A simulation of heat flow in the lower troposphere by a laboratory model

A laboratory model of the troposphere has been constructed in which the heat flow above the ground in the lowest kilometer may be simulated. The scaling criteria, derived from the governing equations with a number of approximations, are 104 for length, 200 for velocity and 0.2 for temperature. Water is the simulating fluid, which moves through a closed-circuit water-tunnel. A set of electrically heated aluminum plates simulate the heating of the ground by insolation. Temperature and velocity fine structure are measured. The fluid isotherms are inferred from shadowgraph photography. All observations are confined to conditions of natural and free convection.A comparison between the temperature and velocity profiles within the prototype and the model, for identical boundary conditions, indicates that the model is a good representation of the prototype to heights of 1000 meters.It is found that the vertical transfer of warm air is along cylindrical columns, which take on different forms in natural and in free convection. In the former, the columns carry heat aloft into caps which rise at some 1.2 meter per second, or which may merge with neighbouring columns to continue upwards to heights of several hundred meters. If an elevated temperature-inversion layer is present, these convective columns perturb it, initiating horizontally-travelling waves. In free convection, the columns are inclined downwind, with their upper extremities extending almost horizontally; the cap is absent and the wave-like tail may separate and move across the fluid independently of its parent.     

Similarity of large Reynolds number boundary layers

Similarity will exist for both the mean velocity and the turbulent shear stress of a turbulent boundary layer if the following conditions are met: (1) The surface shear is constant. (2) The boundary layer thickness parameters vary linearly with downstream distance. (3) The flow Reynolds number approaches infinity.These conditions may be nearly obtained in atmospheric type boundary layers. Measurements are presented from the Colorado State University Atmospheric Simulation Wind Tunnel which demonstrate the similarity. The wind-tunnel Reynolds number is from one to two orders of magnitude smaller than those of an atmospheric boundary layer.     

Eddy exchange coefficients in numerical models of the planetary boundary layer

Specification of the eddy exchange coefficients is perhaps one of the most difficult problems in the numerical modeling of the planetary boundary layer. These coefficients have been computed from finite-difference analogs to analytical expressions associated with surface boundary-layer similarity theory, which is based on observations in an equilibrium surface layer. This procedure leads to erroneous results in the region above the surface layer and in a non-equilibrium surface layer. In addition, differencing problems arise in regions of small vertical wind shear. A new turbulence transport model has been obtained through the closure procedures for the transport equations of the Reynolds stress and the turbulent length scale. The new approach could be used to calculate Reynolds stresses and eddy exchange coefficients throughout a non-neutral planetary boundary layer under non-equilibrium conditions.     

On the Prediction of the Kurtosis of Velocity Derivatives in a Turbulent Field

The prediction of the values of non-dimensional fourth-order moment (kurtosis) of the velocity derivative in a turbulent field is made under the assumption that the values of kurtosis depend on both the turbulence Reynolds number and the intermittency factor. The method consists of modeling a suitable probability density of the variable in a given turbulence Reynolds number and the intermittency factor. A crude model of the probability density function is derived, and the numerical calculations based on the model show excellent agreement with many of the experimental data. The analysis shows that the values of kurtosis depend strongly on the intermittency factor, and that depending on the value of the intermittency factor, it is entirely possible to have values of kurtosis as low as five in a flow with a turbulence Reynolds number of 5000.     

On the prediction of the kurtosis of velocity derivatives in a turbulent field

The prediction of the values of non-dimensional fourth-order moment (kurtosis) of the velocity derivative in a turbulent field is made under the assumption that the values of kurtosis depend on both the turbulence Reynolds number and the intermittency factor. The method consists of modeling a suitable probability density of the variable in a given turbulence Reynolds number and the intermittency factor. A crude model of the probability density function is derived, and the numerical calculations based on the model show excellent agreement with many of the experimental data. The analysis shows that the values of kurtosis depend strongly on the intermittency factor, and that depending on the value of the intermittency factor, it is entirely possible to have values of kurtosis as low as five in a flow with a turbulence Reynolds number of 5000.     

Testing the method for surface air temperature refinement based on a complex of models of the atmospheric boundary layer and local heat and water budgets

A method is considered for space-time refinement of surface air temperature obtained from the atmospheric general circulation model (GCM) of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia over a limited area by means of use of a complex of the atmospheric boundary layer models and surface heat and water budget model. The latter describes all major processes of heat and water exchange at the underlying surface and within the soil and vegetation using 14 external parameters for different types of landscapes and soils. The side and upper boundary conditions for the local model are provided from the GCM model. Different statistical estimates of the modeling results show possibility and reliability of the refinement for time changes of the quantity under calculation as well as for development of averaged fields reflecting small-scale inhomogeneities of the landscape.     

