downstream moisture increase is controlled by surface evaporation. Condensation processes play no significant role.On 16 May 1988 cloud streets near the ice edge changed to closed cloud meanders in the downstream direction. The aspect ratio increased from 3 to around 10 over a distance of 200 km. In the cloud street region, the dynamical generation of turbulent kinetic energy due to wind shear at the tilted inversion was larger than the thermal generation.Cloud droplet concentration, mean droplet radius and liquid water content increased linearly with height. The maximum liquid water content was only 0.1 g/kg near the top of a 400 m thick closed cloud and clearly below the adiabatic value. The net longwave radiation flux decreased by 50 W/m² at cloud top and increased by 13 W/m² at cloud base.     

Numerical Simulation of Roll Vortices in the Convective Boundary Layer

Roll vortices,which often appear when cold air outbreaks over warm ocean surfaces,are an important system for energy and substance exchange between the land surface and atmosphere.Numerical simulations were carried out in the study to simulate roll vortices in the convective boundary layer(CBL).The results indicate,that with proper atmospheric conditions,such as thermal instability in the CBL,stable stratification in the overlying layer and suitable wind shear,and a temperature jump between the two layers in a two-layer atmosphere,convective bands appear after adding initial pulses in the atmosphere.The simulated flow and temperature fields presented convective bands in the horizontal and roll vortices in the crosswind section. The structure of the roll vortices were similar to those observed in the cloud streets,as well as those from analytical solutions.Simulations also showed the influence of depth and instability strength of the CBL, as well as the stratification above the top of the CBL,on the orientation spacing and strength of the roll vortices.The fluxes caused by the convective rolls were also investigated,and should perhaps be taken into account when explaining the surface energy closure gap in the CBL.     

Boundary-layer modification in wintertime cold-air outbreaks from the Arctic sea ice

During the field experiment ARKTIS 1993 ten cases of boundary-layer modification in wintertime cold-air outbreaks from the Arctic sea ice in the Spitsbergen region were observed by aircraft over a distance ranging from about 50 km over the ice to about 300 km over the water. The modification depends decisively on the initial conditions over the ice, the boundary conditions at the bottom and top of the boundary layer and on the conditions of the large-scale flow. The modification of the bulk boundary-layer characteristics in relation to these conditions is presented.Besides the air-sea temperature contrast, the most important role for the boundary-layer modification is played by the stability on top of the boundary layer and by the divergence of the large-scale flow. According to the high variability of these conditions the observed boundary-layer modifications were very variable ranging from 100 to 300 m thick boundary layers with air temperatures between -32 and -22 °C over the ice to thicknesses between 900 and 2200 m and air temperatures between -15 and -5 °C after 300 km fetch over the open water. In most cases the large-scale flow was anticyclonic and divergent over the ice and changed to cyclonic and convergent over the water and an ice-sea breeze was superimposed on it.The sensible and latent heat fluxes are the dominant terms in the surface energy budget over the open water and ranged between 200 and 700 W m^-2 whereas the net longwave radiation is the dominating term over the ice with the heat fluxes only about 10 W m^-2.     

Surface energy balance,parameterizations of boundary-layer heights and the application of resistance laws near an Antarctic Ice Shelf front

A study of the surface energy balance with turbulent fluxes obtained by the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and a comparison with results for resistance laws are presented for the strong baroclinic conditions in the vicinity of the Filchner/Ronne Ice Shelf front. The data are taken from a field experiment in the Antarctic summer season 1983/84. For the first time in the coastal Antarctic region, this data set comprises synchronous energy balance measurements over the polynya and the ice shelf together with soundings of the boundary layer, yielding vertical profiles of the wind velocity and temperature over the ice shelf, at the ice shelf front and over the polynya.Over the ice shelf, the radiation balance is the largest component of the energy fluxes and is mainly compensated by the subsurface energy flux and the turbulent heat flux in the daily mean. Over the polynya, turbulent fluxes of sensible and latent heat lead to large energy losses of the water surface in the night-time and in situations of very low air temperatures.Different parameterizations for boundary-layer height are compared using tethered sonde and energy balance measurements. With the height of the inversion base over the polynya and the height of the critical bulk Richardson number over the ice shelf, external parameters for the application of resistance laws were determined. The comparison of turbulent surface fluxes obtained by the energy balance measurements and by the resistance laws shows good agreement for the convective conditions over the polynya. For the stably stratified boundary layer over the ice shelf with small amounts of the turbulent heat flux, the deviation is large for the case of a cold air outflow with a superposed inertial oscillation.     

