Flow-distortion effects on scalar flux measurements in the surface layer: Implications for sensor design

Scalar fluxes measured through the eddy-correlation technique are prone to two types of errors caused by the sensor-induced flow distortion: those due to crosstalk from the horizontal flux, and those due to amplification or attenuation due to flow blocking. We show that the crosstalk error can be eliminated by designing the sensor array to be vertically symmetric about its horizontal midplane. In such an array, the flow-blocking effect causes the scalar flux to be overestimated, but this error can be made negligible by designing an array with minimal stagnation loss in streamwise speed at the flux-measurement point.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Streamwise heat flux budget in the atmospheric surface layer

Atmospheric surface-layer measurements of terms in the equation for the streamwise heat flux confirm previous results in both laboratory and atmosphere that the temperature-pressure gradient correlation acts as a sink, approximately equal in magnitude to the production term. The measured viscous dissipation term is independent of stability and represents less than 10% of the production term over the range of experimental stability conditions. Models for the temperature-pressure gradient correlation are compared with the measurements.     

Mean flux estimation and cospectra of airborne carbon dioxide and water vapour eddy flux measurements in the planetary surface layer

CO₂ and H₂O eddy-flux measurements derived from airborne vertical wind and concentration data are examined to determine the accuracy of the eddy-flux estimate in moderately unstable conditions within the surface layer. Integral scale estimation is used to determine the minimum length of a sample required to achieve a given accuracy. Cospectral analysis is used to examine the scales responsible for the transport of water vapour and carbon dioxide in the surface layer. Cospectra are found to broaden as the sampling altitude increases, a well known result. At low altitudes, the cospectrum is found to become negative for large scales. A significant fraction of the flux is carried by this range of scales, which suggests that scales larger than the boundary-layer height may play an important role in the transport at low altitudes.     

Accuracy of moments of velocity and scalar fluctuations in the atmospheric surface layer

A detailed accuracy analysis is presented for moments, up to order four, of both velocity (horizontal u and vertical w) and scalar (temperature and humidity q) fluctuations, as well as of the products uw, w and wq, in the atmospheric surface layer. The high-order moments and integral time scales required for this analysis are evaluated from data obtained at a height of about 5 m above the ocean surface under stability conditions corresponding to Z/L \- –0.05. Measured moments and probability density functions of some of the individual fluctuations show departures from Gaussianity, but these are sufficiently small to enable good estimates to be obtained using Gaussian instead of measured moments. For the products, the assumption of joint Gaussianity for individual fluctuations provides a reasonable, though somewhat conservative, estimate for the integration times required. The concept of Reynolds number similarity implies that differences in integration time requirements for flows at different Reynolds numbers arise exclusively from differences in integral time scales. A first approximation to the integral time scales relevant to atmospheric flows is presented.     

An analytic formulation for NO and NO2 flux profiles in the atmospheric surface layer

The chemical reactivity of NO and NO₂ is so rapid that their fluxes and concentrations can be considerably modified from that expected for conserved variables in the atmospheric surface layer, even as low as a meter above the surface. Fitzjarrald and Lenschow (1983) have calculated flux and mean concentration profiles for NO, NO₂ and O₃ in the surface layer using numerical techniques. However, their solutions do not approach the photostationary state at large heights. Here we solve a simpler set of equations analytically (i.e. we assume a constant O₃ concentration and neutral hydrodynamic stability), and are able to show how the flux profiles behave at large heights assuming that the concentrations approach their photostationary values. We find, for example, that at large heights the ratio of the flux of NO to that of NO₂ is equal to the ratio of their concentrations. These results are relevant to estimating surface fluxes of NO and NO₂, and are most applicable to nonurban environments where NO and NO₂ concentrations are usually much less than O₃ concentration.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Quadrant analysis of the scalar and momentum fluxes in the stable marine atmospheric surface layer

The quadrant technique, a conditional sampling approach that allocates Reynolds stresses into four different types of events (ejections or bursts, sweeps, inward interactions and outward interactions), is applied to stable marine atmospheric boundary-layer data, collected in the framework of the Coupled Boundary Layer Air—Sea Transfer, Low wind component experiment at Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, USA. The general properties of both scalar and momentum transport are analyzed under the scope of quadrant analysis experimentally and theoretically. It is shown that the third-order Gram–Charlier series is necessary and even sufficient in most of the cases, in describing the experimental time and flux contributions of each quadrant to the total transfer, for both scalar and momentum transport, while the ability of the Gaussian distribution is limited to outlining the general pattern of these quantities. Moreover, a threshold value is applied to the conditional analysis, separating the most important events from the less significant ones and the sensitivity of the flux and especially the time fraction of each quadrant on the choice of this value is presented and discussed. Also, a set of numerically extracted equations, completing the analytical relations, is derived, enabling the prediction of the time and flux fractions of each quadrant, for a wide range of correlation coefficient and threshold values. Finally, the sensitivity of the analysis to the atmospheric stability and the Reynolds averaging scales showed that correlated and uncorrelated motions tend to balance for increasingly stable conditions and/or for large time scales.     

