Development and use of the Gill UVW anemometer

A three-component anemometer, developed and refined during the past ten years, measures the three orthogonal wind-speed components directly along the instrument's three axes,X, Y, Z. The basic sensor for each of the three components is a light-weight helicoid propeller driving a tiny precision tachometer generator, which develops a D.C. voltage linearly proportional to the rate of turning of the propeller and reversing in polarity when the direction of rotation reverses. Each propeller turns at a rate almost linearly proportional to the instantaneous wind speed and the cosine of the angle subtended by the wind with the axis of the propeller. Propeller sensors have a starting speed of about 0.2 m s^?1; a distance constant of about 1 m; and may be used in winds up to 30 m s^?1. Over 500 of these instruments are now in use at research stations throughout the world.     

Underestimation of Monostatic Sodar Measurements in Complex Terrain

Recent investigations in complex terrain have found that remote sensing instrumentation commonly finds mean wind-speed differences when compared to cup anemometery. In many cases the difference is found to be an underestimation and varies from 2 to 9% depending on topology. We describe these differences in a theoretical sense for a five-beam sodar. An investigation is conducted on a New Zealand ridge with a five-beam sodar and three computational models, consisting of a potential flow model and two computational fluid dynamical simulations, OpenFOAM and the industry standard software WindSim. All models predict the difference to within 0.1–2.5%. A comparative assessment is made and it is found that, given the computing overheads, the potential flow model provides a good compromise in the prediction of mean wind-speed difference.     

红外与铂电阻地表温度测值分析对比

介绍了红外与铂电阻观测地表温度的方法和原理及影响因素。通过2007年1月至2008年2月锡林浩特国家气候观象台红外与铂电阻地表温度对比观测试验获取数据对比,分析不同典型天气条件下(高温、低温、降雨、降雪覆盖等)观测差值的变化情况。结果表明,观测结果差异的大小主要受太阳辐射和下垫面状况影响。夏季高温时,铂电阻地表温度传感器受太阳辐射影响较大,两者的观测差值在白天较大,夜晚较小;冬季低温时,两者的观测差值日变化较小,且观测资料具有很好的可比性;降雨时,下垫面状况发生变化,同时不受太阳辐射影响,两者的观测差值会减小;降雪覆盖时,两者的观测值由于下垫面状况发生变化,观测对象发生变化而不再一致,红外观测值高于铂电阻观测值,随着积雪的融化,差值逐渐变小。     

Air–Sea Interaction Features in the Baltic Sea and at a Pacific Trade-Wind Site: An Inter-comparison Study

A systematic comparison of wind profiles and momentum exchange at a trade wind site outside Oahu, Hawaii and corresponding data from the Baltic Sea is presented. The trade wind data are to a very high degree swell dominated, whereas the Baltic Sea data include a more varied assortment of wave conditions, ranging from a pure growing sea to swell. In the trade wind region swell waves travel predominantly in the wind direction, while in the Baltic, significant cross-wind swells are also present. Showing the drag coefficient as a function of the 10-m wind speed demonstrates striking differences for unstable conditions with swell for the wind-speed range 2 m s^?1 < U ₁₀ < 7 m s^?1, where the trade-wind site drag values are significantly larger than the corresponding Baltic Sea values. In striking contrast to this disagreement, other features studied are surprisingly similar between the two sites. Thus, exactly as found previously in Baltic Sea studies during unstable conditions and swell, the wind profile in light winds (3 m s^?1) shows a wind maximum at around 7–8 m above the water, with close to constant wind speed above. Also, for slightly higher wind speeds (4 m s^?1 < U ₁₀ < 7 m s^?1), the similarity between wind profiles is striking, with a strong wind-speed increase below a height of about 7–8 m followed by a layer of virtually constant wind speed above. A consequence of these wind-profile features is that Monin–Obukhov similarity is no longer valid. At the trade-wind site this was observed to be the case even for wind speeds as high as 10 m s^?1. The turbulence kinetic energy budget was evaluated for four cases of 8–16 30- min periods at the trade-wind site, giving results that agree very well with corresponding figures from the Baltic Sea.     

