Kolmogorov constants for CO2, wind velocity,air temperature,and humidity fluctuations over a crop surface

The Kolmogorov constants for CO₂, wind velocity, air temperature, and humidity fluctuations were evaluated from measurements made over soybean and grain sorghum fields and found to be 0.78 ± 0.11, 0.49 ± 0.08, 0.70 ± 0.15, and 0.99 ± 0.16, respectively. These results are consistent with recent observations reported in the literature.Published as Paper No. 7255, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. The work reported here was conducted under Regional Research Project 11-33 and Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station Project 27-003.Associate Professor and Post Doctoral Research Associate, respectively, Center for Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, U.S.A., 68583-0728.     

Some observations of water vapor fluctuations in a stable atmosphere over a lake surface

Summary The crain microwave refractometer and a bead thermistor have been used to measure 2 to 30-second period fluctuations in water vapor in a stable atmosphere over a lake surface. It appears that such fluctuations can be related to air flow over water waves and that they permit an estimate of a mixing length for water vapor.

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Zusammenfassung Das Crain-Mikrowellenrefraktometer und ein Perlenthermistor wurden verwendet, um in einer stabilen Atmosphäre über einer Seeoberfläche Wasserdampfschwankungen von 2 bis 30 Sekunden Dauer zu messen. Es scheint, daß solche Schwankungen zur Luftströmung über Wasserwellen in Beziehung gesetzt werden können, und daß sie eine Schätzung des Mischungsweges für Wasserdampf gestatten.

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Résumé Le réfractomètre de Crain et un thermistor ont été utilisés pour mesurer les fluctuations en teneur de vapeur d'eau d'une durée de deux à trente secondes dans un air stable au-dessus d'un lac. Il semble que de telles variations dépendent du mouvement de l'air au-dessus des vagues et qu'elles permettent d'apprécier le parcours de mélange de la vapeur d'eau.

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With 6 Figures     

Eddy fluxes of CO2, water vapor,and sensible heat over a deciduous forest

Fluxes of CO₂, latent heat and sensible heat were measured above a fully-leafed deciduous forest in eastern Tennessee with the eddy correlation technique. These are among the first reported observations over such a surface. The influences of solar radiation, vapor pressure deficit and the aerodynamic and canopy resistances on these mass and energy exchanges are examined. Following a concept introduced by McNaughton and Jarvis (1983), examination of our data suggest that the water vapor exchange of a deciduous forest is not as strongly coupled with net radiation as is that of agricultural crops. The degree of decoupling is smaller than in the case of a coniferous forest. This difference may be attributable in part to the greater aerodynamic resistance to water vapor transfer in a deciduous forest. It appears that the concept of decoupling may be extended to the CO₂ exchange of a deciduous forest as well.Published as Paper No. 7832, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Research Division. ATDD Contribution No. 85-17.     

On the similarity in atmospheric fluctuations of carbon dioxide,water vapor and temperature over vegetated fields

This paper describes the similarity between atmospheric fluctuations of carbon dioxide, water vapor and temperature using data which cover a wide range of instability (0.02 < < 10). The is the Monin-Obukhov stability parameter including the humidity effect.The spectral analysis shows that the coherency between fluctuations of carbon dioxide and water vapor or temperature is very close to unity, and the phase difference is basically out of phase for whole frequency ranges analyzed. The stability dependence of the normalized standard deviation of carbon dioxide is very similar to those of water vapor and temperature. The normalized standard deviation is about 2.5 under near neutral conditions, and it decreases with increasing instability following the -1/3; power law as (-)^-1/3. The skewness factors of carbon dioxide, water vapor and temperature show a systematic departure with increasing instabilities for 0.02 < s- < 1, and level off at high instabilities for 1 < -\s < 10. The stability dependence of the flatness factors is not so clear as that noted in the standrard deviation and skewness factors. Dissipation rates of carbon dioxide, water vapor and temperature variance are well related to the spectral peak wavelength. This seems to be real since the local production and local dissipation rates are the main terms, almost balancing one another in the variance budget equations for scalar entities.     

