Where does all the energy go? Surface energy partitioning in suburban Christchurch under stable wintertime conditions

Summary Typical observations of surface energy fluxes in urban areas usually employ the eddy covariance approach with measurements from a tower at a height well above the roughness elements. Net radiation and the turbulent fluxes are directly measured, the anthropogenic flux may be estimated and the storage flux is calculated as an energy balance residual. This paper reports both measurement and modelling of energy fluxes during wintertime in suburban areas of Christchurch, New Zealand. Under settled anticyclonic conditions, a strong inversion can occur over the city which severely restricts turbulent mixing. Even after sunrise the turbulent fluxes are small, and if one assumes advection is negligible, this means the storage flux increases in importance to very high levels. This paper suggests that these high storage rates are physically unrealistic for this environment. Rather, it is likely that some energy, which is assumed to be dissipated as heat storage, is more likely lost through mesoscale advection or attributed to errors caused by unsuitable measurement techniques under conditions with low friction velocity. However, even these two processes cannot fully account for flux loss. A full study is recommended to resolve this issue and meanwhile, caution is advised when applying current research methodology to estimate storage fluxes in urban areas in stable wintertime conditions.     

Suburban-rural energy balance comparisons in summer for Vancouver,B.C.

Simultaneous energy balance observations at a rural and a suburban site in Vancouver, B.C. during the summer of 1983 are presented. The study is a follow-up to that conducted in 1980. Many of the 1980 results were unexpected and the present study seeks to assess their representativeness. The net radiant, turbulent sensible, and rural soil heat flux densities were measured directly. The suburban heat storage was parameterized and the turbulent latent heat flux densities were resolved as residuals in the energy balances. The 1983 average diurnal energy partitioning for both sites was typical of those quoted in the literature, suggesting that the 1980 results represent an extreme case. Suburban-rural differences showed the suburban area to have a 4% increase in net radiation, a 51% increase in turbulent sensible heat, and a 46% decrease in turbulent latent heat flux density. The values of the average daytime Bowen ratio were 0.46 and 1.28 for the rural and suburban areas, respectively. The sensible heat flux density exhibited relatively large values in the late afternoon and remained directed upward on many summer evenings. Large day-to-day variability in the relative magnitude of the suburban turbulent fluxes may have been due to synoptic influences. In this environment, the turbulent surface and mixed layers are closely coupled because of the low aerodynamic resistance over the rough surface.     

The Effects of Building Representation and Clustering in Large-Eddy Simulations of Flows in Urban Canopies

We perform large-eddy simulations of neutral atmospheric boundary-layer flow over a cluster of buildings surrounded by relatively flat terrain. The first investigated question is the effect of the level of building detail that can be included in the numerical model, a topic not yet addressed by any previous study. The simplest representation is found to give similar results to more refined representations for the mean flow, but not for turbulence. The wind direction on the other hand is found to be important for both mean and turbulent parameters. As many suburban areas are characterised by the clustering of buildings and homes into small areas separated by surfaces of lower roughness, we look at the adjustment of the atmospheric surface layer as it flows from the smoother terrain to the built-up area. This transition has unexpected impacts on the flow; mainly, a zone of global backscatter (energy transfer from the turbulent eddies to the mean flow) is found at the upstream edge of the built-up area.     

Length-Scale Similarity of Turbulent Organized Structures over Surfaces with Different Roughness Types

We examine the similarity of turbulent organized structures over smooth and very rough wall flows. Turbulent flow fields in horizontal cross-sections were measured using particle image velocimetry, and the characteristics of turbulent organized structures over four types of surfaces were investigated. Measurements were conducted at several measurement heights across the internal boundary layer. The length and width of turbulence structures were quantified using a two-point correlation method. We selected two thresholds of two-point correlation coefficients to consider both large-scale and small-scale structures; the validity of these choices was examined through the analyses using proper orthogonal decomposition. For large-scale structures, the length and aspect ratios (streamwise length/spanwise width) of structures were highly correlated with the velocity gradient for each measurement height and boundary-layer thickness. This relationship was also examined in the results of previous studies, and the scaling of the aspect ratio with the non-dimensional velocity gradient again showed the importance of the velocity gradient, with slight differences found between smooth and rough surfaces. In contrast, the small-scale structures exhibited weak dependency on the velocity gradient and boundary-layer thickness. Instantaneous snapshots of turbulent organized structures at the same shear level also displayed differences in small-scale structures, but the structures of the organized motions resembled each other, as in the results of the two-point correlation method.     