An Algorithm for Detecting Ice Cloud at Different Altitudes by Combining Dual CrIS Full Spectrum Resolution CO2 Channels

Using infrared sensors to detect ice clouds in different atmospheric layers is still a challenge. The different scattering and absorption properties of longwave and shortwave infrared channels can be utilized to fulfill this purpose.In this study, the release of Suomi-NPP Cross-track Infrared Sounder(Cr IS) full spectrum resolution is used to select and pair channels from longwave(～ 15 μm) and shortwave(～4.3 μm) CO_2 absorption bands under stricter conditions, so as to better detect ice clouds. Besides, the differences of the weighting function peaks and cloud insensitive level altitudes of the paired channels are both within 50 h Pa so that the variances due to atmospheric conditions can be minimized. The training data of clear sky are determined by Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite(VIIRS) cloud mask product and used to find the linear relationship between the paired longwave and shortwave CO_2 absorption channels. From the linear relationship, the so-called cloud emission and scattering index(CESI) is derived to detect ice clouds. CESI clearly captures the center and the ice cloud features of the Super Typhoon Hato located above 415 h Pa. Moreover, the CESI distributions agree with cloud top pressure from the VIIRS in both daytime and nighttime in different atmospheric layers.     

Wind-Speed Undulations Over Swell: Field Experiment and Interpretation

Results of field measurements of the swell-induced undulation of the wind speed taken from a Black Sea platform are presented. The wind speed and its fluctuations were measured at several heights between 1.3 and 21 m above the mean sea level under various wind and swell conditions. Parameters of the swell-induced undulations were derived from cross spectra of the wind-speed fluctuations and the sea-surface displacement. As found, the phase and the amplitude of the wind speed undulation in the layer from k _p z = 0.1 to k _p z = 3 (k _p is the swell wavenumber) are in good agreement with the theory of inviscid shear flow over a wavy surface. The main feature of the vertical profile of the swell-induced undulation is the exponential attenuation of its amplitude with height typical for the potential flow over the fast running waves. At the lowest levels the potential undulations are significantly distorted by the wind-speed variations caused by the vertical displacements of the shear airflow relative to a fixed sensor. No direct impact of swell on the mean properties of the turbulent boundary layer at k _p z > 0.1 is revealed. In particular, the mean wind-speed profile and spectra of the horizontal velocity in the inertial subrange obey Monin-Obukhov similarity theory.     

Analysis of the surface temperature and wind forecast errors of the NCAR-AirDat operational CONUS 4-km WRF forecasting system

Investigating the characteristics of model-forecast errors using various statistical and object-oriented methods is necessary for providing useful guidance to end-users and model developers as well. To this end, the random and systematic errors (i.e., biases) of the 2-m temperature and 10-m wind predictions of the NCAR-AirDat weather research and forecasting (WRF)-based real-time four-dimensional data assimilation (RTFDDA) and forecasting system are analyzed. This system has been running operationally over a contiguous United States (CONUS) domain at a 4-km grid spacing with four forecast cycles daily from June 2009 to September 2010. In the result an exceptionally useful forecast dataset was generated and used for studying the error properties of the model forecasts, in terms of both a longer time period and a broader coverage of geographic regions than previously studied. Spatiotemporal characteristics of the errors are investigated based on the 24-h forecasts between June 2009 and April 2010, and the 72-h forecasts between May and September 2010. It was found that the biases of both wind and temperature forecasts vary greatly seasonally and diurnally, with dependency on the forecast length, station elevation, geographical location, and meteorological conditions. The temperature showed systematic cold biases during the daytime at all station elevations and warm biases during the nighttime above 1,000 m above sea level (ASL), while below 600 m ASL cold biases occurred during the nighttime. The forecasts of surface wind speed exhibited strong positive biases during the nighttime, while the negative biases were observed in the spring and summer afternoons. The surface wind speed was mostly over-predicted except for the stations located between 1,000 and 2,100 m ASL, for which negative biases were identified for most forecast cycles. The highest wind-speed errors were found over the high terrain and near sea-level stations. The wind-direction errors were relatively large at the high-terrain elevation in the Rocky and Appalachian mountain ranges and the western coastal areas and the error structure exhibited notable diurnal variability.     