A comparison of temperature fluctuations measured by a microbead thermistor and a fine wire thermocouple over a crop surface

A microbead thermistor and a fine wire thermocouple were tested for rapid response air temperature measurements over an alfalfa crop. The turbulent statistics (the standard deviations of temperature fluctuations, and the covariances of temperature and vertical velocity fluctuations) and spectra measured with the two sensors under different thermal stratification conditions compared reasonably well. Coherence computations also indicated a fairly high degree of agreement between the time series measured with the microbead thermistor and the fine wire thermocouple.     

Eddy correlation measurements of CO2, latent heat,and sensible heat fluxes over a crop surface

Eddy correlation equipment was used to measure mass and energy fluxes over a soybean crop. A rapid response CO₂ sensor, a drag anemometer, a Lyman-alpha hygrometer and a fine wire thermocouple were used to sense the fluctuating quantities.Diurnal fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat and CO₂ were calculated from these data. Energy budget closure was obtained by summing the sensible and latent heat fluxes determined by eddy correlation which balanced the sum of net radiation and soil heat flux. Peak daytime CO₂ fluxes were near 1.0 mg m^–2 (ground area) s^–1.The eddy correlation technique was also employed in this study to measure nocturnal CO₂ fluxes caused by respiration from plants, soil, and roots. These CO₂ fluxes ranged from - 0.1 to - 0.25 mg m^–2s^–1.From the data collected over mature soybeans, a relationship between CO₂ flux and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was developed. The crop did not appear to be light-saturated at PAR flux densities < 1800 Ei m^–2 s^–1. The light compensation point was found to be about 160 Ei m^–2 s^–1.Published as Paper No. 7402, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. The work reported here was conducted under Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station Project 27-003 and Regional Research Project 11–33.Post-doctoral Research Associate, Professor and Professor, respectively. Center for Agricultural Meteorology and Climatology, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0728.     

A note on the relationship between temperature and water vapor over oceans, including sea surface temperature effects

An ideal and simple formulation is successfully derived that well represents a quasi-linear relationship found between the domain-averaged water vapor, Q (mm), and temperature, T (K), fields for the three tropical oceans (i.e., the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans) based on eleven GEOS-3 [Goddard Earth Observing System (EOS) Version-3] global re-analysis monthly products. A Q ? T distribution analysis is also performed for the tropical and extra-tropical regions based on in-situ sounding data and numerical simulations [GEOS-3 and the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model]. A similar positively correlated Q ? T distribution is found over the entire oceanic and tropical regions; however, Q increases faster with T for the former region. It is suspected that the tropical oceans may possess a moister boundary layer than the Tropics. The oceanic regime falls within the lower bound of the tropical regime embedded in a global, curvilinear Q ? T relationship. A positive correlation is also found between T and sea surface temperature (SST); however, for one degree of increase in T, SST is found to increase 1.1 degrees for a warmer ocean, which is slightly less than an increase of 1.25 degrees for a colder ocean. This seemingly indicates that more (less) heat is needed for an open ocean to maintain an air mass above it with a same degree of temperature rise during a colder (warmer) season [or in a colder (warmer) region]. Q and SST are also found to be positively correlated. Relative humidity (RH) exhibits similar behaviors for oceanic and tropical regions. RH increases with increasing SST and T over oceans, while it increases with increasing T in the Tropics. RH, however, decreases with increasing temperature in the extratropics. It is suspected that the tropical and oceanic regions may possess a moister local boundary layer than the extratropics so that a faster moisture increase than a saturated moisture increase is favored for the former regions. T,Q, saturated water vapor, RH, and SST are also examined with regard to the warm and cold “seasons” over individual oceans. The Indian Ocean warm season dominates in each of the five quantities, while the Atlantic Ocean cold season has the lowest values in most categories. The higher values for the Indian Ocean may be due to its relatively high percentage of tropical coverage compared to the other two oceans. However, Q is found to increase faster for colder months from individual oceans, which differs from the general finding in the global Q?T relationship that Q increases slower for a colder climate. The modified relationship may be attributed to a possible seasonal (warm and cold) variability in boundary layer depth over oceans, or to the small sample size used in each individual oceanic group.     

