Representativeness of wind measurements on a mesoscale grid with station separations of 312 m to 10 km

A field experiment was carried out in which wind speed and direction were measured over flat terrain at a height of 10 m using 13 identical instruments spaced logarithmically along two perpendicular 10 km lines. Station separations ranged from 312 m to 10 km. One-minute data from 11 sampling periods of duration 6 to 10 h were studied. p ]The statistics showed little dependence on whether the line of instruments was oriented along the wind or across the wind. The correlation coefficients between wind fluctuations at two stations separated by distance x were found to vary exponentially with x, with an integral distance scale on the order of 1 km. The integral time scale derived from the variation of the single station variances with averaging time was found to equal several minutes. At a station separation of 10 km, the correlation coefficients between the wind components at the two sites were calculated to be 0.24, 0.37, and 0.47 for averaging times of 1, 10, and 60 min, respectively. These values for the correlation coefficients correspond to root-mean-square differences in wind speed at the two stations of about 1.3, 1.0, and 0.7 m/s, respectively.Exponential formulas based on dimensional analysis are suggested for fitting these observations. It is found that the observations of spatial correlations are best fit if two independent integral distance scales are used — a boundary-layer distance scale of about 300 m that best applies to small station separations and a mesoscale distance scale of about 10 km that applies to larger station separations.     

A simple model of neutrally stratified boundary-layer flow over real terrain incorporating wavenumber-dependent scaling

Our experience in applying earlier versions of a model of boundary-layer flow over low hills to real terrain (see Walmsley et al., 1982) has led to the development of a new version which we designate MS3DJH/3. The main improvements are the use of terrain-dependent length and velocity scales and the blending of inner and outer layer results into a single universally valid solution for the velocity perturbation field. MS3DJH/3 was carefully calibrated against alternative computations of flow over idealized two-dimensional terrain features using more detailed models prior to its application to real, three-dimensional terrain. It still provides high spatial resolution with low computing cost and is applicable to flow over terrain features with horizontal scales from 10 m to 10 km.Contractor: 24 Heslop Drive, Toronto.     

Boundary-Layer Turbulence Over The Nebraska Sandhills

Data from National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Queen Air boundary-layer flights over the Nebraska Sandhills are analyzed to investigate the effects of these low hills on boundary-layer turbulence. The Sandhills are an area of anisotropic rolling terrain with characteristic wavelengths of order 2km and rms height variations of order 25m. The biggest impact is found in early morning flight data where horizontal velocity perturbations appear at the same wavelengths as the terrain and variances (normalised by u ² , where u is the local friction velocity) are significantly enhanced relative to standard flat terrain values. By contrast the vertical velocity variance seems less affected and terrain effects are much less evident in data from the afternoon convective boundary layer.     

Small-Scale Variability in the Coastal Atmospheric Boundary Layer

The influence of the main large-scale wind directions on thermally driven mesoscale circulations at the Baltic southwest coast, southeast of Sweden, is examined. The aim of the study is to highlight small-scale alterations in the coastal atmospheric boundary layer. A numerical three-dimensional mesoscale model is used in this study, which is focused on an overall behaviour of the coastal jets, drainage flows, sea breezes, and a low-level eddy-type flow in particular. It is shown that synoptic conditions, together with the moderate terrain of the southeast of Sweden (max. height h₀ 206 m), governs the coastal mesoscale dynamics triggered by the land-sea temperature difference T. The subtle nature of coastal low-level jets and sea breezes is revealed; their patterns are dictated by the interplay between synoptic airflow, coastline orientation, and T.The simulations show that coastal jets typically occur during nighttime and vary in height, intensity and position with respect to the coast; they interact with downslope flows and the background wind. For the assigned land surface temperature (varying ±8 K from the sea temperature) and the opposing constant geostrophic wind 8 m s^-1, the drainage flow is more robust to the opposing ambient flow than the sea breeze later on. Depending on the part of the coast under consideration, and the prevailing ambient wind, the sea breeze can be suppressed or enhanced, stationary at the coast or rapidly penetrating inland, locked up in phase with another dynamic system or almost independently self-evolving. A low-level eddy structure is analyzed. It is governed by tilting, divergence and horizontal advection terms. The horizontal extent of the coastal effects agrees roughly with the Rossby radius of deformation.     