Planetary Boundary Layer over a Small Island as Observed by a Doppler Sodar

Observations from a new five-beam phasedarray Doppler sodar located over a small islandrevealed the development of an internal boundary layer (IBL)from the edge of a cliff in strong windcases, and the presence of systematic convective motions in unstableconditions. The top of the IBL ischaracterized by a small wind maximum trailing fromthe strong wind area at the edge of the cliff, anddevelops with distance from the edge. In the presence ofcumulus clouds, an upwardvelocity region, surrounded by downward motion, wasobserved in the subcloud layer. Anupward convective pattern of organized motion following the passage of cumulus clouds may be young thermalsrising from a height of about 100 m.     

Mountain Waves Launched By Convective Activity Within The Boundary Layer Above Mountains

Mountain waves are observed in the free atmosphere, even when the mountainboundary layer (the source region of these waves) is neutral or convectivelyunstable, and filled with convective rolls, revealed by cloud streets. This paperinvestigates if mountain waves are caused not simply by air flow over mountainridges, but also by flow over boundary-layer convective activity, similar toconvection waves above plains and oceans. Disturbance of stable air flow abovemountains by convective activity, mechanical and convective turbulence and rotors,near the ground, could move the effective mountain-wave launching height to higherthan the mountain peaks.     

Statistical Variability of Dispersion in the Convective Boundary Layer: Ensembles of Simulations and Observations

A Lagrangian particle dispersion model (LPDM) driven by velocity fields from large-eddy simulations (LESs) is used to determine the mean and variability of plume dispersion in a highly convective planetary boundary layer (PBL). The total velocity of a “particle” is divided into resolved and unresolved or random (subfilter scale, SFS) velocities with the resolved component obtained from the LES and the SFS velocity from a Lagrangian stochastic model. This LPDM-LES model is used to obtain an ensemble of dispersion realizations for calculating the mean, root-mean-square (r.m.s.) deviation, and fluctuating fields of dispersion quantities. An ensemble of 30 realizations is generated for each of three source heights: surface, near-surface, and elevated. We compare the LPDM calculations with convection tank experiments and field observations to assess the realism of the results. The overall conclusion is that the LPDM-LES model produces a realistic range of dispersion realizations and statistical variability (i.e., r.m.s. deviations) that match observations in this highly convective PBL, while also matching the ensemble-mean properties. This is true for the plume height or trajectory, vertical dispersion, and the surface values of the crosswind-integrated concentration (CWIC), and their dependence on downstream distance. One exception is the crosswind dispersion for an elevated source, which is underestimated by the model. Other analyses that highlight important LPDM results include: (1) the plume meander and CWIC fluctuation intensity at the surface, (2) the applicability of a similarity theory for plume height from a surface source to only the very strong updraft plumes—not the mean height, and (3) the appropriate variation with distance of the mean surface CWIC and the lower bound of the CWIC realizations for a surface source.     