黄河源区鄂陵湖湖面和湖边草地对流边界层湍流结构特征的大涡模拟研究

为研究黄河源区边界层湍流特征及其对物质和能量输送的影响,本文首次采用大涡模拟的方法,对比分析了黄河源区两种不同下垫面上（鄂陵湖和湖边草地）对流边界层（CBL）中精细的湍流结构特征。使用资料为2012年夏季黄河源区鄂陵湖流域野外观测实验的GPS探空资料、涡动相关观测资料。分析表明,模拟的黄河源区草地和湖上CBL的平均结构与实测结果吻合较好,但草地和湖上CBL的湍流结构特征差异较明显。模拟结果显示,草地CBL内湍能收支、湍流特征量的时空分布和湍涡结构特征均与陆地上热力驱动CBL的研究结果一致;湖上CBL顶部存在明显的对流卷特征,且夹卷层的湍流强度比草地的强,而草地近地面湍强则更大。通过改变水平分辨率的模拟试验,发现两个不同下垫面上模拟结果对模式分辨率的敏感性不同,湖面CBL的模拟要选择较高的水平分辨率（50～100 m）,以提高近湖面和夹卷层对湍流动能和湍流通量模拟的精度,也充分模拟出各种尺度的波对湍流通量的累积贡献。考虑到计算时间等影响,模拟草地边界层精细的湍流结构时建议选择网格距为100～200 m。     

南京冬季城、郊近地面湍流特征的对比分析

利用2006年2月17日—3月2日南京及其郊区的近地层湍流资料,分析了城、郊下垫面的无量纲化风速、温度的湍流特征,验证了Monin-obukhov（M-O）相似理论在城、郊下垫面的适用性,并与其他城市和地区的观测结果进行了比较,结果表明：在市区和郊区无量纲脉动风速标准差随稳定度的变化虽然都符合“1/3”次方律,但城、郊有一定差异,尤其在水平方向更为明显。在非中性时垂直向的变化要比水平向更符合“1/3”次方律;σT/｜T＊｜与Z/L关系在城、郊有一定差异,在不稳定时在市区和郊区分别按“-1/3”次和“-2/3”次方规律变化,而在稳定时市区按“-2/3”次方变化,郊区无普适函数关系。在稳定和不稳定条件下,城、郊σT/｜T＊｜都随着｜Z/L｜的减小而增大。     

An objective method to achieve closure of overdetermined surface energy budgets

The analysis of an overdetermined energy budget provides an opportunity to investigate the existence of advective effects at the site and in the atmospheric layer represented by the energy budget. The present contribution presents a set of hourly averaged energy budget data representing the atmospheric surface layer over a suburban surface. The measured variables result in an overdetermined budget. A statistical analysis shows that the residual energy has a near-zero mean with no apparent relation to wind-speed or wind-direction, thus eliminating the possibilty of advection. It is then shown how the residual may be distributed between the two turbulent fluxes on the presumption that it represents measurement errors which are the largest in those fluxes. This method is expected to provide more reliable flux estimates in environments characterized by large turbulent fluxes subject to significant errors.     

Turbulence Structure In Unstable Conditions Over Various Surfaces

A comprehensive study of the turbulent structure of the atmospheric boundary layer in unstable conditions has been carried out using turbulence data obtained from the Gobi desert, grassland, suburban and urban sites based on the same instrumentation, data acquisition and data processing systems. The normalized standard deviations of u and v over the suburban and urban sites are systematically smaller than those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. However, the normalized standard deviations of w, temperature and humidity q over the suburban and urban sites are quite close to those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. The normalized humidity standard deviations are quite similar to those of temperature over the grassland and suburban sites. The temperature and humidity spectra are found to be independentof atmospheric stability in all frequency ranges, but spectra obtained from the Gobi desert and grassland sites reveal flatter peaks than those of the suburban and urban sites in the lower frequency range. The normalized spectral curves of temperature and humidity are independent of atmospheric stability both at high and low frequencies. The spectral characteristics of humidity over the grassland and suburban sites aresimilar to those of temperature, but the humidity spectra over the Gobi desert site are quite different from temperature spectra due to evaporation and/or large eddies in the boundary layer.     