The stably stratified internal boundary layer for steady and diurnally varying offshore flow

A two-dimensional numerical mesoscale model is used to investigate the internal structure and growth of the stably stratified internal boundary layer (IBL) beneath warm, continental air flowing over a cooler sea. Two situations are studied — steady-state and diurnally varying offshore flow. In the steady-state case, vertical profiles of mean quantities and eddy diffusion coefficients (K) within the IBL show small, but significant, changes with increasing distance from the coast. The top of the IBL is well defined, with large vertical gradients within the layer and a maximum in the coast-normal wind component near the top. Well away from the coast, turbulence, identified by non-zero K, decreases to insignificant levels near the top of the IBL; the IBL itself is characterised by a critical value of the layer-flux Richardson number equal to 0.18. The overall behaviour of the mean profiles is similar to that found in the horizontally homogeneous stable boundary layer over land.A simple physical model is used to relate the depth of the layer h to several relevant physical parameters viz., x, the distance from the coast and U, the large-scale wind (both normal to the coastline) and g/, being the temperature difference between continental mixed-layer air and sea surface, is the mean potential temperature and g is the acceleration due to gravity. Excellent agreement with the numerical results is found, with h = 0.014x ^1/2 U (g/)^–1/2.In the diurnally varying case, the mean profiles within the IBL show only small differences from the steady-state case, although diurnal variations, particularly in the wind maximum, are evident within a few hundred kilometres of the coast. A mesoscale circulation normal to the coast, and superimposed upon the mean offshore flow, develops seawards of the coastline with maximum vertical velocities about sunset, of depth about 2 km and horizontal scale 500 km. The circulation is related to the advection, and subsequent decay, of daytime convective turbulence over the sea.     

Cases-97: Late-Morning Warming And Moistening Of The Convective Boundary Layer Over The Walnut River Watershed

Aircraft, radiosonde, surface-flux, and boundary-layer windprofiler data from the Cooperative Atmosphere Surface Exchange Study's 1997 field project, CASES-97, are combined with synoptic data to study the evolution of the vertically-averaged mixed-layerpotential temperature []and mixing-ratio [Q] onthree nearly-cloudless days from 1000 CST to 1200CST (local noon is approximately 1230 CST). This was achieved through examination of the terms in the time-tendency (`budget')equations for []and [Q]. We estimate three of the terms –local time rate of change, vertical flux divergence, andhorizontal advection. For the [Q]-budget, vertical flux divergence usually dominates, buthorizontal advection is significant on one of the three days. The [Q]-budget balances for two of the three days to within the large experimental error. For the -budget,vertical flux divergence accounts for most of the morningwarming, with horizontal advection of secondary importance.The residual in the -budget has the same sign for all three days, indicating that not all the heating is accounted for. We can balance the []-budgets to within experimental error on two of the three days by correcting the vertical-flux divergence for apparent low biases in the flux measurements of one of the aircraft and in the surface fluxes, and accounting for direct heating of the mixed layer by radiative flux divergence allowing for the effects of carbonaceous aerosols. The [];-budget with these corrections also balances on the third day if horizontal gradients from synoptic maps are used to estimate the horizontal advection. However, the corrected budget for this day does not balance if the horizontal gradient in the advection term is estimated using CASES-97aircraft and radiosondes; we suggest that persistent mesoscale circulations led to an overestimate of the horizontal gradient andhence horizontal advection.     

Mesoscale moisture variability and its impact on energy transfer through the boundary layer

The impact of mesoscale moisture variability on the vertical energy transfer through a pre-frontal boundary layer is studied with NOPEX aircraft data. The moisture variability relates to a cold front that passed the area 2 1/2 hours after the observations. We find a density front ahead of the cold front. The large vertical divergence of the turbulent moisture flux in the surface layer is partly related to this moisture variability. Large scale horizontal advection contributes to the observed vertical turbulent flux divergence. The estimated horizontal mesoscale advection term in the budget of sensible heat and moisture is on average small but locally it can be large. This term acts to re-distribute moisture in the boundary layer and leads to sub-grid variations of relative humidity, which is an important quantity for boundary-layer cloud models. The distinct spatial variations of specific humidity are mainly related to synoptic forcing and not to heterogeneity in the surface energy balance.     

A coupled surface boundary-layer-quasigeostrophic model

A three-dimensional model of the mesoscale surface boundary layer of the open ocean is developed through scale analysis of the primitive equations with mixing included. A set of surface boundary-layer equations appropriate for a broad range of oceanic and atmospheric scales is thereby derived. The essential basis of the model is a coupling between quasigeostrophic dynamics away from the boundary layer and arbitrary mixing models within the mixed layer. The coupling consists of advection of the boundary layer by the horizontal and vertical components of the interior quasigeostrophic flow and forcing of the interior by the boundary layer in the form of divergence within the boundary layer which leads to vortex stretching/compression in the interior. The divergence is generalized for mesoscale wind-driven flows and includes nonlinear interaction between the directly wind-driven boundary-layer flow and the interior flow in the form of interior relative vorticity advection by the wind-driven flow. The nature of the equations leads us to apply a numerical algorithm to their solution. This algorithm is calibrated through application to idealized problems to determine the temporal and spatial grid requirements. The model is initialized with a realistic ocean flow having the properties of the Gulf Stream.     

