On the parameterization of drag over small-scale topography in neutrally-stratified boundary-layer flow

Predictions of the surface drag in turbulent boundary-layer flow over two-dimensional sinusoidal topography from various numerical models are compared. For simple 2D terrain, the model results show that the drag increases associated with topography are essentially proportional to (slope)² up to the steepness at which the flow separates. For the purposes of boundary-layer parameterisation within larger-scale models, we propose a representation of the effects of simple 2D topography via an effective roughness length, z ₀ ^eff. The form of the varation of z ₀ ^eff with terrain slope and topographic wavelength is established for small slopes from the model results and a semi-empirical formula is proposed.     

Generation and atmospheric heat exchange of coastal polynyas in the Weddell Sea

The forcing mechanisms for Antarctic coastal polynyas and the thermodynamic effects of existing polynyas are studied by means of an air-sea-ice interaction experiment in the Weddell Sea in October and November 1986.Coastal polynyas develop in close relationship to the ice motion and form most rapidly with offshore ice motion. Narrow polynyas occur frequently on the lee side of headlands and with strong curvature of the coastline. From the momentum balance of drifting sea ice, a forcing diagram is constructed, which relates ice motion to the surface-layer wind vector v _z and to the geostrophic ocean current vector c _g . In agreement with the data, wind forcing dominates when the wind speed at a height of 3 m exceeds the geostrophic current velocity by a factor of at least 33. This condition within the ocean regime of the Antarctic coastal current usually is fulfilled for wind speeds above 5 m/s at a height of 3 m.Based on a nonlinear parameter estimation technique, optimum parameters for free ice drift are calculated. Including a drift dependent geostrophic current in the ice/water drag yields a maximum of explained variance (91%) of ice velocity.The turbulent heat exchange between sea ice and polynya surfaces is derived from surface-layer wind and temperature data, from temperature changes of the air mass along its trajectory and from an application of the resistance laws for the atmospheric PBL. The turbulent heat flux averaged over all randomly distributed observations in coastal polynyas is 143 W/m². This value is significantly different over pack ice and shelf ice surfaces, where downward fluxes prevail. The large variances of turbulent fluxes can be explained by variable wind speeds and air temperatures. The heat fluxes are also affected by cloud feedback processes and vary in time due to the formation of new ice at the polynya surface.Maximum turbulent fluxes of more than 400 W/m² result from strong winds and low air temperatures. The heat exchange is similarly intense in a narrow zone close to the ice front, when under weak wind conditions, a local circulation develops and cold air associated with strong surface inversions over the shelf ice is heated above the open water.     

Geometric and aerodynamic roughness of sea ice

The aerodynamic drag of Arctic sea ice is calculated using surface data, measured by an airborne laser altimeter and a digital camera in the marginal ice zone of Fram Strait. The influence of the surface morphology on the momentum transfer under neutral thermal stratification in the atmospheric boundary layer is derived with the aid of model concepts, based on the partitioning of the surface drag into a form drag and a skin drag. The drag partitioning concept pays attention to the probability density functions of the geometric surface parameters. We found for the marginal ice zone that the form drag, caused by floe edges, can amount to 140% of the skin drag, while the effect of pressure ridges never exceeded 40%. Due to the narrow spacing of obstacles, the skin drag is significantly reduced by shadowing effects on the leeward side of floe edges. For practical purposes, the fractional sea-ice coverage can be used to parameterize the drag coefficientC _dn, related to the 10 m-wind. C _dnincreases from 1.2 · 10^-3 over open water to 2.8 · 10^-3 for 55% ice coverage and decreases to 1.5 · 10^-3 for 100% ice coverage.Aircraft turbulence measurements are used to compare the model values of C _dnwith measureents. The correlation between measured and modelled drag coefficients results in r ² = 0.91, where r is the correlation coefficient.     

On the boundary-layer flow over a Canadian Archipelago polynya

A numerical model is presented for predicting boundary-layer parameters for flow over a polynya, i.e., an isolated lead of open water that recurs annually at the same geographical location during Arctic winters. As the flow encounters a polynya, it experiences a sudden change from a cold, dry, rough, snow-covered ice surface to a warmer, wetter, and smoother open water surface. The present model includes both the heat balance equation and the vapor conservation equation in addition to the usual mass continuity equation, x-momentum equation, and the turbulent energy equation. In addition, the buoyancy term is added to the energy equation to account for the buoyancy force introduced by the underlying warmer surface. To close the system, the present model uses the Glushko-type mixing length relationship. During the numerical calculations, a fully implicit finite-difference method was used, and stable numerical solutions were obtained for a fetch over 1 km. Comparison of model results with measured results over a polynya in the Canadian Archipelago show good agreement.     