An error analysis of profile flux,stability, and roughness length measurements made in the marine atmospheric surface layer

An analytical error analysis of profile-derived fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum, along with stability and roughness length, is performed using the accuracies of the constituent temperature, humidity, and wind speed measurements. Five experiments, representing more than two thirds of the existing marine profile data presently contained in the literature, are compared. Much of the profile data examined was used to develop the transfer coefficients presently employed by a large number of competing bulk aerodynamic flux schemes. Depending upon the experiment, typical profile-method measurement errors were found to range from 15 to 35% for a sensible heat flux of ± 10 W m^-2, from 15 to 105% for a latent heat flux of ± 100 W m^-2, from 10 to 40% for a stress of 0.05 N m^-2, from 15 to 60% for a Monin-Obukhov stability of ± 0.05, and from 25 to 100% for a roughness length of 2 × 10^-4 m. Smaller magnitude flux values were found to contain typical errors as large as 100% for sensible heat flux, 300% for latent heat flux, and 60% for stress.     

Typical influences of moisture on profile measurements in the marine atmospheric surface layer

Under a wide variety of meteorological conditions in a coastal environment, 250 cases were studied to determine the typical influences of moisture in calculating the gradient Richardson number stability and the fluxes of heat, humidity, and momentum with the profile method. Although the stability calculation was altered in some cases up to 95% by the moisture correction, the typical influence in computing the fluxes was found to be less than 10% when the humidity flux was upward and less then 25% when the humidity flux was downward.     

Observations of planview flux patterns within convective structures of the marine atmospheric surface layer

Air/sea flux variability on horizontal scales from 50 m to several km results, in part, from the presence of coherent convective structures within the atmospheric boundary layer. The horizontal distribution of fluxes within these convective updrafts and downdrafts is, therefore, central to studies of air/sea interaction and remote sensing of sea surface wind and wave fields. This study derives these flux patterns from observations of the Marine Atmospheric Surface Layer (MASL).Research aircraft flights through the MASL provide an optimal means for sampling large numbers of the above-mentioned coherent structures. The NCAR Electra flew numerous legs through the MASL at a height of 50 m during the 1987 stratocumulus phase of Project FIRE (First ISSCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program) Regional Experiment).In situ measurements from these legs serve as the dataset for this paper. The data are processed in such a way as to retain only the turbulence fluctuations. Conditional sampling, based on the vertical velocity field, results in the isolation of convective updrafts and downdrafts. Compositing of the data for these two classes of convective drafts results in horizontal planviews of the vertical fluxes of buoyancy, absolute humidity, along-meanwind component of momentum, and vertical velocity. To ensure dynamical similarity, these horizontal planviews are oriented in a coordinate system aligned with the mean wind.     

Estimating surface sensible heat flux using sodar and surface temperature measurements in the evolving convective boundary layer

A simple method is described for estimating the sensible heat flux by using a Doppler sodar system and a thermal probe. This method, which can be applied to a convective boundary layer in morning hours, is based on knowing the zero heat flux level from the reflectivity and the vertical wind speed.     

Temperature structure in the atmospheric surface layer

Production, transport and dissipation terms in the temperature variance equation have been measured in the atmospheric surface layer. The transport term is, within the experimental uncertainty, negligible. The dissipation term, determined by assuming local isotropy, is approximately equal to production under near-neutral conditions. For moderately unstable conditions, the ratio of production to dissipation is 1.4. The resulting imbalance in the budget is attributed to the inequality between the three components of the dissipation term. The Kolmogorov constant for temperature is found to be about 0.8.     