On characteristics of wind direction fluctuations in the surface layer

It is shown that the ratio of standard deviation of lateral velocity to the friction velocity, /u _*, and therefore wind direction fluctuations, are sensitive to mesoscale terrain properties. Under neutral conditions, /u _* is almost 40% larger in rolling terrain than over a horizontal surface. In the lee of a low mountain, the fluctuations may be 2.5 times as strong as over horizontal terrain. In contrast, vertical velocity fluctuations are little influenced by mesoscale terrain features.Now with Air Weather Service, Offutt AFB, Omaha, Nebraska.     

The scaling of flow in vegetative structures

Sensible heat flux data obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Air Pollution Study in St. Louis, Missouri are presented and discussed. Large spatial variations exist in heat flux on both a land-use scale and the urban scale. Arguments based upon empirical data and sampling theory show that estimates of heat flux representative of an upwind fetch l _x require a minimum observation height proportional to z ^3/4. The influence of advection on the magnitude of the heat flux is also explored for both the urban and sub-urban or land-use scales. The data clearly indicate that advection can strongly modulate and even dominate the vertical heat flux above surfaces in areas which maintain large horizontal temperature gradients. The advection contribution is positive for cold air advection and negative for warm air advection, and may result from either the urban heat island or land-use mesoscale features. The depth of advective influence is directly proportional to the horizontal scale of the phenomenon and inversely proportional to horizontal temperature gradient.     

In the Core of the Night-Effects of Intermittent Mixing on a Horizontally Heterogeneous Surface

Intermittent breakdowns that accompany wind gusts at the surface are responsible for a large fraction of the turbulent exchange between the surface and the upper boundary layer in the core of clear nights. Vertical and horizontal structure of the breakdowns are investigated using data from a network of 26 stations in an area of 30 km × 30 km. Surface heterogeneity in the area includes complex terrain with different types of land cover. We treat the fine-scale landscape structure near sensors (sheltering) as a separate component of heterogeneity. These features have important consequences on the spatial distribution of mean variables and surface fluxes. We found that breakdowns connect the surface layer to a higher level (level H_C). Weak wind gusts below a threshold (approximately 1.5 m s^-1) mix the air down to the colder ground, cooling the surface layer. On the other hand, wind gusts above this threshold promote mixing with upper levels, warming the surface layer. The spatial maximum of surface temperature over the network can be used as an estimate of the temperature at H_C, allowing vertical gradients and stability to be approximated. Minimum temperature is a function of topography and sheltering. Appreciable surface fluxes at night occur primarily at high, open locations, and can be large enough there to influencearea-averaged values. Surface-fluxparameterizations currently used in mesoscale models were tested first by estimating fluxes at each station and aggregating, and then by formingarea-averages before estimating fluxes. Results show that these formulations underestimate the average surface fluxes over a region for most of the nights.     

Large-eddy simulations of the effects of hilly terrain on the convective boundary layer

Large-eddy simulations of the convective boundary layer are compared over hilly versus flat surfaces. Moderate values for the height and horizontal spacing of the hills were selected. Thermally-direct hill-valley circulations are induced by the uneven terrain, accounting for a significant fraction of the resolved energy in the boundary-layer eddies. The probability of upward eddy motion reaches up to 70% over the hilltops and down to 15% over the valleys. Above-average values of both subgrid scale turbulent kinetic energy and upward eddy heat transport are found above the higher terrain. Horizontal spectra of vertical motion are strongly biased toward the horizontal scales of the terrain. Vertical profiles of atmospheric variables obtained by horizontal averaging, however, exhibit no significant differences between hilly and flat terrain simulations.     