Estimation of the Exchange Coefficient of Heat During Low Wind Convective Conditions

For the first time, the exchange coefficient of heat C_H has been estimated from eddy correlation of velocity and virtual temperature fluctuations using sonic anemometer measurements made at low wind speeds over the monsoon land atJodhpur (26°18' N, 73°04' E), a semi arid station. It shows strong dependence on wind speed, increasing rapidly with decreasing wind speed, and scales according to a power law C_H = 0.025U₁₀ ^-0.7 (where U₁₀ is the mean wind speed at 10-m height). A similar but more rapid increase in the drag coefficient C_Dhas already been reported in an earlier study. Low winds (<4 m s^-1) are associated with both near neutral and strong unstable situations. It is noted that C_H increases with increasing instability. The present observations best describe a low wind convective regime as revealed in the scaling behaviour of drag, sensible heat flux and the non-dimensional temperature gradient. Neutral drag and heat cofficients,corrected using Monin–Obukhov (M–O) theory, show a more uniform behaviour at low wind speeds in convective conditions, when compared with the observed coefficients discussed in a coming paper.At low wind convective conditions, M-O theory is unable to capture the observed linear dependence of drag on wind speed, unlike during forced convections. The non-dimensional shear inferred from the present data shows noticeable deviations from Businger's formulation, a forced convection similarity. Heat flux is insensitive to drag associated with weak winds superposed on true free convection. With heat flux as the primary variable, definition of new velocity scales leads to a new drag parameterization scheme at low wind speeds during convective conditionsdiscussed in a coming paper.     

Airborne surveys of the atmospheric boundary layer above the marginal ice zone on the Newfoundland shelf

Abstract

Airborne measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) above the marginal ice zone (MIZ) on the Newfoundland Shelf reveal strong lateral variations in mean wind, temperature and the vertical fluxes of heat and momentum under conditions of cold, off‐ice wind. Flux measurements in (and near) the surface layer indicate that the neutral 10‐m drag coefficient depends on ice concentration, ranging from 2 × 10^‐3 at 10% coverage to 5 × 10^‐3 at 90%. Furthermore, cross‐ice‐edge transects consistently show increasing wind speed, temperature and heat flux in the off‐ice direction, but the momentum flux may either increase or decrease, depending on the relative importance of surface buoyancy flux and roughness. For the conditions encountered in this experiment, it appears surface wave maturity does not have a significant influence on the drag coefficient in fetch‐limited regimes near the ice edge.     

A theory for the scalar roughness and the scalar transfer coefficients over snow and sea ice

Although the bulk aerodynamic transfer coefficients for sensible (C _H ) and latent (C _E ) heat over snow and sea ice surfaces are necessary for accurately modeling the surface energy budget, they have been measured rarely. This paper, therefore, presents a theoretical model that predicts neutral-stability values of C _H and C _E as functions of the wind speed and a surface roughness parameter. The crux of the model is establishing the interfacial sublayer profiles of the scalars, temperature and water vapor, over aerodynamically smooth and rough surfaces on the basis of a surface-renewal model in which turbulent eddies continually scour the surface, transferring scalar contaminants across the interface by molecular diffusion. Matching these interfacial sublayer profiles with the semi-logarithmic inertial sublayer profiles yields the roughness lengths for temperature and water vapor. When coupled with a model for the drag coefficient over snow and sea ice based on actual measurements, these roughness lengths lead to the transfer coefficients. C _E is always a few percent larger than CH. Both decrease monotonically with increasing wind speed for speeds above 1 m s^–1, and both increase at all wind speeds as the surface gets rougher. Both, nevertheless, are almost always between 1.0 × 10^–3 and 1.5 × 10^–3.     

Are polynyas self‐sustaining?