One Year of Surface-Based Temperature Inversions at Dome C, Antarctica

In 2005 the Study of Stable Boundary Layer Environment at Dome C (STABLEDC) experimental campaign was conducted at the plateau station of Concordia at Dome C, Antarctica. Temperature profiles measured with a microwave radiometer were used to study the characteristics of surface-based temperature inversions over the course of a year. Statistics of temperature profiles for every month are discussed; the difference between daytime and nocturnal cases observed during the summer months disappears during winter. Surface-based temperature inversions occurred in 70 % of the time during summer, and almost all of the time during winter. During winter the occurrence of warming events leads to a decrease in the temperature difference between the top and the base of the inversion (i.e. the inversion strength). The inversion strength maxima ranged between $3\,^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ (December) and $35\,^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ (August) corresponding to gradients of 0.1 and $0.3\,^{\circ }\mathrm{C}\, \mathrm{m}^{-1}$ , respectively. The average surface-based inversion height presents a daily cycle during the summer months with values up to 200 m in the morning hours, while it affects a layer always deeper than 100 m during the winter months. The relationships between inversion strength and the downward longwave radiative flux, absolute temperature, and wind speed are examined. The inversion strength decreases as the longwave radiation increases. A clear anti-correlation between inversion strength and near-surface temperature is evident throughout the year. During the winter, the largest inversion strength values were observed under low wind-speed conditions; in contrast, a clear dependence was not found during the summer.     

Aerosol remote sensing over land: A comparison of satellite retrievals using different algorithms and instruments

An inter-comparison study of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 0.55 μm retrieved using different satellite instruments and algorithms based on the analysis of backscattered solar light is presented for a single scene over central Europe on October 13th, 2005. For the first time comparisons have been performed for as many as six instruments on multiple satellite platforms. Ten different algorithms are briefly discussed and inter-compared. It was found that on the scale of a single pixel there can be large differences in AOT retrieved over land using different retrieval techniques and instruments. However, these differences are not as pronounced for the average AOT over land. For instance, the average AOT at 0.55 μm for the area 7–12E, 49–53N was equal to 0.14 for MISR, NASA MODIS and POLDER algorithms. It is smaller by 0.01 for the ESA MERIS aerosol product and larger by 0.04 for the MERIS BAER algorithm. AOT as derived using AATSR gives on average larger values as compared to all other instruments, while SCIAMACHY retrievals underestimate the aerosol loading. These discrepancies are explained by uncertainties in a priori assumptions used in the different algorithms and differences in the sensor characteristics. Validation against AERONET shows that MERIS provides the most accurate AOT retrievals for this scene.     

基于数字摄像能见度仪的北京地区降雨和雾霾天气能见度对比分析

数字摄像能见度仪（Digital Photographic Visibility System,DPVS）仿照人工目测能见度的原理测量大气能见度。本文应用2017年3—8月北京地区DPVS、前向散射仪（PWD22）、大气透射仪（LT31）三种观测仪器在降雨天气和雾霾天气观测数据进行了对比。结果表明：能见度观测数据与相对湿度、颗粒物浓度、降水粒子等要素之间有明显的负相关性;在低能见度天气条件下,三种仪器观测数据变化趋势一致,但存在一定的差异;DPVS在中雨天气、大雨天气、暴雨天气和中度雾霾天气中,观测数据离散性更小,稳定性更好。但DPVS在白天和夜间的交替过渡期观测值不够稳定,这也是今后算法优化的重点方向。     

Comparison of Two Closely Located Meteorological Measurement Sites and Consequences for Their Areal Representativity