Measurements of fluctuations of vertical wind velocity,temperature and radio-refractive index above the sea

Mean spectra of vertical wind velocity, temperature, and humidity and co-spectra of vertical turbulent heat and moisture fluxes are reported, normalized in terms of the similarity theory of Monin-Obukhov. The measurements were made in April 1967 at light-house Alte Weser at a height of 30 m above the German Bight. Ten spectra measured under conditions of moderate instability (z/L –0.08) have been used for the evaluation of a mean spectral curve. The humidity fluctuations have been determined from simultaneous turbulence measurements of temperature and radiorefractive-index, which were obtained by a microwave refractometer.Similar to the BOMEX measurements discussed by Phelps and Pond (1971) our results also show a dissimilarity between the fluctuations of temperature and humidity. Accordingly, in the range of lower and higher natural frequencies, significant differences were present between the co-spectra of the vertical heat and moisture fluxes, although the mean peak frequencies of both the fluxes nearly correspond to that of the mean vertical wind-velocity spectrum (f _m 0.35).     

Wave-like wind fluctuations observed in the stable surface layer over a plant canopy(2)

Observations of wind velocity and air temperature fluctuations were made in the nocturnal surface inversion layer over a sorghum field. Wave-like fluctuations of temperature and wind velocity with a period of 15–20 min were observed for about 2 hours, 3 to 5 hours before sunrise. Wave-like fluctuations of temperature were observed in the air layer above and within a plant canopy and were most noticeable at the top of the plant canopy. Spectral analysis of temperature and wind velocity fluctuations reveals a separation of energy into wave-like and turbulent fluctuations. Cospectral analysis shows that for both momentum and heat, vertical transports are partitioned almost equally in the frequency ranges characteristic of wave-like and turbulent fluctuations. This suggests wave- turbulence interactions at low frequencies in the air layer near a plant canopy.     

Wave-like wind fluctuations observed in the stable surface layer over a plant canopy

Observations of wind velocity and temperature fluctuations were made in the nocturnal surface inversion layer over a paddy field. A remarkable wave-like motion of about 8 min period was seen in horizontal wind speed and standard deviation of vertical wind velocity. In addition, fluctuations of horizontal wind speed and anticlockwise rotation of wind direction with a period of about 30 min were found by power spectral analysis. The phenomena persisted for more than 2 hours. Similar phenomena were also observed at a coastal site at a distance of about 10 km from the paddy field.     

Radiative surface temperature and convective flux calculation over crop canopies

The analysis presented in this paper aims at a better understanding of the potential role of radiative temperature, as measured by a radiometer over crops, in sensible heat flux calculation. Defining radiative temperature as the mean temperature of the surfaces viewed by the radiometer (leaves and soil surface) and assuming that an Ohm's law type formula can be used to express sensible heat flux as a function of the difference between air temperature and radiative temperature, the aerodynamic resistance which divides this temperature difference has been analytically defined. The parameters which appear in the resistance expression depend essentially on wind velocity and canopy structure but also on the inclination angle of the radiometer. Finally an experimental verification is presented with data obtained over a potato crop.     

Statistics of wind direction fluctuations in the surface layer over plant canopies

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Height dependency of statistics of horizontal and vertical wind direction fluctuations over plant canopies have been studied, using observational data in the surface...     

A model for computing small-scale wind variations over a water surface

Based on the primitive equations, a one-level model is described for computing surface winds under the meso-scale influences of orography, friction and heating. The effects of atmospheric stability and land-water contrasts are examined in detail. Results of testing the model with data collected during the International Field Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL) in 1972 are given. The model is able to simulate land and lake breezes as well as meso-scale effects due to gradients in surface water temperature. Compared to simple methods of computing surface winds, use of the model reduces the vector error in estimates of surface winds by about 1.25 m s^–1 on the average.     

Development of observation-based parameterizations of standard deviations of wind velocity fluctuations over an Indian region

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The present study utilizes the turbulence observations over an Indian region, Ranchi, to study the diurnal and seasonal characteristics of mean and turbulent...     

Wind-wave generation and the wind velocity structure in the air above a wavy water surface

Research results are presented, under natural and laboratory conditions, concerning the process of wind-wave generation. The complementary problem, the effect of waves on the structure of the wind field above them, is also studied.     

An analysis of wind velocity fluctuations in the atmospheric surface layer using an orthonormal wavelet transform

A wavelet analysis can supply information of both the location (time) and the scale of fluctuations. This method is applied to the fluctuations of the natural wind and the turbulent transport of momentum in the atmospheric surface layer. The shapes of both the wavelet spectra and the Fourier spectra of the three components of the wind velocity fluctuations are similar to each other. The quadrant representation of momentum transport shows the scale difference of the transport. The large-scale fluctuations mainly contribute to the downward transport of momentum.     

