A theoretical model of multi-regime convection in a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer

The possible effects on stratocumulus circulations caused by drizzle and radiative cooling or heating are investigated theoretically using a simple Nonlinear Dynamical System (NDS). These effects are incorporated implicitly via the background temperature profile, and are expressed as departures from neutral conditions. These neutral conditions are assumed to be dry adiabatic in the surface, sub-cloud and inversion regions, and moist adiabatic in the cloud region.The NDS domain is divided into six distinct regions that represent those commonly observed in the planetary boundary layer (PBL): 1) the surface layer, 2) the sub-cloud layer, 3) the cloud-base layer, 4) the cloud layer, 5) the cloud-top layer, and 6) the capping inversion. The NDS successfully represents the effects of the capping inversion. Circulations are limited in their upward extent by the inversion, and would only penetrate into it when surface forcing rates are quite large.Surprisingly, when there are identical forcing rates but different initial conditions for the dynamic and thermodynamic flelds, the NDS yields two solutions throughout a wide range of cloud-base stabilities. This range covers the transition from a stable to an unstable cloud-base layer (layer 3 above). The first solution is a steady one having a decoupled form, with separate circulations in the sub-cloud region and the cloud region. The second solution is a temporally varying one exhibiting periodic coupling. The circulation in this case starts as a shallow eddy near the surface. This eddy grows into a deeper plume that penetrates into the inversion before finally dying and beginning the process again. The existence of these two fundamentally different solutions for the same forcing rates, or multi-regime convection, suggests that the PBL response to a particular forcing rate may depend critically on the initial conditions of the dynamic and thermodynamic fields. As a consequence, future modeling efforts of the PBL should consider a broad range of initial flelds.     

解耦的海洋性层积云顶边界层湍流与云微物理特征

基于POST观测计划中获得的海洋性层积云顶边界层内高频气象资料和云微物理资料,在选取解耦个例基础上研究解耦边界层湍流和云微物理特征及成因。结果表明,过渡层的大气静力稳定度较强,抑制向上浮力做功,使得湍流动能迅速消耗殆尽,实现边界层解耦。湍流动能最大值出现在云内,主要与云顶降温、大云滴下落沉降拖曳带来的下沉气流增强及云底之上附近凝结增长潜热释放产生向上浮力作用有关。近地面层的浮力项和切变项对湍流动能都起到增强作用,并以切变项的贡献更为显著,云内的湍流动能是以浮力项贡献为主。过渡层附近存在向下的热通量,抑制了热量向上输送和向上浮力项的增强,促进解耦发生。云内存在向上感热通量,其最大值及其出现高度主要与云顶冷却和云中下部的凝结潜热加热有关。云顶之上湿层促进了潜热通量的向下输送,增强了云内水汽含量,为解耦边界层云的发展起到正反馈作用。云顶浮力倒转引起的云中湍流混合呈现非均匀性,并进一步导致绝热或超绝热液滴出现,促进凝结和碰并增长的增强,同时云顶之上湿层进一步对云中的微物理增长起到了重要的推动作用。云底因夹卷混合表现为均匀混合特征。     

Scaling the atmospheric boundary layer

We review scaling regimes of the idealized Atmospheric Boundary Layer. The main emphasis is given on recent findings for stable conditions. We present diagrams in which the scaling regimes are illustrated as a function of the major boundary-layer parameters. A discussion is given on the different properties of the scaling regimes in unstable and stable conditions.     

On similarity in the atmospheric boundary layer

A similarity theory for the atmospheric boundary layer is presented. The Monin-Obukhov similarity theory for the surface layer is a particular case of this new theory, for the case of z 0. Universal functions which are in agreement with empirical data are obtained for the stable and convective regimes.On leave from Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw Technical University, 00653 Warsaw, Poland. Present address, Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53201 U.S.A.     

大气边界层研究进展

基于2013—2015年6—8月“第三次青藏高原大气科学试验（TIPEX-Ⅲ）”和常规气象业务探空观测资料、欧洲中期天气预报中心（ECMWF）第5代再分析（ERA-5）数据以及“国际卫星云气候计划（ISCCP）”云量资料,采用统计分析和物理量诊断分析方法,研究了夏季青藏高原（简称高原）大气对流边界层高度东西差异对高原地区天气尺度环流的影响。结果表明：高原对流边界层高度东西差异表现出明显的日变化,且这种差异呈现西高东低的分布特征,主要由西部对流边界层高度明显增大所致。当中午对流边界层高度东西向差异增大时,午后地面虚位温6 h变差呈西部高、东部低的特征,且西部变化更明显,高原西部对流边界层内温度升高,东部略降低,并伴随着高原西部对流边界层内气压降低、高层升高且低压系统较浅薄,而东部低层气压升高;高原低层东高西低的气压场特征产生了异常东西向气压梯度,引起高原中部低层出现偏南风异常,伴随着西部的低层异常辐合和高层异常辐散;同时,浅薄的低压有助于当地低云发展。     

