Influence of Nocturnal Low-level Jets on Eddy-covariance Fluxes over a Tall Forest Canopy

Observations of low-level jets (LLJs) at the Howland AmeriFlux site in the USA and the jet’s impact on nocturnal turbulent exchange and scalar fluxes over a tall forest canopy are discussed. Low-frequency motions and turbulent bursts characterize moderately strong LLJs, whereas low-frequency motions are suppressed during periods with strong LLJs and enhanced shear. An analysis based on the shear-sheltering hypothesis seeks to elucidate the effect of LLJs on flux measurements. In the absence of shear sheltering, large eddies penetrate the roughness sublayer causing enhanced mixing while during periods with shear sheltering, mixing is reduced. In the absence of the latter, ‘upside-down’ eddies are primarily responsible for the enhanced velocity variances, scalar and momentum fluxes. The integral length scales over the canopy are greater than the canopy height. The variance spectra and cospectra from the wavelet analysis indicate that large eddies (spatial scale greater than the low-level jet height) interact with active canopy-scale turbulence, contributing to counter-gradient scalar fluxes.     

Relationship between turbulent flux and variance in the urban canopy

The relationship between fluxes and variances has been widely studied in the frame of the similarity theory. However, the dynamics of urban morphology should be highlighted in the urban canopy. Therefore, the relationship between fluxes and variances of turbulent quantities (wind velocity, temperature, carbon dioxide, and water vapor concentration) without stability parameters has been investigated with data collected from the Beijing 325-m meteorological tower in the urban canopy. Though the similarity theory is available for the statistics of wind velocity and temperature, urban land use plays an important role in the linear relationship between momentum fluxes and velocity variances, while the linear relationship between sensible heat fluxes and temperature variances is influenced at large by stratification. As for carbon dioxide and water vapor, the linear relationship between their fluxes and variances is a better way compared to the similarity theory to describe their motion, though the plots are a little scattered owing to their fugitive source.     

On the interactions between planetary geostrophy and mesoscale eddies

Multiscale asymptotics are used to derive three systems of equations connecting the planetary geostrophic (PG) equations for gyre-scale flow to a quasigeostrophic (QG) equation set for mesoscale eddies. Pedlosky (1984), following similar analysis, found eddy buoyancy fluxes to have only a small effect on the large-scale flow; however, numerical simulations disagree. While the impact of eddies is relatively small in most regions, in keeping with Pedlosky’s result, eddies have a significant effect on the mean flow in the vicinity of strong, narrow currents.First, the multiple-scales analysis of Pedlosky is reviewed and amplified. Novel results of this analysis include new multiple-scales models connecting large-scale PG equations to sets of QG eddy equations. However, only introducing anisotropic scaling of the large-scale coordinates allows us to derive a model with strong two-way coupling between the QG eddies and the PG mean flow. This finding reconciles the analysis with simulations, viz. that strong two-way coupling is observed in the vicinity of anisotropic features of the mean flow like boundary currents and jets. The relevant coupling terms are shown to be eddy buoyancy fluxes. Using the Gent-McWilliams parameterization to approximate these fluxes allows solution of the PG equations with closed tracer fluxes in a closed domain, which is not possible without mesoscale eddy (or other small-scale) effects. The boundary layer width is comparable to an eddy mixing length when the typical eddy velocity is taken to be the long Rossby wave phase speed, which is the same result found by Fox-Kemper and Ferrari (2009) in a reduced gravity layer.     

涡旋相关法测定湍流通量偏低的研究

针对野外实验所发现的不同观测法测定地表能通量不平衡问题,进行了均匀加热大气边界层的大涡模拟实验.用模拟的湍流风、温度和湿度涨落的时间序列证实,对流边界层低频涡普遍存在,并经常以一簇一簇热泡的形式出现.风速较小时,有限时长的取样不足以捕捉低频涡的贡献,可造成涡旋相关法测量的统计量异常偏低.仿照涡旋相关法的步骤进行数据处理发现,经去除平均或趋势计算的温度和湿度通量偏低程度在边界层下部随观测高度的增高而显著,其中尤以湿度通量为甚.其结果在一定程度上可以解释低风速条件下地表能通量测量的不闭合问题,但是尚不能完全解释诸如青藏高原实验出现的严重不闭合.文中对此作了探讨性的讨论.     