The climatic response of the Arctic Ocean to Soviet river diversions

A numerical model is constructed to evaluate the effect of river diversions on the circulation of the Arctic Ocean, including the climatically important response in the extent of sea ice. The ocean model solves the primitive equations of motion in finite-difference form for the irregular geometry of the Arctic Ocean and Greenland/Norwegian Sea, using 110 km horizontal grid spacing and up to 13 unevenly spaced levels in the vertical. Annual mean atmospheric conditions and river discharges are specified from observations. The presence of sea ice is diagnosed on the basis of model ocean temperature; and the effects of sea ice on the surface fluxes of momentum, heat, and salt are included in a simplified way. Lateral exchanges at the southernmost boundary are held near observed values but respond to circulation changes in the Greenland/Norwegian Sea. Three equilibrium solutions are obtained by eighty-year integrations from simple initial conditions: the first with inflow from all rivers, the second with one-third of the inflow diverted from four major rivers (the Ob, Yenesei, Dvina, and Pechora), and the third with total diversion from those rivers. The middle case corresponds to maximal diversions which are either planned or envisioned by the Soviet Union over the next fifty years, whereas the final extreme case is run in the event that model sensitivity is low relative to that of nature.The control integration gives a good simulation of known water masses and currents. In the Central Arctic, for example, the model correctly predicts a strong shallow halocline, a relatively warm intermediate layer of Atlantic origin, and a temperature jump across the deep Lomonosov Ridge. The overall pattern of surface salinity and the margin of the pack ice are also properly simulated.When runoff into the marginal Kara and Barents Seas is diverted, either in part or in full, almost no effect on the halocline results in the Central Arctic. In particular, deep convection does not develop in the Eurasian Basin, the possibility of which was suggested by Aagaard and Coachman (1975). The vertical stability within the two marginal seas is considerably decreased by the total diversion of four rivers, but not to the point of convective overturning. The surface currents in this area change to confine the water with increased salinity to the shelf region. At deeper levels, an increased salinity tongue spreads into the deep basins of the ice-free Greenland/Norwegian Sea, where existing deep convection is slightly enhanced. As a result, there is some additional heat loss from the Atlantic layer before it enters the Central Arctic. The ice extent remains nearly the same as before within the Kara and Barents Seas. In fact, since modified bottom currents over the continental shelf bring in less heat from the Greenland Sea, an increased thickness of sea ice may result there, in spite of reduced vertical stability. These model responses are generally in agreement with those suggested by Micklin (1981) and by Soviet investigations of the effect of river diversions. These annualmean results should be regarded as tentative, pending confirmation by studies which include the seasonal cycles of runoff and atmospheric forcing.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

The Summer Arctic Boundary Layer during the Arctic Ocean Experiment 2001 (AOE-2001)

Boundary-layer measurements made from the Swedish icebreaker Oden during the Arctic Ocean Experiment 2001 (AOE-2001) are analysed. They refer mainly to ice drift in the central Arctic during the period 2–21 August 2001. On board Oden a remote sensing array with a wind profiler, cloud radar and a scanning microwave radiometer, and a regular weather station operated continuously; soundings were also released during research stations. Turbulence and profile measurements on an 18-m mast were deployed on the ice, along with two sodar systems, a microbarograph array and a tethered sounding system. Surface flux and meteorological stations were also deployed on nearby ice floes. There is a clear diurnal cycle in radiation and also in wind speed, cloud base and visibility. It is absent in temperature and humidity, probably due to the very strong control by melting/ freezing ice and snow. In the advection of warm air, latent heat of melting maintains the surface temperature at 0 °C, while with a negative energy balance the latent heat of freezing of the salty ocean water acts to maintain the surface temperature > −2 °C. The constant presence of water at the surface maintains a relative humidity close to 100%, and this is also often facilitated by an increasing specific humidity through the capping inversion, making entrainment a moisture source. This ensures cloudy conditions, with low cloud and fog prevailing most of the time. Intrusions of warm and moist air from beyond the ice edge are frequent, but the local Arctic boundary layer remains at a relatively constant temperature, and is shallow and well mixed with strong capping inversions. Power spectra of surface-layer wind speed sometimes show large variance at low frequency. A scanning radiometer provides a monitoring of the vertical thermal structure with a spatial and temporal resolution not seen before in the Arctic. There are often two inversions, an elevated main inversion and a weak surface inversion, and occasionally additional inversions occur. Enhanced entrainment across the main inversion appears to occur during frontal passages. Variance of the scanning radiometer temperatures occurs in large pulses rather than varying smoothly, and the height to the maximum variance appears to be a reasonable proxy for the boundary-layer depth.