Two-point coherence in the atmospheric surface layer

Two-point, one-dimensional coherence in horizontally homogeneous atmospheric turbulence is studied, both by experiment and analysis. Measurements are carried out using horizontally spaced sensors with the separation perpendicular to the mean velocity. Two-dimensional spectral models and three-dimensional inertial-range spectral tensors are used in the coherence calculations. The one-dimensional coherence for both velocity and scalar fluctuations is found to roll off at a wavenumber much smaller than we would expect from the classical notion of eddy correlation. This is a consequence of the cancellation of Fourier components aliased from the direction of the sensor separation into the streamwise direction. However, the coherence for the three velocity components behaves somewhat differently, reflecting the relative orientations of the velocity component, sensor separation and the mean velocity. These features are well predicted by the calculation. The analysis is also extended to calculate the two-point scalar-vertical velocity cospectrum and the results are in good agreement with our experimental data. The ratio of two- to one-point cospectra decreases at slightly larger wavenumber than the two-point scalar coherence does.     

Turbulent dispersion in the atmospheric surface layer

By non-dimensionalizing a trajectory-simulation (TS) model of turbulent dispersion, it is shown that the dimensionless concentration z ₀cu_*/kQ (cu _*/kQ) due to a continuous line (area) source of strength Q in the atmospheric surface layer depends only on z/z ₀, x/z ₀, z ₀/L and z _s/z₀, where z _s is the source height. The TS model is used to tabulate concentration profiles due to ground-level line and area sources. Concentration profiles generated by the TS model for elevated sources are shown to be inconsistent with the Reciprocal Theorems of Smith (1957) and it is suggested that this is because the flux-mean gradient closure scheme inherent in the Reciprocal Theorem is invalid for an elevated source.     

Microscale temperature fluctuations in the atmospheric surface layer

Microscale temperature fluctuations were measured at 2 m above a grassy surface. The temperature-derivative spectrum was in general agreement with earlier results but the bump at nondimensional wavenumbers higher than 0.02 was not as pronounced as has been observed. The Obukhov-Corrsin constant for the one-dimensional temperature spectrum was evaluated to be 0.92 ± 0.05, consistent with recent results. The effects of instability and the vertical variation of temperature variance and kinetic energy dissipation are postulated to explain some of the difference with other spectra.     

盘锦芦苇湿地近地面层湍流通量参数化方案研究

基于2005年盘锦芦苇湿地近地面层湍流通量和微气象梯度的连续观测,研究了芦苇湿地近地面层湍流通量参数化方案。结果表明,盘锦芦苇湿地近地面层经常维持弱稳定和弱不稳定层结。在不稳定层结(-0.4     

SHEBA flux–profile relationships in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

Measurements of atmospheric turbulence made during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean Experiment (SHEBA) are used to examine the profile stability functions of momentum, φ _m , and sensible heat, φ _h , in the stably stratified boundary layer over the Arctic pack ice. Turbulent fluxes and mean meteorological data that cover different surface conditions and a wide range of stability conditions were continuously measured and reported hourly at five levels on a 20-m main tower for 11 months. The comprehensive dataset collected during SHEBA allows studying φ _m and φ _h in detail and includes ample data for the very stable case. New parameterizations for φ _m (ζ) and φ _h (ζ) in stable conditions are proposed to describe the SHEBA data; these cover the entire range of the stability parameter ζ = z/L from neutral to very stable conditions, where L is the Obukhov length and z is the measurement height. In the limit of very strong stability, φ _m follows a ζ ^1/3 dependence, whereas φ _h initially increases with increasing ζ, reaches a maximum at ζ ≈ 10, and then tends to level off with increasing ζ. The effects of self-correlation, which occur in plots of φ _m and φ _h versus ζ, are reduced by using an independent bin-averaging method instead of conventional averaging.     

Simple formulation of heat flux in the unstable atmospheric boundary layer

A formulation for the magnitude of the upward heat flux is developed for the common situation where information on temperature fluctuations is available but measurement of vertical motion fluctuations are unavailable or of inadequate quality. A relationship is also developed which allows inference of the vertical structure of the heat flux from the stability. This development uses data from the Air Mass Transformation Experiment and a number of existing studies in the literature.

---

Résumé On établit ici une formulation du flux de chaleur ascendant dans le cas courant ou l'on dispose des fluctuations de température, tandis que les fluctuations du mouvement vertical ne sont pas disponibles ou sont de qualité inadéquate. On obtient également une relation qui permet de déduire la structure verticale du flux de chaleur à partir de la stabilité. Ce développement utilise les données de l'expérience Air Mass Transformation Experiment et plusieurs études existant dans la littérature.