Abstract

In this paper, 441 Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) casts from the North Water (NOW) Polynya study were used to calculate geostrophic currents between the 10 and 200 dbar surface during April, May and June 1998. Results for April and May indicated a surface intensified southward flow of 10 to 15 cm s^–1 with a small return flow along the Greenland coast in agreement with inferred currents described by Melling et al. (2001) and surface ice drifts found by Wilson et al. (2001). Southward transports at this time were 0.4–0.55 Sv in April and May. In June, however, surface currents diminished markedly: southward transports declined to 0.1–0.35 Sv, coincident with a decrease in directly measured winds over the polynya and in the surface barometric pressure difference between Grise Fjord and the Carey Islands that was used as a surrogate for the local north wind speed. There was no evident decrease in air pressure difference between Resolute and Grise Fjord, indicative of the strength of the north wind over the eastern Arctic in general. The results are consistent with present thinking that the NOW Polynya is primarily a latent heat polynya, forced by dominant north winds. The idea, broached here, is that the polynya creates its own microclimate which sustains the polynya's ice‐free condition after its initial formation. The mechanism is identified by an anomalous low pressure region associated with surface buoyancy flux in the polynya and is pursued through the application of a simple geostrophic adjustment model that suggests two self‐sustaining mechanisms. Firstly, the frontal intrusion of the cold ambient terrestrial air mass drives a significant surface wind that transports frazil ice to the edge of the polynya before it can congeal. Secondly, rotation at these high latitudes restricts the penetration of the front into the polynya, essentially insulating the centre from freezing temperatures.     

Temporal and Spatial Variations of the Aerodynamic Roughness Length in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

To understand the response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change the so-called ablation zone is of particular importance, since it accommodates the yearly net surface ice loss. In numerical models and for data analysis, the bulk aerodynamic method is often used to calculate the turbulent surface fluxes, for which the aerodynamic roughness length (z ₀) is a key parameter. We present, for the first time, spatial and temporal variations of z ₀ in the ablation area of the Greenland ice sheet using year-round data from three automatic weather stations and one eddy-correlation mast. The temporal variation of z ₀ is found to be very high in the lower ablation area (factor 500) with, at the end of the summer melt, a maximum in spatial variation for the whole ablation area of a factor 1000. The variation in time matches the onset of the accumulation and ablation season as recovered by sonic height rangers. During winter, snow accumulation and redistribution by snow drift lead to a uniform value of z ₀≈ 10⁻⁴ m throughout the ablation area. At the beginning of summer, snow melt uncovers ice hummocks and z ₀ quickly increases well above 10⁻² m in the lower ablation area. At the end of summer melt, hummocky ice dominates the surface with z ₀ > 5  ×  10⁻³ m up to 60 km from the ice edge. At the same time, the area close to the equilibrium line (about 90 km from the ice edge) remains very smooth with z ₀ = 10⁻⁵ m. At the beginning of winter, we observed that single snow events have the potential to lower z ₀ for a very rough ice surface by a factor of 20 to 50. The total surface drag of the abundant small-scale ice hummocks apparently dominates over the less frequent large domes and deep gullies. The latter results are verified by studying the individual drag contributions of hummocks and domes with a drag partition model.     

Estimation of atmospheric surface layer parameters and numerical simulation using MM5 at Mangalore, West Coast of India

Atmospheric surface layer meteorological observations obtained from 20-m-high meteorological tower at Mangalore, situated along the west coast of India are used to estimate the surface layer scaling parameters of roughness length (z _o) and drag coefficient (C _D), surface layer fluxes of sensible heat and momentum. These parameters are computed using the simple flux–profile relationships under the framework of Monin–Obukhov (M–O) similarity theory. The estimated values of z _o are higher (1.35–1.54 m) than the values reported in the literature (>0.4–0.9 m) probably due to the undulating topography surrounding the location. The magnitude of C _D is high for low wind speed (<1.5 m s^?1) and found to be in the range 0.005–0.03. The variations of sensible heat fluxes (SHF) and momentum fluxes are also discussed. Relatively high fluxes of heat and momentum are observed during typical days on 26–27 February 2004 and 10–11 April 2004 due to the daytime unstable atmospheric conditions. Stable or near neutral conditions prevail after 1700 h IST with negative SHF. A mesoscale model PSU/NCAR MM5 is run using a high-resolution (1 km) grid over the study region to examine the influence of complex topography on the surface layer parameters and the simulated fluxes are compared with estimated values. Spatial variations of the frictional velocity (u _*), C _D, surface fluxes, planetary boundary layer (PBL) height and surface winds are noticed according to the topographic variations in the simulation.     

Spatio-temporal Variability of Surface-layer Turbulent Fluxes Over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea During the ICARB Field Experiment

We report the spatio-temporal variability of surface-layer turbulent fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS) during the Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases Radiation Budget (ICARB) field experiment. The meteorological component of ICARB conducted during March – May 2006 onboard the oceanic research vessel Sagar Kanya forms the database for the present study. The bulk transfer coefficients and the surface-layer fluxes are estimated using a modified bulk aerodynamic method, and then the spatio-temporal variability of these air-sea interface fluxes is discussed in detail. It is observed that the sensible and latent heat fluxes over the AS are marginally higher than those over the BoB, which we attribute to differences in the prevailing meteorological conditions over the two oceanic regions. The values of the wind stress, sensible and latent heat fluxes are compared with those obtained for the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) period. The variation of drag coefficient (C _D ), exchange coefficients of sensible heat and moisture (C _H = C _E ) and neutral drag coefficient (C _DN ) with wind speed is also discussed.