A treatment for the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition in GCMs

Numerical models of climate have great difficulties with the simulation of marine low clouds in the subtropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It has been especially difficult to reproduce the observed geographical distributions of the different cloud regimes in those regions. The present study discusses mechanisms proposed in previous works for changing one regime into another. One criterion is based on the theory of stratocumulus destruction through cloud top entrainment instability due to buoyancy reversal—situations in which the mixture of two air parcels becomes denser than either of the original parcels due to evaporation of cloud water. Another criterion is based on the existence of decoupling in the boundary layer. When decoupled, the stratocumulus regime changes to another in which these clouds can still exist together with cumulus. In a LES study, the authors have suggested that a combination of those two criteria can be used to diagnose whether, at a location, the cloud regime corresponds to a well-mixed stratocumulus regime, a shallow cumulus regime, or to a transitional regime where the boundary layer is decoupled. The concept is tested in the framework of an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). It is found that several outstanding features of disagreement between simulation and observation can be interpreted as misrepresentations of the cloud regimes by the GCM. A novel criterion for switching among regimes is proposed to alleviate the effects of these misrepresentations.     

The role of lateral boundary conditions in simulations of mineral aerosols by a regional climate model of Southwest Asia

The importance of specifying realistic lateral boundary conditions in the regional modeling of mineral aerosols has not been examined previously. This study examines the impact of assigning values for mineral aerosol (dust) concentrations at the lateral boundaries of Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) and its aerosol model over Southwest Asia. Currently, the dust emission module of RegCM3 operates over the interior of the domain, allowing dust to be transported to the boundaries, but neglecting any dust emitted at these points or from outside the domain. To account for possible dust occurring at, or entering from the boundaries, mixing ratios of dust concentrations from a larger domain RegCM3 simulation are specified at the boundaries of a smaller domain over Southwest Asia. The lateral boundary conditions are monthly averaged concentration values (μg of dust per kg of dry air) resolved in the vertical for all four dust bin sizes within RegCM3’s aerosol model. RegCM3 simulations with the aerosol/dust model including lateral boundary conditions for dust are performed for a five year period and compared to model simulations without prescribed dust concentrations at the boundaries. Results indicate that specifying boundary conditions has a significant impact on dust loading across the entire domain over Southwest Asia. More specifically, a nearly 30% increase in aerosol optical depth occurs during the summer months from specifying realistic dust boundary conditions, bringing model results closer to observations such as MISR. In addition, smaller dust particles at the boundaries have a more important impact than large particles in affecting the dust loading within the interior of this domain. Moreover, increases in aerosol optical depth and dust concentrations within the interior domain are not entirely caused by inflow from the boundaries; results indicate that an increase in the gradient of concentration at the boundaries causes an increase of diffusion from the boundaries. Lastly, experiments performed using a climatology of dust concentrations yield similar results to those using actual monthly values. Therefore, using a climatology of dust mixing ratios is sufficient in implementing lateral boundary conditions for mineral aerosols. In short, this work concludes that realistic specification of lateral boundary conditions for mineral aerosols can be important in modeling the dust loading over arid regional climates such as Southwest Asia.     

Mixing at the front of gravity currents

Observations made with the help of a movable-bed tank designed and operated to freeze the motion of gravity current fronts indicate that both the scale of the apparatus and the magnitude of the current Reynolds number have a strong influence on mixing rates. Low mixing rates are associated with fronts in relatively shallow fresh water depths and low Reynolds numbers. Mixing rates increase more rapidly as the ratio of current thickness to fresh water depth increases. For the deepest fresh water flow conditions, when scale effects can be expected to be negligible, the dimensionless mixing rate is approximately equal to three times the relative current thickness and has an upper limit of about 0.3. Lower mixing rates are observed as the current Reynolds number decreases, suggesting that viscous effects can still exist even for deep fresh water conditions. Application of the experimental results to estimate some parameters of a hypothetical gravity current on the continental shelf yield reasonable values. However, it is clear that, owing to the scale and Reynolds number effects that might be present in laboratory experiments, particular care should be exercised when trying to extrapolate results to gravity currents in nature.     