北京城市通量足迹及源区分布特征分析

城市下垫面具有不同于其他下垫面的特殊复杂性,通量的源汇分布十分不均,导致直接测量以及定量的描述城市中水汽、二氧化碳等通量变得非常困难。涡动观测系统在城市通量观测中得到广泛应用,但由于涡动协方差观测系统传感器都架设在一定的高度上,其测量结果只反映特定点下垫面或某部分下垫面的物理过程,不能说明观测结果是否具有下垫面属性的代表性,无法反映观测通量的空间变异性。足迹函数(Footprint)的产生就是为了解决这一问题,其又称源权重函数,是描述近地面层表面源或汇的空间分布和仪器观测通量值之间关系的函数。本文采用北京325 m气象塔近1年7层涡动协方差观测数据、超声数据,分析了不同风向、不同稳定度、不同高度下足迹函数所表达的通量贡献区域范围的变化规律。结果表明,在大气稳定条件下时,通量贡献区范围的大小与主风向无显著差异,而不稳定条件下计算结果与主风向无关。在不同高度下所有稳定条件下通量贡献区范围要大于不稳定条件,中性条件则介于两者之间。8 m、16 m高度上的观测结果不能完全代表城市下垫面通量贡献区,47 m以上能够代表城市下垫面通量贡献区,280 m则已经包含了郊区和城区的权重平均。同一大气稳定度条件下,高度越高通量贡献区范围越大,90%通量贡献区范围与观测高度成线性关系,这种线性关系可以预测没有观测高度或者更高处的通量贡献区范围。     

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.     

Intra-City Variation in Urban Morphology and Turbulence Structure in Helsinki, Finland

Most atmospheric boundary-layer theories are developed over vegetative surfaces and their applicability at urban sites is questionable. Here, we study the intra-city variation of turbulence characteristics and the applicability of boundary-layer theory using building-morphology data across Helsinki, and eddy-covariance data from three sites: two in central Helsinki (400 m apart) and one 4 km away from the city centre. The multi-site measurements enable the analysis of the horizontal scales at which quantities that characterize turbulent transport vary: (i) Roughness characteristics vary at a 10-m scale, and morphometric estimation of surface-roughness characteristics is shown to perform better than the often used rule-of-thumb estimates (average departures from the logarithmic wind profile are 14 and 44 %, respectively). (ii) The drag coefficient varies at a 100-m scale, and we provide an updated parametrization of the drag coefficient as a function of z/z _H (the ratio of the measurement height to the mean building height). (iii) The transport efficiency of heat, water vapour and CO₂ is shown to be weaker the more heterogeneous the site is, in terms of sources and sinks, and strong scalar dissimilarity is observed at all sites. (iv) Atmospheric stability varies markedly even within 4 km across the city: the median difference in nocturnal sensible heat fluxes between the three sites was over 50W m^?2. Furthermore, (v) normalized power spectra and cospectra do not vary between sites, and they follow roughly the canonical theory as developed over vegetated terrain.     

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.     

半干旱区不同下垫面近地层湍流通量特征分析

本文分析了2003～2005年半干旱区退化草地和农田下垫面近地层湍流通量日、季、年的变化特征, 探讨了不同年份的气候背景和下垫面土地覆被对地气交换过程的影响。结果表明: 半干旱区退化草地和农田近地层湍流通量具有明显的日变化、季变化周期; 地气间通量交换年际间的差异主要受当年的气候背景影响, 尤其是降水的影响; 同时还受到下垫面覆被的影响。潜热通量和感热通量的能量分配比率呈反位相变化, 且农田和退化草地的变化趋势相似, 在夏季潜热通量所占比例均超过感热通量; 两种下垫面的波恩比月均值变化趋势十分相似, 量级接近, 夏季低, 春、秋季高; 夏季退化草地和农田下垫面波恩比均小于或等于1。     

Study on diurnal variation of bulk drag coefficient over different landsurfaces

Summary The magnitude and diurnal change of turbulent bulk drag coefficients over land have been analysed using mean velocity and temperature gradient data of the planetary boundary layer. The turbulent drag coefficients can be about an order of magnitude larger over the rough land surface than over the sea surface. We computed these coefficients by the same method for three typical underlying surfaces represented by urban, grassland and Gobi desert. The results show that there are significant differences in the turbulent transfer among the three typical underlying surfaces.With 6 Figures     

CFD simulation of airflow over a regular array of cubes. Part II: analysis of spatial average properties