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Topographic generation of intermediate-scale motions by wind-driven currents — A model for the circulation in the vicinity of the Indian-Antarctic ridge

When a broad ocean current encounters a large-scale topographic feature, standing Rossby wave patterns can be generated. Short Rossby waves with a scale L_i = √ Q/β (Q is the speed of the approaching flow; β is the meridional gradient of f) are generated east of the topography. If the zonal scale of the topography, L, is planetary, long standing Rossby waves can be generated west of the topography, when the current has a meridional component. The long waves focus the disturbance zonally and produce alternating regions of intensified or reduced zonal flow. The meridional scale that characterizes these zonal bands is the intermediate scales, L = L_i^2/3L^1/3. When the meridional topographic scale is comparable to L, the amplitude of the long-wave disturbance is dominant. Using multiple-scale methods to exploit the scale gap between the planetary, intermediate and Rossby wave scales, the topographically induced pressure and velocity fields due to a zonal ridge are obtained. When the planetary-scale flow field is directed poleward, a westward counterflow can occur along the poleward flank of the ridge. The meridional scales of these topographically induced flows are comparable to those observed along the Indian-Antarctic Ridge by Callahan (1971).     

A fluid experiment of large-scale topography effect on baroclinic wave flows

The effects of topography on baroclinic wave flows are studied experimentally in a thermally driven rotating annulus of fluid.Fourier analysis and complex principal component (CPC) analysis of the experimental data show that, due to topographic forcing, the flow is bimodal rather than a single mode. Under suitable imposed experimental parameters, near thermal Rossby number ROT = 0.1 and Taylor number Ta = 2.2 × 107, the large-scale topography produces low-frequency oscillation in the flow and rather long-lived flow pattern resembling blocking in the atmospheric cir-culation. The ‘blocking’ phenomenon is caused by the resonance of travelling waves and the quasi-stationary waves forced by topography.The large-scale topography transforms wavenumber-homogeneous flows into wavenumber-dispersed flows, and the dispersed flows possess lower wavenumbers.     

Boundary-layer observations over water and arctic sea-ice during on-ice air flow

Observations made on 8 and 9 May 1988 by aircraft and two ships in and around the marginal ice zone of the Fram Strait during on-ice air flow under cloudy and cloud-free conditions are presented.The thermodynamic modification of the air mass moving from the open water to the ice over horizontal distances of 100–300 km is only a few tenth of a degree for temperature and a few tenth of a gram per kilogram for specific humidity. This is due to the small temperature differences between sea and ice surfaces. During the day, the ice surface is even warmer than the sea surface. The stably stratified 200–400 m deep boundary layer is often topped by a moisture inversion leading to downward fluxes of sensible as well as latent heat.The radiation and energy balance at the surface are measured as functions of ice cover, cloud cover and sun elevation angle. The net radiationR _Nis the dominating term of the energy budget. During the day, the difference ofR _Nbetween clear and overcast sky is only a few W/m² over ice, but 100–200 W/m² over water. During the night,R _Nover ice is more sensitive to cloud cover.The kinematic structure is characterized by strong shears of the longitudinal and the transversal wind component. The profile of the latter one shows an inflection point near the top of the boundary layer. Dynamically-driven roll circulations are numerically separated from the mean flow. The secondary flow patterns have wavelengths of about 1 km and contribute substantially to the total variances and covariances.     

Characteristic heat transfer coefficients near the ground at night during strong winds

Based on theoretical radiative cooling values and observed temperature changes with time near the surface during the night, the bulk heat transfer coefficient C _H is estimated from standard meteorological observations obtained from stations representative of open rural, small town and large urban areas, for nights with clear skies and relatively strong winds. It is shown that C _H is smaller than the drag coefficient C _M, and that C _H/C _M over urban areas is smaller than that over open countryside.     