Turbulence intermittency in the atmospheric surface layer over snow-covered sites

Wind component fluctuations have been decomposed into contributions of large and small-scale eddies to study turbulence structures in the atmospheric surface layer over snow-covered pack ice for a case with snow drift and another without. It was found that on average, the large eddies contribute little to the covariance, but significantly to the variance of the horizontal wind components. The turbulent kinetic energy and the friction velocity show clearly expressed energy and flux variations. The time series of turbulent statistics, calculated on the basis of large eddies only, show the same behavior. However, the time variations of the turbulent kinetic energy and the friction velocity, determined by the small eddies, are suppressed when there is drifting snow.The occurrence of different types of motions (ejections, sweeps and interactions) was detected by the quadrant-technique. It was found that events with strong drag reduction during snow drift correspond to a strong increase of contributions from the first and third quadrant. However, strong drag reduction events in the case without snow drift are caused by a general decrease of contributions from all four quadrants. It was also found that interactions are significantly less correlated with ejections and sweeps in the case with snow drift than in the case without.     

A saline laboratory model of the planetary convective boundary layer

A laboratory water-analog of clear-air penetrative convection in the atmosphere has been constructed to continue studies of the turbulent dispersion of buoyant plumes in the convective boundary layer (CBL). A unique feature is the utilization of saline rather than thermal convection, which has been made possible by the development of a reliable method for delivering a controllable buoyancy flux through a porous membrane. It has been shown in an earlier paper that at typical laboratory scales, a saline convection tank is well suited to modelling buoyant plume dipersion under strongly convective (light wind) conditions.A range of experiments has clearly demonstrated the validity of the model. Results for density and velocity variances show much less scatter than most comparable measurements because of the greatly improved sampling that is possible in the tank. The results are generally in good agreement with field data and other laboratory simulations but the improved accuracy of the data has highlighted the anomalously low values for the horizontal velocity variances produced by large-eddy simulations of the CBL. The cause of this apparent underprediction remains unresolved.     

A general rule for synoptic-eddy feedback onto low-frequency flow

In this study, scale interaction between synoptic eddies and low-frequency flow is investigated. It is demonstrated here that there is a general rule, the “left-hand rule”, that describes synoptic eddy feedback onto low-frequency flow. The rule is that low-frequency anomalies systematically stir and deform the transient eddies in such a way that the irrotational eddy-vorticity fluxes are directed preferentially about 90° toward the left-hand side of the low-frequency flow; thus this eddy feedback plays a positive role in maintaining and prolonging low-frequency flow under the stormy atmosphere. Similarly, we show that the irrotational eddy-temperature and moisture fluxes are also directed preferentially about 90° toward the left-hand side of the low-frequency flow in the northern hemisphere. The eddy-temperature fluxes and their vertical structure play a positive role in reinforcing the low-frequency flow in the low levels. The moisture fluxes play a role in enhancing low-frequency flow by providing eddy-induced moisture convergence and divergence.     

General motors sulfate dispersion experiment

The mean wind field and the wind fluctuations observed near a controlled, heavily traveled level roadway were investigated. The mean wind field was studied in terms of velocity defects relative to the ambient mean wind. The wind fluctuations were studied in terms of energy spectra, velocity cross-spectra, excesses of velocity variances and cross-covariances over their ambient values. Two-point cross-spectra and correlations were also used to study the propagation of wind fluctuations. The influence of traffic on the ambient wind field extended vertically up to at least 4.5m above ground, and horizontally to at least 30 m downwind of the road. The vertical extension was more gradual at high cross-road winds than at low cross-road winds. The wind tended to move up as it approached the road and down as it left the road, except when the cross-road wind was low, where the downward motion was reduced or reversed. This is likely due to the buoyancy effect of the heated exhaust. The traffic effects propagated outward at about 1 m s^-1. Thus at cross-road winds of less than 1 ms^-1, the influence of traffic could be observed upwind of the road. When intense shear existed between the local wind field and an opposing traffic direction, large turbulent energy production resulted, generating large eddies, in additions to the high frequency (> 0.1 Hz) eddies generated by vehicular motions in the absence of intense shear. The large eddies also increased the mixing volume, so that when the ambient wind opposed the traffic direction on the upwind lanes, the pollutant concentration upwind of the road could be higher than that downwind. While the cross-covariance excesses generally agreed with the gradient transport assumption, disagreements also existed, which may not be surprising in view of the participation of large eddies in the momentum transport.     