We compare meteorological data collected at the Met Office Research Unit, Cardington, UK with similar data from a temporary meteorological station located approximately 8.5 km away. Data were examined for a period of 10 months to ascertain differences in mean quantities, and in heat and radiation budgets, at different heights between the two locations, one of which is located in a wide shallow valley, the other on a plateau at the valley edge. Results reveal that screen-level variables at the two sites show the greatest differences in mean quantities, for most conditions, but that at 50 m the differences are negligible, indicating that temperatures had become aggregated and homogeneous at that height. For flux measurements between 10 and 50 m, however, significant differences were observed at certain times of the year, which appear to be related to local vegetation and soil conditions, and these are discussed. The study also presents data for stable conditions that show that temperature differences at screen level are again the most significant difference between the two sites. On average these were not large, but on occasions discrepancies at low levels (up to approximately 10 m) as large as 5°C were observed. It is thought that these greater differences during stable conditions may be caused by cold air pooling at the valley site, despite the very shallow orography there. Data from the two sites have been compared with forecasts from two Met Office mesoscale models. Results show that, during daytime hours, model-predicted values lie outside the range of values observed at the two sites, indicating a possible model bias. However, the opposite was true for most nighttime hours, during which model values fell within the range observed at the two sites, indicating that at night the model predictions are representative of the region. In this case, however, comparison of the model prediction with either one of the available observations could lead to the false conclusion that the model temperatures were either too high or too low, depending on which observational site was used for the comparison.     

The Høvsøre Tall Wind-Profile Experiment: A Description of Wind Profile Observations in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

We present an analysis of data from a nearly 1-year measurement campaign performed at Høvsøre, Denmark, a coastal farmland area where the terrain is flat. Within the easterly sector upstream of the site, the terrain is nearly homogenous. This topography and conditions provide a good basis for the analysis of vertical wind-speed profiles under a wide range of atmospheric stability, turbulence, and forcing conditions. One of the objectives of the campaign was to serve as a benchmark for flow over flat terrain models. The observations consist of combined wind lidar and sonic anemometer measurements at a meteorological mast. The sonic measurements cover the first 100 m and the wind lidar measures above 100 m every 50 m in the vertical. Results of the analysis of observations of the horizontal wind-speed components in the range 10–1200 m and surface turbulence fluxes are illustrated in detail, combined with forcing conditions derived from mesoscale model simulations. Ten different cases are presented. The observed wind profiles approach well the simulated gradient and geostrophic winds close to the simulated boundary-layer height during both barotropic and baroclinic conditions, respectively, except for a low-level jet case, as expected. The simulated winds are also presented for completeness and show good agreement with the measurements, generally underpredicting the turning of the wind in both barotropic and baroclinic cases.     

Analysis of Urban Atmosphere Plume Concentration Fluctuations

Concentration variability in the fast-response tracer dataset for continuous, near-surface, point source releases in the urban core from the Joint Urban 2003 field study is analyzed. Concentration variability for conditionally and unconditionally sampled time series is characterized by probability densities, concentration fluctuation intensity, skewness, and kurtosis. Significant day-night differences in plume dispersion are observed. Relative to daytime, nighttime plumes were more likely to have reduced concentration fluctuation intensities, higher normalized surface concentrations, suppressed vertical mixing, and a greater prevalence of Gaussian-like distributions rather than log-normal or mixed mode distributions. This was in spite of the similar stability and turbulence conditions in the urban core for day and night. The potential roles of flow meander and thermal stability in explaining these differences are examined. Probability densities of concentration are found to be a strong function of fluctuation intensity. There are few differences in probability densities between day and night when classified by fluctuation intensity. There are no appreciable differences between conditional and unconditional probability densities and only small differences between conditional and unconditional sampling statistics relative to the larger differences usually observed in more homogeneous settings. Fluctuation intensity, skewness, and kurtosis are higher for the daytime experiments, and closer to the source, but show little difference between conditional and unconditional results over most of their range of values. The log-normal distribution provides a better overall fit to a broader range of the dataset than the exponential or clipped-normal distributions.     