Packet Structure of Surface Eddies in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

A smoke visualization experiment has beenperformed in the first 3,m ofneutral and unstable atmospheric boundary layersat very large Reynolds number(Re > 10⁶). Under neutral atmosphericconditions mean wind profiles agreewell with those in the canonical flatplate zero-pressure-gradient turbulentboundary layer. The experiment was designedto minimize the temperaturedifference between the passive marker (smoke)and the air to ensure that anyobserved structures were due to vortical, ratherthan buoyant, motions. Imagesacquired in the streamwise–wall-normal planeusing a planar laser light-sheetare strikingly similar to those observed inlaboratory experiments at low to moderate Reynolds numbers. They reveal large-scaleramp-like structures withdownstream inclination of 3°–35°.This inclination isinterpreted as the hairpin packet growthangle following the hairpin vortexpacket model ofAdrian, Meinhart, and Tomkins.The distribution of this characteristicangle agrees with the results of experiments at far lower Reynolds numbers,suggesting a similarity in structures among low, moderate, and high Reynoldsnumber boundary layers at vastly different scales. These results indicate thatthe hairpin vortex packet model extends over a large range of scales. Theeffect of vertical heat transport in an unstable atmosphere on wall structuresis investigated in terms of the hairpin vortex packet model.     

A baroclinic planetary boundary-layer model,and its application to the Wangara data

Nondimensional parameters characteristic of the outer part of the planetary boundary layer have been determined by fitting a simple, Ekman-type theory to a number of averaged, observed velocity distributions, using the Wangara data of Clarke et al. (1971). The theoretical model is based on constant eddy viscosity in the outer layer and a linear variation of the geostrophic wind with height. At the lower boundary of the outer layer, the condition is applied that stress and velocity are parallel. This yields an equation for the cross-isobar angle as a function of drag coefficient, depth coefficient and nondimensional thermal wind.The data could be sorted into three well-defined, distinct groups, each characterized by a more or less constant value of the depth coefficient. The group with the lowest value of this parameter contains most of the nighttime data, the middle group the remaining nighttime data and most of the daytime ones, and the group with the largest depth, daytime data with cold air advection. The difference between the lowest and highest depth coefficients found here is about a factor of three.Within each group separately, the theoretically derived cross-isobar angle agrees remarkably well with the observed one, as a function of thermal wind.     

On the nonlinear dynamics of the boundary layer of intense atmospheric vortex

The paper describes a stationary model of the boundary layer of a large-scale vortex. The model takes into account two types of nonlinearities: (1) advection of the momentum and centrifugal accelerations, that is related to large values of the Rossby number; (2) a nonlinear turbulent friction on the lower boundary (generally speaking, not only quadratic, but also more complicated). Nevertheless, the model may be studied analytically. This approach allows discovery and analysis of several universal regularities, which are not revealed by numerical modeling. The model provides the actual values for the speed of the surface wind and the angle of cross-isobar surface flow in the tropical cyclones.     

The Analysis of Turbulence Intensity and Reynolds Shear Stress in Wall-Bounded Turbulent Flows at High Reynolds Numbers

We investigated the turbulent intensities and Reynolds shear stress at high Reynolds number $({Re_\tau = 5 \times 10^{6}})$ in the atmosphere surface layer (ASL) through analyzing observations in near-neutral stratified conditions. The results show that with increasing Reynolds number the streamwise turbulent intensity increases linearly, and the peak of the Reynolds shear stress extends to a higher non-dimensional height, which means that the thickness of the logarithmic region increases. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for treating the ASL as a canonical turbulent boundary layer, the results of which can be extended and applied to higher Reynolds number wall turbulence in the ASL.     

春季黄海海雾WRF参数化方案敏感性研究

利用2005—2011年10次春季黄海海雾个例开展WRF模式参数化方案敏感性研究。结果表明:边界层方案对WRF模式雾区模拟结果起决定作用,而微物理方案影响较小,它主要影响海雾浓度和高度。边界层与微物理方案的最佳组合为YSU与Lin方案,最差为Mellor-Yamada与WSM5方案;Mellor-Yamada和QNSE方案模拟的近海面湍流过强,导致边界层过高,不利于海雾的发展与维持;而MYNN与YSU方案刻画的湍流强度与边界层高度合适,有利于海雾发展与维持。MYNN方案虽与YSU方案相当,但在大多数海雾个例中,后者明显优于前者,而在有些个例中却刚好相反。因此对于某一具体海雾个例而言,所用边界层方案仍需在它们之中选择最优者。这些信息可为黄海海雾WRF模式边界层与微物理方案的选择与改进提供参考。     