Atmospheric Response to Mesoscale Ocean Eddies over the South China Sea

The South China Sea(SCS) is an eddy-active area. Composite analyses based on 438 mesoscale ocean eddies during 2000–2012 revealed the status of the atmospheric boundary layer is influenced remarkably by such eddies. The results showed cold-core cyclonic(warm-core anticyclonic) eddies tend to cool(warm) the overlying atmosphere and cause surface winds to decelerate(accelerate). More than 5% of the total variance of turbulent heat fluxes, surface wind speed and evaporation rate are induced by mesoscale eddies. Furthermore, mesoscale eddies locally affect the columnar water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain rate. Dynamical analyses indicated that both variations of atmospheric boundary layer stability and sea level pressure are responsible for atmospheric anomalies over mesoscale eddies. To reveal further details about the mechanisms of atmospheric responses to mesoscale eddies, atmospheric manifestations over a pair of cold and warm eddies in the southwestern SCS were simulated. Eddy-induced heat flux anomalies lead to changes in atmospheric stability. Thus, anomalous turbulence kinetic energy and friction velocity arise over the eddy dipole, which reduce(enhance) the vertical momentum transport over the cold(warm) eddy, resulting in the decrease(increase) of sea surface wind. Diagnoses of the model's momentum balance suggested that wind speed anomalies directly over the eddy dipole are dominated by vertical mixing terms within the atmospheric boundary layer, while wind anomalies on the edges of eddies are produced by atmospheric pressure gradient forces and atmospheric horizontal advection terms.     

Characteristics of canopy turbulence over a deciduous forest on complex terrain

Canopy turbulence plays an important role in mass and energy exchanges at the canopy-atmosphere interface. Despite extensive studies on canopy turbulence over a flat terrain, less attention has been given to canopy turbulence in a complex terrain. The purpose of this study is to scrutinize characteristics of canopy turbulence in roughness sublayer over a hilly forest terrain. We investigated basic turbulence statistics, conditionally sampled statistics, and turbulence spectrum in terms of different atmospheric stabilities, wind direction and vertical structures of momentum fluxes. Similarly to canopy turbulence over a homogeneous terrain, turbulence statistics showed coherent structure. Both quadrant and spectrum analysis corroborated the role of intermittent and energetic eddies with length scale of the order of canopy height, regardless of wind direction except for shift of peak in vertical wind spectrum to relatively high frequency in the down-valley wind. However, the magnitude of the momentum correlation coefficient in a neutral condition was smaller than typical value over a flat terrain. Further scrutiny manifested that, in the up-valley flow, temperature skewness was larger and the contribution of ejection to both momentum and heat fluxes was larger compared to the downvalley flow, indicating that thermal instability and weaker wind shear in up-valley flow asymmetrically affect turbulent transport within the canopy.     

On the characteristics of eddies in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

A discussion of the cross-spectral properties of eddies in the lowest 40 m of the nocturnal boundary layer is presented. The study involves the analysis of meteorological data collected by the British Antarctic Survey at Halley Station, Antarctica, during the austral winter of 1986. Cross-spectral analysis is used to determine whether the nature of the observed eddies is primarily turbulent or whether their structure is characteristic of coherent internal gravity waves. It is found that the cross-spectral phases indicate the presence of turbulent eddies only when the local gradient Richardson number (Ri) is less than the critical value of 1/4. Trapped modes were only observed when an off-shore wind prevailed, indicating that topographic effects are responsible for their generation. The relative phases of velocity and temperature were often observed to change with height. This can be explained by examining the underlying meteorological conditions. On several occasions, regions of counter-gradient fluxes were detected. A physical explanation of this phenomenon is proposed.     