Implementation of turbulent mixing over a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer and its impact in a GCM

The effect of a vertical diffusion scheme over a stratocumulus topped boundary layer (STBL) was investigated using the YONU AGCM (Yonsei University Atmospheric General Circulation Model). To consider the impact of clouds on the turbulence production, the turbulence mixing term, driven by radiative cooling at the cloud top, is implemented as an extended non-local diffiusion scheme. In the model with this new scheme, the STBL parameterization significantly influences the lower atmosphere over the tropical and...     

Entrainment effects in the well-mixed atmospheric boundary layer

We discuss the structure and evolution of a cloud-free atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during daytime over land, starting from a shallow ABL at sunrise and developing into a deep ABL with strong convection in the afternoon. The structure of the turbulence in the lower half of a convective ABL capped by an inversion is reasonably well understood. Less is known about the details of the turbulence in higher regions affected by entrainment, because of the difficulty in taking turbulence measurements there. For the evolution in time of the height of the ABL and its mean potential temperature mixed-layer models have been developed that give satisfactory agreement with observations. It has been shown that for many practical applications accurate knowledge of forcing functions and boundary conditions is more important than a refinement of the entrainment hypothesis. Observations show that the assumption of well-mixedness of first-order moments of conservative variables is not valid for all quantities. A simple similarity relation for the inclusion of the effect of entrainment on the shape of the vertical profiles is given.     

Parametric relations for the atmospheric boundary layer

Some parametric relations for the atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL) are suggested for possible use in the various atmospheric circulation and air quality models, as well as in other applications. These are for parameterizing the mean wind and temperature profiles, the vertical fluxes of momentum, heat and moisture, the variances of velocity fluctuations and length and time scales in the PBL. The parametric relations for the PBL height, the vertical velocity at the top of the PBL and the total energy dissipation in the PBL are also discussed. Experimental and/or theoretical bases for the various parametric relation are given. Some of the suggested parameterizations should be considered as tentative, until they are properly validated.     

Coherent structures in the very stable atmospheric boundary layer

This study examines the structure of horizontal modes (meandering, vortical modes or fossil turbulence) in a layer of intermittent turbulence occurring at the top of a strongly stratified nocturnal inversion layer as observed by fast response aircraft data. The spatial variation of the coefficients of the principal components identify regular coherent structures with mainly horizontal motions. Conditional sampling is formulated in terms of this spatial variation. The quasi-horizontal motions are characterized by relatively sharp edges (transition zones) where horizontal convergence or divergence, small-scale turbulence and vertical fluxes seem to be concentrated. Zones of horizontal divergence appear to be associated with ejection of cold air from the underlying surface inversion while the convergent zones might be due to random collisions between horizontal modes.     

The velocity spectra in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

A model for the logarithmic spectra of velocity in the stable boundary layer is developed using the concept of local scaling. The resulting expressions for peak wavelength are in agreement with empirical data from Minnesota 1973.Partially financed by CAPES and FINEP.On leave from Faculdade de Engenharia de Joinville, SC, Brasil.     

On eddy convection velocity in the atmospheric boundary layer

Lumley's model is extended to predict the effect of convection velocity fluctuations on eddy convection velocity for the high-frequency region of the longitudinal, transverse and scalar phase spectra in the atmospheric boundary layer. The resulting model predicts that the eddy convection velocity will be higher than the mean wind speed. The increase over the mean wind speed is largest for the longitudinal spectrum.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of the stably-stratified atmospheric boundary layer

Large-Eddy Simulation of stable boundary layers (SBLs) has been considered particularly difficult, indeed perhaps impossible with present computational resources. Here we present a new series of successful simulations of SBLs over uniform, flat terrain, using an approach previously successful for neutral and convective conditions, and showing that essentially the same model can handle all three main dry types of atmospheric boundary layer. We consider both technical requirements for successful and accurate SBL simulations and the observed characteristics of the simulated SBL. We discuss the evolution (in some cases to quasi-steady states) and compare with theory and experimental data. Effects of static-stability on the flow are analyzed using one-point and two-point statistics. Results show the development of a shear-driven SBL, with little sign of distinctively wavelike motions. The flow statistics are found to be consistent with local scaling, and that framework is used to compare with other data and theoretical models.     