A one dimensional wind profile model with stability and eddy viscosity estimations from sodar data

In a one-dimensional wind profile model, methods for eddy viscosity and stability estimations from sodar data have been evaluated with soundings. For eddy viscosity parameterization the ageostrophic method and mixing-length theory have been investigated. Three methods for estimating the static stability have been evaluated; a wind profile adjustment method, gravity wave analysis of sodar backscatter and flux profile functions for windspeed and standard deviation of vertical wind-speed. The wind profile model with variable momentum flux (VF) with height shows better results than an earlier constant flux model (Bergström, 1986). The VF model can be used for extending the sodar profile up to 1500 m.     

A comparison of tropical oceanic heat fluxes determined by airborne eddy correlation and shipboard bulk aerodynamic techniques

Vertical turbulent transports of latent and sensible heat through the tropical marine boundary layer were measured with ship and airborne instruments in the GATE experimental area. The measurements from the two systems are compared for cases of simultaneous sampling in the same locations during undisturbed weather and during the wakes of convective disturbances. The paired average fluxes from the airborne eddy correlation measurements and the shipboard bulk aerodynamic measurements, for undisturbed weather, are related with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.6 to 0.9; the correlations depend primarily on stratifications of the aircraft data according to sampling altitude (15–153 m msl) and flight pattern relative to the mean wind. The agreement between the two types of measurements is best for ship data paired with aircraft samples from the lowest altitudes (15 and 30 m) and from alongwind rather than crosswind flights, as is appropriate since the stationary ships monitor the alongwind characteristics of the turbulence. The use of long (1–3 hr) versus short (10 min) ship samples did not significantly affect the comparability with the aircraft samples during undisturbed periods.The good baseline comparability demonstrated by the undisturbed-weather comparisons was applied to interpret the results from the wakes behind showers. Although these paired measurements were few, not only the sensible heat, but also the latent heat flux was shown to decrease substantially with altitude from 10 m to at least 150 m in the wakes, where the mixing was relatively intense. Variations in the fluxes were much greater at the higher level than nearer the sea surface.     

Summer temperature variability across four urban neighborhoods in Knoxville,Tennessee, USA

The urban heat island (UHI) is a well-documented effect of urbanization on local climate, identified by higher temperatures compared to surrounding areas, especially at night and during the warm season. The details of a UHI are city-specific, and microclimates may even exist within a given city. Thus, investigating the spatiotemporal variability of a city’s UHI is an ongoing and critical research need. We deploy ten weather stations across Knoxville, Tennessee, to analyze the city’s UHI and its differential impacts across urban neighborhoods: two each in four neighborhoods, one in more dense tree cover and one in less dense tree cover, and one each in downtown Knoxville and Ijams Nature Center that serve as control locations. Three months of temperature data (beginning 2 July 2014) are analyzed using paired-sample t tests and a three-way analysis of variance. Major findings include the following: (1) Within a given neighborhood, tree cover helps negate daytime heat (resulting in up to 1.19 ^°C lower maximum temperature), but does not have as large of an influence on minimum temperature; (2) largest temperature differences between neighborhoods occur during the day (0.38–1.16 ^°C difference), but larger differences between neighborhoods and the downtown control occur at night (1.04–1.88 ^°C difference); (3) presiding weather (i.e., air mass type) has a significant, consistent impact on the temperature in a given city, and lacks the differential impacts found at a larger-scale in previous studies; (4) distance from city center does not impact temperature as much as land use factors. This is a preliminary step towards informing local planning with a scientific understanding of how mitigation strategies may help minimize the UHI and reduce the effects of extreme weather on public health and well-being.     