Mesoscale data assimilation and prediction of low stratus in the Alpine region

Summary A number of problems related to mesoscale numerical prediction of low stratus in the Alpine region are formulated, and addressed in a series of experiments for two wintertime cases. These problems include modelling aspects and issues of data assimilation which are relevant particularly in relation to the observation nudging technique. A focus is on the influence of orography.A comparison of operational optimum interpolation, and nudging of routine rawinsonde and surface-level data reveals that nudging often yields better analyses and forecasts of low stratus, and notably of the sharp vertical temperature and humidity gradients. However, the humidity advection scheme of the model and, near steep terrain, particularly the horizontal diffusion along the model's -levels are identified to contribute to spurious vertical smoothing which can result in erroneous cloud dissipation. On occasions, forecasts succeeding a nudging period are more sensitive to this process due to the sharper initial vertical gradients.Specific problems of representiveness arise when low-level rawinsonde information is spread laterally along the sloping -levels from low to high terrain. A new concept for -layer models is introduced by speading the observational information along isentropic surfaces, and this tends to improve the low stratus prediction over steep and even moderate orography. A partly successful attempt to take advantage of the steep Alpine orography is made by applying this concept to surface-level humidity data from a high-resolution network of Alpine surface stations which are distributed relatively uniformly in the vertical.With 19 Figures     

A study of a two-dimensional cloudiness transition during a cold air outbreak event

A two-dimensional version of a hydrostatic mesoscale model with a partial cloudiness scheme is used to study a cold air outbreak event during MASEX (Mesoscale Air-Sea Exchange experiment). The model produces a weak mesoscale circulation which is slightly advected offshore and simulates well an observed cloudiness transition zone of 80 km where the cloud cover ranges between 0 and 100%. It is shown that the cloud top entrainment instability criterion can explain the observed cloudiness phenomenon i.e., the transition from a cumulus field to a solid stratocumulus cloud layer.The usefulness of the partial cloudiness scheme is demonstrated by comparing the results to those obtained with a simple all or nothing condensation scheme. A model sensitivity study shows that the sea surface temperature and the horizontal advection speed control the surface heat and moisture fluxes and so explain the structure and horizontal extent of the cloudiness transition zone.     

Diurnal variation of horizontal wind direction fluctuations in complex terrain at Geysers,Cal.

Horizontal diffusion in the surface layer is dependent on the standard deviation of wind direction fluctuations . Diurnal variation of this parameter in complex terrain was studied for the July 1979 Geysers, Cal., experiment using data from a network of 11 short meteorological towers in the 25 km² Anderson Creek watershed Valley side slopes are roughly 20 ° and maximum terrain difference is about 1 km.Values of for wind directions sampled for one hour at a height of 10 m are about 35 ° during the daytime. They slowly decrease to about 20 ° by 8 to 10 p.m. as stability increases but wind speeds are still relatively high. After 10 p.m. the drainage flow sets in at most stations, with speeds of 1 to 2 m s^-1, and average increases to about 30° during the period 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. In general, highest values of at night are associated with lowest values of wind speed and greatest static stability. This enhancement of by the terrain suggests that horizontal diffusion at night always conforms to that expected during nearly neutral stabilities. That is, Pasquill class D diffusion applies to the horizontal component all night in complex terrain.     

Triggering of atmospheric circulations by moisture inhomogeneities of the earth's surface

A two-dimensional mesoscale soil-atmosphere model is used to simulate the triggering of atmospheric convection by horizontally varying soil water content. The variation is periodic with a wavelength between 4 and 40 km, which is considered a realistic scale for the variation of land surface characteristics. Three stages of convection can be clearly discerned: a short initial stage when convection sets in and where the size of the conective cells is determined by , a mature stage with well developed cells whose size is still determined by , and a decay/transformation stage, characterized by the formation of narrow regions of strong updrafts and wide regions of moderate downdrafts, independent of . Parameters relevant for the transition are given, and the importance of the feedback between soil and atmosphere is demonstrated. The dependence of convective parameters, e.g., height of the convective layer, vertical velocity and fluxes of heat and moisture on is investigated. The calculations of the mature stage are compared with the predictions of a linear model.     

Temporal Oscillations in the Convective Boundary Layer Forced by Mesoscale Surface Heat-Flux Variations

A theoretical approach suggests that the surface heterogeneity on a scale of tens of kilometres can generate mesoscale motions that are not in a quasi-stationary state. The starting point of the theoretical approach is the equations of horizontal velocity and potential temperature that are low-pass filtered with a mesoscale cut-off wavelength. The transition of the generated mesoscale motions from a quasi-stationary state to a non-stationary state occurs when horizontal advection is strong enough to level out the potential temperature gradient on the surface heterogeneity scale. Large-eddy simulations (LES) suggest that the convective boundary layer (CBL) changes to a non-stationary state when forced by a surface heat-flux variation of amplitude of 100W m⁻² or higher and a wavelength of the order of 10 km. Spectral analysis of the LES reveals that when the mesoscale motions are in a quasi-stationary state, the energy provided by the surface heat-flux variation remains in organized mesoscale motions on the scale of the surface variation itself. However, in a non-stationary state, the energy cascades to smaller scales, with the cascade extending down into the turbulence scale when the wavelength of the surface heat-flux variation is on a scale smaller than 100 times the CBL height. The energy transfer from the generated mesoscale motions to the CBL turbulence results in the absence of a spectral gap between the two scales. The absence of an obvious spectral gap between the generated mesoscale motions and the turbulence raises questions about the applicability of mesoscale models for studies on the effect of high-amplitude surface heterogeneity on a scale of tens of kilometres. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Three-dimensional Nonhydrostatic Numerical Simulation for the PBL of Open-pit Mine