Atmospheric Response To Spatial Variations In Concentration And Size Of Polynyas In The Southern Ocean Sea-Ice Zone

Although it is well known that sea-ice regions are important components of the Earth's climate system, the exchanges of energy between ocean, ice and atmosphere are not well understood. The majority of past observational and modelling studies of atmosphere-surface interactions over sea-ice regions were primarily concerned with airflow over a single, isolated area of open water. The more realistic situations of multiple polynyas within a sea-ice field and different areal concentrations of sea ice were studied here. Spatial structure of the atmospheric boundary layer in response to this surface was simulated using a high-resolution numerical model. A sea-ice concentration of 80%, typical of the Southern Ocean sea-ice zone, was maintained within a 100-km wide domain. The effects of three polynya characteristics were assessed: their horizontal extent; local concentration of sea ice (LCI); and their arrangement with ice floes. Over polynyas of all sizes distinct plumes of upward heat flux, their width and height closely linked to polynya width, resulted in mixed layers 600 to 1000 m deep over and downwind of the polynyas, their depth increasing with polynya width. Mean surface heat flux (MSHF) increased with size in polynyas less than 30 km wide. The air-to-ice MSHF over the first 10 km of sea-ice downwind of each polynya and the domain-average surface heat flux increased linearly with polynya width. Turbulent kinetic energy plumes occurred over all polynyas, their heights and widths increasing with polynya widths. Downward flux of high momentum air in the plumes caused increased wind speeds over polynyas in the layer from about 300–1000 m above the surface, the depth varying directly with polynya width. MSHFs decreased as LCIs increased. The arrangement of polynyas had relatively little effect on the overall depth of the modified layer but did influence the magnitude and spatial structure of vertical heat transfer. In the two-polynya case the MSHF over the polynyas was larger when they were closer together. Although the MSHF over the sea ice between the polynyas decreased in magnitude as their separation increased, the percentage of the polynya-to-air heat recaptured by this ice floe increased fivefold.     

Stability dependence of the drag and bulk transfer coefficients over a coastal sea surface

Bulk transfer coefficients were evaluated from eddy correlation flux measurements on a fixed pier during onshore winds. The mean values are C _D = 1.69 × 10^-3, C _H = 2.58 × 10^-3 and C _E = 1.51 × 10^-3. The drag coefficient, C _D, gradually increases with wind speed but C _H and C _E are independent of wind speed. According to theory and empirical formulas based on experimental results over flat grassland, the transfer coefficients should gradually increase with increasing instability. This is confirmed experimentally in the stable region in our case. However, the drag coefficient appears to decrease with increasing instability, which is against the theoretical result. A stability dependence is not clearly observed for C _H or C _E.     

Aircraft estimates of the geostrophic drag coefficient and the rossby similarity functions A and B over the sea

Estimates of the geostrophic drag coefficient and the Rossby similarity functions, A and B obtained from data collected by an instrumented aircraft over the sea are presented. The average value of the geostrophic drag coefficient is 0.027 and is independent of the geostrophic windspeed. The dependence of the similarity functions A and B on boundary-layer parameters is investigated. The function A is found to depend on baroclinicity parameters, while B depends on the parameter u _*/fh (where u _* is the surface friction velocity, f is the Coriolis parameter, and h is the boundary-layer depth). Using the geostrophic drag coefficient found here and the results of surface drag coefficient studies, a relationship between geostrophic windspeed and surface windspeed is obtained which shows good agreement with empirical data.     

The role of quasi-stationary flaw polynya in formation of dense shelf waters in the wintertime and their subsequent slope cascading (the Laptev Sea case study)

Shelf areas in the region of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Laptev Sea are characterized by existing quasi-stationary flaw polynya that periodically opens throughout the entire wintertime under the action of strong offshore winds, which occur during the passage of cyclones. In periods of the open water surface, a near-surface turbulent layer or forced convection layer is formed in the flaw polynya; the water in the layer formed undergoes intense salinization and its dense increases due to active volumetric frazil ice production. As a result of the gravity force action, intense three-dimensional convective circulation develops in the underlying layers. It leads to a fast convective adjustment of the entire water column, especially, in the late winter, when residual stratification in the area of polynya is weakened with the total action of salinization due to the background static ΣMs _back and periodical local frazil ice formation ΣMs _f . On the whole for the entire winter period ΣMs _f is 3.4 times greater than ΣMs _back, although, during one month, probable lifetime of polynya with open water surface is several days. However, in these periods, salt fluxes with frazil ice production exceed background salt fluxes in the congelation polynya and background salt fluxes under heavy ice (limiting the polynya) 10–80 times. Spreading outside the polynia, dense shelf waters form in the area of polynya mesoscale baroclinic circulation, first generating intense shelf cascading, then intense slope cascading, which is of a local and random character. Some estimates of elements of baroclinic circulation of a convective origin in the area of polynia were obtained from the laboratory modeling results and are confirmed by field observation data.     

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.