Third- and fourth-order mixed moments of turbulent velocity and temperature fluctuations in the atmospheric surface layer

Fourth-order mixed moments of velocity and temperature fluctuations, measured within the atmospheric surface layer, are compared with results obtained by assuming the quasi-Gaussian approximation. Standard deviations of the products uw, u and w(u and w are the longitudinal and vertical velocity fluctuations; is the temperature fluctuation) are in good agreement with those obtained using the quasi-Gaussian assumption. Good agreement is also obtained between measured and Gaussian estimates of fourth-order moments including all three fluctuations u, w, Schwarz inequalities, commonly used in the clipping approximation in turbulence modelling, are found to provide bounds for third-order moments of w, that are too conservative. More reasonable, tighter, bounds for these moments are given by inequalities obtained by Lumley.     

A lagrangian random-walk model for simulating water vapor,CO2 and sensible heat flux densities and scalar profiles over and within a soybean canopy

An integrated canopy micrometeorological model is described for calculating CO₂, water vapor and sensible heat exchange rates and scalar concentration profiles over and within a crop canopy. The integrated model employs a Lagrangian random walk algorithm to calculate turbulent diffusion. The integrated model extends previous Lagrangian modelling efforts by employing biochemical, physiological and micrometeorological principles to evaluate vegetative sources and sinks. Model simulations of water vapor, CO₂ and sensible heat flux densities are tested against measurements made over a soybean canopy, while calculations of scalar profiles are tested against measurements made above and within the canopy. The model simulates energy and mass fluxes and scalar profiles above the canopy successfully. On the other hand, model calculations of scalar profiles inside the canopy do not match measurements.The tested Lagrangian model is also used to evaluate simpler modelling schemes, as needed for regional and global applications. Simple, half-order closure modelling schemes (which assume a constant scalar profile in the canopy) do not yield large errors in the computation of latent heat (LE) and CO₂ (F _c ) flux densities. Small errors occur because the source-sink formulation of LE andF _c are relatively insensitive to changes in scalar concentrations and the scalar gradients are small. On the other hand, complicated modelling frames may be needed to calculate sensible heat flux densities; the source-sink formulation of sensible heat is closely coupled to the within-canopy air temperature profile.     

A global annually-averaged climate model with cloud,water vapor and CO2 feedbacks

In consideration of the radiation transfer, latent and sensible heat exchange between oceans and at-mosphere, a three-dimensional autonomous nonlinear ordinary differential equation is established by statis-tical parameterization method. The variables of the model are the mean ocean surface temperature Ts, mean atmospheric temperature Ta and atmospheric relative humidity f, and the feedbacks of clouds, water vapor and CO2 are involved. The steady state corresponding to the present-day climate can be obtained from this model. The analysis of parameter sensibility in the steady state indicates that clouds have consid-erable negative feedback effects and water vapor may affect the sign of CO2 feedback. The stability analysis of the steady state to small disturbance indicates that with increase of the positive feedback effect of clouds, the steady state goes through such a structural variance series as a stable node→a stable focal point→an unstable focal point→an unstable node, and when the steady state becomes unstable it undergoes a subcritical Hopf bifurcation. When the steady state is at a focal point, the periodic oscillation solutions of damping or amplifying can be obtained with the period being about two years.     

Variations of carbon dioxide,air temperature,and horizontal wind within and above a maize crop

The mean and short-term fluctuations of carbon dioxide concentration, air temperature, and horizontal wind speed were measured simultaneously within and above a maize crop. Although fluctuations were large at each of the 10 measurement heights, the largest were at the 180-cm level, the densest part of the crop. These short-term fluctuations indicated the broad range of environmental conditions to which plants are exposed (and which plants create or modify) in the field. The statistics of the distributions of these meteorological elements are discussed and the deviations from steady-state conditions are examined by determining linear trends. Finally, variance spectra showed the periodicity of the variations of these meteorological elements.Contribution from the Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture in cooperation with N.Y. State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, No. 1205. CBRI Contribution No. 966.