区域气候模拟中侧边界嵌套误差的研究

在复杂地形条件下嵌套细网格模式的基础上，建立了与球圈模式相嵌套的区域模式系统，对几种不同条件下的嵌套误差进行了比较分析，研究了区域模式嵌套误差的特征分布及时空演变特征。初步分析表明:区域模式嵌套造成的误差在不同区域的分布不同，且不同的物理量在时空的分布也不同；动能场的误差主要在边界区上层的流入区，感热场的误差在边界区上层，水汽的误差在边界区上层的流入区；侧边界输入时间间隔对模式嵌套误差有一定的影响。有限区细网格模式在上层长波误差大于粗网格环圈模式上层误差，在下层短波模拟的误差比粗网格环圈模式的下层误差要小。相速误差对侧边界嵌套误差的影响在下层很严重，嵌套误差的大小与大小模式的网格距之比有关；在大小模式物理参数化过程一致的条件下，无日变化的区域模式其嵌套误差远大于有日变化的区域模式嵌套误差。     

Nighttime free convection characteristics within a plant canopy

An intensive measurement campaign within and above a maize row canopy was carried out to investigate flow characteristics within this vegetation. Attention was given to finding adequate scaling parameters of the within-canopy windspeed and air temperature profiles under above-canopy stable stratification.During clear and calm nights the within-canopy condition differs considerably from the abovecanopy state. In contrast to the daytime, the windspeed and temperature profiles do not scale with the above-canopy friction velocity,u ^* , and the scaling temperature,T ^* , respectively. A free convection flow regime is generated, forced by the soil heat flux at the canopy floor and by cooling at the top of the canopy. However, the windspeed and temperature profiles appear to scale well with the free convective velocity scale,w ^* , and the free convective temperature scale,T ^f , respectively. The free convective state within the canopy agrees well with the free convection criterion Gr>16Re²(u ^* ), where Gr is the Grashof number and Re(u ^* ) the Reynolds number, a criterion often used in technical flow problems. Also it is shown that under within-canopy free convection, there is a unique relation between the Grashof number, Gr, and the Reynolds number if the latter is based on the free convective velocity scale.Under within-canopy free convective conditions, it appears that within the canopy the fluxes of heat and water vapour can be estimated well with the relatively simple variance technique. Under these conditions, the Grashof, or Rayleigh number, represents a measure for the kinetic energy of the turbulence within the canopy.     

复杂地形城市冬季大气污染的数值模拟研究

采用中尺度大气动力模式与大气扩散模式相结合的方法，针对复杂地形条件下兰州市冬季无明显冷空气入侵天气过程时段（1994年12月2－3日）的大气污染状况，进行污染物（二氧化硫和烟尘）浓度分布的数值模拟研究，分析了模拟的风场的气温层结随时间的变化以及污染物浓度的分布及其变化，进一步分析了模拟的风场和气温层结与污染物浓度分布的关系。结果表明，该模式系统对兰州市大气边界层结构及污染物浓度的分布有较好的模拟能力，并证明了该模式系统可适用于兰州市大气质量预测预报研究。     

Studies on critical Reynolds number indices for wind-tunnel experiments on flow within urban areas

Reynolds-number dependence of flow fields within a modelled urban area was studied in a wind tunnel. We measured flow around a single model building and around model city blocks at various wind speeds, and studied Reynolds number indices more appropriate than the building Reynolds number. Our results led to the following conclusions. Firstly, the flow around the models in the wind tunnel was roughly divided into three parts according to the intensities of viscous stress and Reynolds stress as follows: (1) the flow in the vicinity of the ground or the surfaces of the model, where viscous stress became dominant under certain conditions; (2) the flow detached from the surfaces of the model, where Reynolds stress was always dominant; and (3) the flow around the separation bubble at the leading edge of the building model, where the influences of both viscous stress near the wall and the Reynolds stress in the separated boundary layer were mixed.Secondly, the critical Reynolds number of the flow in the modelled urban area could be defined by using both the roughness Reynolds number Re_z0 (= z₀u_*/) and the dimensionless height z₊ (= zu_*/). Reynolds-number independence could be expected for whole flow fields in the modelled urban areas as long as the critical values of Re_z0 and z₊ were satisfied.