In the first part of this study, results of a computational fluid dynamics simulation over an array of cubes have been validated against a set of wind-tunnel measurements. In Part II, such numerical results are used to investigate spatially-averaged properties of the flow and passive tracer dispersion that are of interest for high resolution urban mesoscale modelling (e.g. non resolved obstacle approaches). The results show that vertical profiles of mean horizontal wind are linear within the canopy and logarithmic above. The drag coefficient, derived from the numerical results using the classical formula for the drag force, is height dependent (it decreases with height). However, a modification of the formula is proposed (accounting for subgrid velocity scales) that makes the drag coefficient constant with height. Results also show that the dispersive fluxes are similar in magnitude to the turbulent fluxes, and that they play a very important role within the canopy. Vertical profiles of turbulent length scales (to be used in k–l closure schemes, where k is the turbulent kinetic energy and l a turbulent length scale) are also derived. Finally the distribution of the values around the mean over the reference volumes are analysed for wind and tracer concentrations.     

下垫面对郑州城市边界层风的影响

根据１９９３年１月和７月郑州市中心测点和南郊郑州气象观测站同步观测的地面和边界层气象资料,分析了郑州城市下垫面对边界层风的影响。结果表明,在地面气压梯度比较小且天气晴朗条件下,郑州存在城市热岛环流。受城市热岛环流影响,郊区地面风向指向市区;边界层８００ｍ以下,城市上空吹偏西风时同一高度上南郊风向偏于城市风向左侧,吹偏东风时同一高度上南郊风向偏于市区风向右侧;１２００ｍ以上,城市上空吹偏西风时,同一高度上南郊风向偏于城市风向右侧     

Large-eddy simulations of the effects of hilly terrain on the convective boundary layer

Large-eddy simulations of the convective boundary layer are compared over hilly versus flat surfaces. Moderate values for the height and horizontal spacing of the hills were selected. Thermally-direct hill-valley circulations are induced by the uneven terrain, accounting for a significant fraction of the resolved energy in the boundary-layer eddies. The probability of upward eddy motion reaches up to 70% over the hilltops and down to 15% over the valleys. Above-average values of both subgrid scale turbulent kinetic energy and upward eddy heat transport are found above the higher terrain. Horizontal spectra of vertical motion are strongly biased toward the horizontal scales of the terrain. Vertical profiles of atmospheric variables obtained by horizontal averaging, however, exhibit no significant differences between hilly and flat terrain simulations.     

Turbulent flow over a very rough,random surface

A knowledge of the nature of turbulent flow over very rough surfaces is important for an understanding of the environment of crops, forests, and cities. For this reason, a wind-tunnel investigation was carried out on the variations in mean velocity, Reynolds shear-stress, and other turbulence quantities in a deep turbulent flow over a rough surface having a fair degree of randomness in the shapes, sizes, and positions of its elements.There was a layer close to the surface with considerable variations in both mean velocity and shear-stress, and the horizontal scale over which the mean velocity varied was much larger than the average distance between roughness elements. Above this layer, whose depth was of the order of the spacing between roughness elements, shear stress was constant with height, and the velocity profile had a logarithmic form. The usefulness of both mean profile and eddy-correlation methods for estimating fluxes above very rough terrain is discussed in the light of these findings.     

Structures and characteristics of the windy atmospheric boundary layer in the South China Sea region during cold surges

An observational analysis of the structures and characteristics of a windy atmospheric boundary layer during a cold air outbreak in the South China Sea region is reported in this paper. It is found that the main structures and characteristics are the same as during strong wind episodes with cold air outbreaks on land. The high frequency turbulent fluctuations(period<1 min) are nearly random and isotropic with weak coherency, but the gusty wind disturbances(1 min相似文献   

Turbulent characteristics over a rough natural surface part I: Turbulent structures

A comprehensive experiment for turbulence and profiles has been carried out over a very rough natural mallee bushland. In Part I, the large inherent structures of the turbulence are presented. Short-period space-time correlations of wind and temperature indicate that periodic fluctuations pervade the lower surface layer above the canopy. These are associated with the appearance of large turbulent structures. Prominent peaks in the spectra are identified with the arrival of these structures, which show that they have a relatively large length scale over rough surfaces. These findings suggest a different mechanism for the enhancement of turbulent diffusivity over rough surfaces from that by the simple generation of turbulence by plant wakes.Analysis via conditional sampling of the turbulent components has revealed that bursts make almost the same contributions as gusts (at the measurement height of 8.4 m above ground) for either momentum or temperature under neutral conditions; for unstable conditions and high hole size H (see Equation (3)), gusts dominate for momentum while bursts dominate for heat transfer. This implies that the mechanisms for momentum and heat transfer are different.