论大气边界层的局地相似性

本文利用日本气象厅研究所在筑波市213m气象塔1983年观测的湍流资料验证了大气边界层的局地相似性,求出了相似性函数的经验常数.进一步建立了局地湍流统计量同近地面层和边界层顶湍流通量之间的关系.     

A TKE-dissipation model for the atmospheric boundary layer

The dissipation, , of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is a key parameter in atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) models. Besides being a sink for momentum, it is often used together with the TKE to define an internal turbulence time scale for closure relations. A prognostic formulation for the dissipation of TKE is formulated, based on isotropic tensor modeling methods. The formulation is coupled to a level 2.5 second-order closure model and evaluated against measurements taken in horizontally homogeneous conditions, as well as against a tailored length-scale formulation. A formulation suitable for convective as well as neutral and stable ABLs is suggested.On leave from Department of Meteorology, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 516, S-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

A parameterization of the stable atmospheric boundary layer

Two formulations of the stable atmospheric boundary layer are proposed for use in weather forecasting or climate models. They feature the log-linear profile near the surface, but are free from the associated critical Richardson number. The diffusion coefficients in the Ekman layer are a natural extension of the surface layer. They are locally determined using wind shear in one case and turbulent kinetic energy in the other. The parameterizations are tested in a one-dimensional model simulating the evolution of the nocturnal boundary layer with and without radiative cooling. Both formulations give very similar results, except near the top of the boundary layer where the transition to the free atmosphere is smoother with the wind shear formulation. A distinctive feature of these schemes is that they retain their simulating skill when resolution is reduced. This is verified for a wide range of situations. In practice, this means that there is no need for a large-scale model to have a level below 50 m or so.     

Basic entrainment equations for the atmospheric boundary layer

The parameterization of penetrative convection and other cases of turbulent entrainment by the atmospheric boundary layer is reviewed in this paper. The conservation equations for a one-layer model of entrainment are straightforward; all modeling problems arise in the context of the parameterization of various terms in the budget of turbulent kinetic energy. There is no consensus in the literature on the parameterization of shear production and of dissipation. Unfortunately, field experiments are not sufficiently accurate to guide the selection of suitable hypotheses. Carefully designed laboratory experiments are needed to settle the problems that remain.This paper has also been presented as Invited Paper at the Second IAHR Symposium on Stratified Flows, Trondheim, Norway, June 24–27, 1980.Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.     

Experimental investigation of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence

This paper describes how to measure turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in order to address certain problems in modern atmospheric physics. These problems mainly relate to the Earth's energy budget (including the hydrological cycle) and biogeochemical cycles. Starting from the main characteristic numbers and the basic equations of atmospheric turbulent flow, we show what turbulence parameters are important to measure. Special attention is given to the various methods used to compute the turbulent fluxes. We analyse the range of scales which has to be measured to properly capture the eddies contributing to the turbulent transfers. This range of scales determines what sensors can be used in the atmospheric surface layer and in the ABL. We describe the most widely used instruments and their performances. The principal platforms used to deploy these instruments are examined. Aircraft are described in more details, because they allow a thorough exploration of the ABL. In the last section, some examples of ABL turbulence signals measured in various conditions are presented. These examples illustrate horizontally homogeneous turbulence as well as inhomogeneous signals for which standard analysis techniques cannot be used. We show how some recent techniques, like wavelet transforms, can help to investigate this kind of signal. At the end, we present what would be interesting to do in the near future for the study of ABL turbulence.     

A study of temperature fluctuations in the atmospheric boundary layer

The spectral density of temperature fluctuations in the boundary layer has been studied in the range 0.2 to 2 Hz. It is shown that the temperature spectrum is strongly variable from one minute to the next and that the spectral slope tends to increase with the standard deviation of temperature fluctuations and with the stability of the medium. It is shown that C _T ² values computed from short time series (30 s) tend to be smaller than the C _T ² values computed from several minutes of record.Formerly at Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique du C.N.R.S. (Paris).     

Turbulent diffusivity and diurnal variations in the atmospheric boundary layer

Diurnal variations of the vertical profiles of wind and temperature have been surveyed, and the diffusivity and the dimensionless gradient function in the atmospheric boundary layer have been estimated. Even in the middle of the atmospheric boundary layer (e.g., below a height of 442 m), the vertical wind profile normalized by the surface friction velocity has approximately a universal profile function different from that in the surface boundary layer. Under strong stability conditions, the dimensionless gradient function has a value of about 9.