Errors in wind-speed measurements by rotation anemometers

A perturbation theory approach of non-linear mechanics is applied to the solution of a non-linear rotation anemometer dynamic equation in a gusty wind. The first two terms of the perturbation series give a simplified equation for the wind-speed overestimation by a rotation anemometer (u-error) in terms of a wind velocity spectrum (or a correlation function). The equation agrees satisfactorily with all the known analytical or numerical solutions of rotation anemometer equations. It agrees, in particular, with recent theoretical estimations of the u-error magnitude by Kondo et al. (1971) and Hyson (1972), but disagrees significantly with the experimental findings of Izumi and Barad (1970) and Högström (1974). The same approach is also used for the estimation of the influence of the vertical wind fluctuations on the rotation anemometer readings (w-error). It is shown that w-error is usually of the same sign as u-error and that the sum of these both types of errors may be in some cases of the same order as an experimental wind-speed overestimation observed by Izumi and Barad and by Högström. However, it seems probable that some additional types of errors contribute also to the real overspeeding of rotation anemometers in a gusty wind.     

Weibull-k Revisited: “Tall” Profiles and Height Variation of Wind Statistics

The Weibull distribution is commonly used to describe climatological wind-speed distributions in the atmospheric boundary layer. While vertical profiles of mean wind speed in the atmospheric boundary layer have received significant attention, the variation of the shape of the wind distribution with height is less understood. Previously we derived a probabilistic model based on similarity theory for calculating the effects of stability and planetary boundary-layer depth upon long-term mean wind profiles. However, some applications (e.g. wind energy estimation) require the Weibull shape parameter (k), as well as mean wind speed. Towards the aim of improving predictions of the Weibull- \(k\) profile, we develop expressions for the profile of long-term variance of wind speed, including a method extending our probabilistic wind-profile theory; together these two profiles lead to a profile of Weibull-shape parameter. Further, an alternate model for the vertical profile of Weibull shape parameter is made, improving upon a basis set forth by Wieringa (Boundary-Layer Meteorol, 1989, Vol. 47, 85–110), and connecting with a newly-corrected corollary of the perturbed geostrophic-drag theory of Troen and Petersen (European Wind Atlas, 1989, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde). Comparing the models for Weibull-k profiles, a new interpretation and explanation is given for the vertical variation of the shape of wind-speed distributions. Results of the modelling are shown for a number of sites, with a discussion of the models’ efficacy and applicability. The latter includes a comparative evaluation of Wieringa-type empirical models and perturbed-geostrophic forms with regard to surface-layer behaviour, as well as for heights where climatological wind-speed variability is not dominated by surface effects.     

利用TMI资料估计西北太平洋热带气旋强度的客观方法

利用2007—2009年热带降雨测量卫星(TRMM)微波成像仪(TMI)观测的亮温资料,建立一种西北太平洋热带气旋强度(Tropical Cyclone,TC)的估计模型,对2010年热带气旋进行独立估计试验,并对估计误差进行分析。结果表明:该模型对强度小于强台风TC的拟合效果较好,均方根误差约为5 m/s,平均绝对误差约为4 m/s;对强台风和超强台风TC的拟合误差较大,均方根误差分别为9.65和6.60 m/s,平均绝对误差分别为7.76和5.49 m/s;对强台风及以上强度的TC,模型的拟合误差在日(夜)间减小(增大),误差最小(大)值为6.00 m/s(11.96 m/s),说明估计值在日(夜)间偏大(小)。     

多普勒声雷达对化音地区风场结构探测的初步分析

本文利用1990年8月多普勒声雷达在“HEIFE”区化音站探测的资料,对该地区的PBL结构进行了初步分析。结果表明,用声雷达回波强度的双对数廓线确定大气边界层高度仍不失为一有效的方法。大气边界层高度演变过程的特点是:白天对流层边界发展较快,但维持时间较短;而夜间稳定边界层维持时间较长,且在其发展较高时,在近地层又发展出一个新的稳定层结,呈现多层次的SBL结构。ML内垂直风速方差的归一化结果与Lenschow大致相同。另外,在一次冷锋过境天气背景下风场出现低空急流结构。