Aircraft-Based Measurements Of Turbulence Structures In The Katabatic Flow Over Greenland

Turbulence structures in the katabatic flow in the stable boundary layer (SBL) over the ice sheet are studied for two case studies with high wind speeds during the aircraft-based experiment KABEG (Katabatic wind and boundary layer front experiment around Greenland) in the area of southern Greenland. The aircraft data allow the direct determination of turbulence structures in the katabatic flow. For the first time, this allows the study of the turbulence structure in the katabatic wind system over the whole boundary layer and over a horizontal scale of 80 km.The katabatic flow is associated with a low-level jet (LLJ), with maximum wind speeds up to 25 m s^-1. Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and the magnitude of the turbulent fluxes show a strong decrease below the LLJ. Sensible heat fluxes at the lowest level have values down to -25 W m^-2. Latent heat fluxes are small in general, but evaporation values of up to +13 W m^-2 are also measured. Turbulence spectra show a well-defined inertial subrange and a clear spectral gap around 250-m wavelength. While turbulence intensity decreases monotonously with height above the LLJ for the upper part of the slope, high spectral intensities are also present at upper levels close to the ice edge. Normalized fluxes and variances generally follow power-law profiles in the SBL.Terms of the TKE budget are computed from the aircraft data. The TKE destruction by the negative buoyancy is found to be very small, and the dissipation rate exceeds the dynamical production.     

Wavelet Analysis of Intermittent Turbulent Transport in the Atmospheric Surface Layer over a Monsoon Trough Region

The structure of the turbulence in the atmospheric surface layer over a monsoon trough region has been studied using structural analysis based on wavelet transform. The observational site is located at the eastern (wet) end of the monsoon trough region, characterized by high moisture in the atmospheric surface layer. On the average relative humidity varied from 70% to 100% during the experiment. The wind and temperature data, collected at Kharagpur (22°25' N, 87°18' E) at six observational hours of a day in June 1990 during the Monsoon Trough Boundary Layer Experiment (MONTBLEX), have been utilized in the study. The wind and instantaneous momentum flux time series were decomposed into 12 scales using the Haar wavelet transform. The eddies exhibited a large temporal variability generating intermittency in the energy and flux distributions. A criterion based on the isotropy has been suggested for separating the large eddies from the small eddies. At the separation scale the isotropy coefficient drops sharply. It is shown that the intermittency in the small eddies resulted from the spatial variation of energy, and deviation of velocity statistics from the Gaussian distribution known as flatness. The deviation from the -5/3 power law has been attributed to the increased mean values of, (i) the coefficient of variation of energy, and (ii) the flatness factor, in the inertial subrange. The decomposition of the instantaneous momentum flux time series reveals that the major contribution to the total flux arises from the large eddies. The quadrant analysis of the momentum flux shows that ejections and sweeps account for a substantial part of the total flux, and quantifies the relative importance of the various spatial scales that contribute to the transport of momentum.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of Coherent Turbulence Structures Associated with Scalar Ramps Over Plant Canopies