A high-resolution,nonhydrostatic, three-dimensionalplanetary boundary-layer (PBL) model wasestablished considering the characteristic features of an open-pit mine, which is only (2 km × 2 km) wide and more than 100 m deep. The (E-) closure schemes was used in the model. Physical processes such as shortwave radiation of the sun and its uneven distribution on the ground,longwave radiation of earth-atmosphere systems, sensible heat and latent heat and heat flowing into the substrate of the earth, were involved in the model. Using this model PBL structures over this kind of microscale concave terrain (an open-pit mine) were fully studied and numerical experiments on the effects of parameters including H, depth of the mine, , slope angle of the mine, u, incidcent airflow velocity, and P, indicating shear of the initial velocity, on the PBL were also made. Finally, the evolution process of the PBL was simulated. The results showed that a characteristic and major feature of the PBL is re-circulation, which is greatly influenced by the topography of the mine and the meteorolgical conditions therein. Thermal and mechanical forcing play different but important roles in the evolution process of the PBL.     

The wind regime in coastal areas with special reference to results obtained from the Swedish wind energy program

The paper describes various aspects of the wind regime in coastal areas as obtained from several experimental programs along the Baltic coast of Sweden. The studies include the change with distance inland of mean wind structure as well as the turbulence structure in various conditions. It is found that wind spectra are usually well described by local similarity in its high frequency part, even in complex terrain. The low frequency parts of the spectra show clear spectral lag effects. The effects of a small slope, ca 5 m height change over 300 m travel distance, is clearly seen in some spectra, and it is shown that current flow over a hill theory can be used to account for it. The change of mean wind speed throughout the entire boundary layer as the wind passes a low but wooded island (Gotland), ca 30 km wide, has been studied in a series of relatively strong wind, near neutral cases. Some unexpected features are found; in particular the wind speed decreases more rapidly with distance inland than predicted by current numerical models. Two cases with a low level jet are discussed in some detail. Arguments are presented for the phenomenon to be caused by frictional decoupling at the Latvian coast, about 200 km upwind — the jet being thus an analogy in space to the classical Blackadar nocturnal jet frequently observed in continental areas.     

The bulk aerodynamic formulation over heterogeneous surfaces

This interpretative literature survey examines problems with application of the bulk aerodynamic method to spatially averaged fluxes over heterogeneous surfaces. This task is approached by tying together concepts from a diverse range of recent studies on subgrid parameterization, the roughness sublayer, the roll of large inactive boundary-layer eddies, internal boundary-layer growth, the equilibrium sublayer, footprint theory and the blending height. Although these concepts are not completely compatible, qualitative scaling arguments based on these concepts lead to a tentative unified picture of the qualitative influence of surface heterogeneity for a wide spectrum of spatial scales.Generalization of the velocity scale is considered to account for nonvanishing heat and moisture fluxes in the limit of vanishing time-averaged wind speed and to account for the influence of subgrid mesoscale motions on the grid-averaged turbulent flux. The bulk aerodynamic relationship for the heat flux usually employs the surface radiation temperature or, equivalently, the temperature from the modelled surface energy budget. The corresponding thermal roughness length is quite variable and its dependence on available parameters is predictable only in special cases.An effective transfer coefficient to relate the spatially averaged surface fluxes to spatially averaged air-ground differences of temperature and other scalars can be most clearly defined when the blending height occurs below the reference level (observational level or first model level). This condition is satisfied only for surface heterogeneity occurring over horizontal scales up to a few times the boundary-layer depth, depending on the stability and height of the reference level. For surface heterogeneity on larger scales (small mesoscale), an effective transfer coefficient for the spatially averaged flow must be defined, for which predictive schemes are unavailable. For surface variations on large mesoscales, homogeneous subareas may be maintained where traditional similarity theory is locally applicable. Surface variations on these scales may generate thermally-driven mesoscale motions.