Large-eddy simulations were performed of a neutrally-stratified turbulent flow within and above an ideal, horizontally- and vertically-homogeneous plant canopy. Three simulations were performed for shear-driven flows in small and large computational domains, and a pressure-driven flow in a small domain, to enable the nature of canopy turbulence unaffected by external conditions to be captured. The simulations reproduced quite realistic canopy turbulence characteristics, including typical ramp structures appearing in time traces of the scalar concentration near the canopy top. Then, the spatial structure of the organised turbulence that caused the scalar ramps was examined using conditional sampling of three-dimensional instantaneous fields, triggered by the occurrence of ramp structures. A wavelet transform was used for the detection of ramp structures in the time traces. The ensemble-averaged results illustrate that the scalar ramps are associated with the microfrontal structure in the scalar, the ejection-sweep structure in the streamwise and vertical velocities, a laterally divergent flow just around the ramp-detection point, and a positive, vertically-coherent pressure perturbation. These vertical structures were consistent with previous measurements made in fields or wind tunnels. However, the most striking feature is that the horizontal slice of the same structure revealed a streamwise-elongated region of high-speed streamwise velocity impacting on another elongated region of low-speed velocity. These elongated structures resemble the so-called streak structures that are commonly observed in near-wall shear layers. Since elongated structures of essentially similar spatial scales were observed in all of the runs, these streak structures appear to be inherent in near-canopy turbulence. Presumably, strong wind shear formed just above the canopy is involved in their formation. By synthesis of the ensemble-averaged and instantaneous results, the following processes were inferred for the development of scalar microfronts and their associated flow structures: (1) a distinct scalar microfront develops where a coherent downdraft associated with a high-speed streak penetrates into the region of a low-speed streak; (2) a stagnation in flow between two streaks of different velocities builds up a vertically-coherent high-pressure region there; (3) the pressure gradients around the high-pressure region work to reduce the longitudinal variations in streamwise velocity and to enhance the laterally-divergent flow and lifted updrafts downstream of the microfront; (4) as the coherent mother downdraft impinges on the canopy, canopy-scale eddies are formed near the canopy top in a similar manner as observed in conventional mixing-layer turbulence.     

Wind-Tunnel Experiment on Logarithmic-Layer Turbulence under the Influence of Overlying Detached Eddies

A wind-tunnel experiment was carried out to test a hypothesis that the turbulence characteristics in the near-neutral surface layer are largely determined by detached eddies from above. The surrogate detached eddies were generated by using an active turbulence grid installed at the front of the test section and the parameters of the grid were chosen such that the fully developed logarithmic layer downstream consists of a turbulent flow that has similar normalized intensity to that typically observed in the near-neutral atmospheric surface layer. The effects of the detached eddies on turbulence characteristics were investigated by comparison with a second experiment without detached eddies. The influence of the detached eddies on the logarithmic layer was mostly on the coherent structures; the logarithmic layer with the detached eddies revealed a multi-layer structure similar to that found in the atmosphere where the lower part of the surface layer is dominated by sweep-like events and the upper part by ejection-like events. Our experiments show that the mean velocity gradient and the Reynolds shear stress were, however, not affected significantly by the detached eddies and hence the eddy viscosity.     

A quantitative comparison of horizontal and vertical acoustic sounding with in-situ measurements

In this paper, we present some results on an experiment to test the accuracy and utility of a horizontally-aimed acoustic sounder. A high-frequency, high-resolution mini-sounder was mounted on the mast of the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory aimed in the cross-wind direction. Measurements of C _T ², wind velocity and temperature and velocity variances were obtained under both stable and unstable conditions. These measurements were found to be in agreement with the equivalent values obtained, where appropriate, by the tower-fixed instrumentation and a vertically-pointed sounder, confirming the accuracy of the horizontal sounder. In addition, some information into the horizontal structure of plumes and gravity waves was obtained along with evidence of lack of excess attenuation at least for lengths within the unambiguous range of mini-sounders.     

LES Study of the Energy Imbalance Problem with Eddy Covariance Fluxes

The spatial representativeness of heat fluxes on the basis of single-tower measurements, and the mechanism of the so-called energy imbalance problem, are investigated through numerical experiments using large-eddy simulation (LES). LES experiments are done for the daytime atmospheric boundary layer heated over a flat surface, as a best-case scenario completely free of sensor errors and the uncertainties of field conditions. Imbalance is defined as the deviation of the `turbulent' heat flux at a grid point from the horizontally averaged `total' heat flux. Both the theoretical and numerical results of the present study suggest the limitation of single-tower measurements and the necessity of horizontally-distributed observation networks.The temporally averaged `turbulent' flux based on a point measurement systematically underestimates the `total' flux (negative imbalance). This is attributed to local advection effects caused by the existence of turbulent organized structures (TOS), whose time scale is much longer than that of thermal plumes. The temporal and spatial change of TOS patterns causes low-frequency trends in the velocity and temperature data resulting in large scatter of the flux estimates. The influences of geostrophic wind speed, averaging time, observation height, computational domain size and resolution on tower-measured fluxes are also discussed. Finally, it is suggested that a weak inhomogenity in surface heating may reduce the negative bias of flux estimates.     

Stability Dependence of Canopy Flows over a Flat Larch Forest

The dependence on atmospheric stability of flow characteristics adjacent to a very rough surface was investigated in a larch forest in Japan. Micrometeorological measurements of three-dimensional wind velocity and air temperature were taken at two heights above the forest, namely 1.7 and 1.2 times the mean canopy height h. Under near-neutral and stable conditions, the observed turbulence statistics suggest that the flow was likely to be that of the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) at 1.7h, and of the roughness sublayer (RSL) at 1.2h. However, in turbulence spectra, canopy-induced large coherent motions appeared clearly at both heights. Even under strongly stable conditions, the large-scale motions were retained at 1.2h, whereas they were overwhelmed by small-scale motions at 1.7h. This phenomenon was probably due to the enhanced contribution of the ASL turbulence associated with nocturnal decay of the RSL depth, because the small-scale motions appeared at frequencies close to the peak frequencies of well-known ASL spectra. This result supports the relatively recent concept that canopy flow is a superimposition of coherent motions and the ASL turbulence. The large-scale motions were retained in temperature spectra over a wider region of stability compared to streamwise wind spectra, suggesting that a canopy effect extended higher up for temperature than wind. The streamwise spacing of dominant eddies according to the plane mixing-layer analogy was only valid in a narrow range at near neutral, and it was stabilised at nearly half its value under stable conditions.     

Estimating Variances of Horizontal Wind Fluctuations in Stable Conditions

Information concerning the average wind speed and the variances of lateral and longitudinal wind velocity fluctuations is required by dispersion models to characterise turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. When the winds are weak, the scalar average wind speed and the vector average wind speed need to be clearly distinguished and both lateral and longitudinal wind velocity fluctuations assume equal importance in dispersion calculations. We examine commonly-used methods of estimating these variances from wind-speed and wind-direction statistics measured separately, for example, by a cup anemometer and a wind vane, and evaluate the implied relationship between the scalar and vector wind speeds, using measurements taken under low-wind stable conditions. We highlight several inconsistencies inherent in the existing formulations and show that the widely-used assumption that the lateral velocity variance is equal to the longitudinal velocity variance is not necessarily true. We derive improved relations for the two variances, and although data under stable stratification are considered for comparison, our analysis is applicable more generally.     

Spectra and Cospectra of Turbulence in an Internal Boundary Layer over a Heterogeneously Irrigated Cotton Field

During the Energy Balance Experiment, patch-to-patch irrigation generated gradients in soil moisture in a north-south oriented cotton field. An internal boundary layer (IBL) developed as a result of strong horizontal advection from relatively dry upstream patches to relatively wet downstream patches associated with the prevailing northerly winds. This generated large eddies of multiple sizes, which had significant influences on the structure of turbulence in the IBL. The power spectra and cospectra of wind speed, temperature, humidity, and energy fluxes measured at two heights within the IBL are presented and used to investigate the influence of the IBL on surface layer turbulence. The spectra and cospectra were greatly enhanced by external disturbances at low frequencies. The peak frequencies of these disturbances did not change with height. The spectra and cospectra typically converged and were parallel to the Kansas spectrum at high frequencies (in the inertial subrange). A clear gap in the spectra of horizontal wind velocity existed at intermediate frequencies when the surface layer was stable. The results indicate that large eddies that originated in the upstream convective boundary layer had considerable impacts on the spectra and cospectra of surface layer turbulence. The influence of these large eddies was greater (1) when the IBL was well-developed in the near surface layer than when the IBL did not exist, (2) at higher levels than at lower levels, and (3) when the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) was unstable than when the ASL was stable. The length scales of these large eddies were consistent with the dominant scales of surface heterogeneity at the experiment site.