On The Temperature-Humidity Correlation And Similarity

The correlation coefficient between temperature and specific humidity (r_Tq) is considered. A brief literature review as well as experimental data reveals that there is evidence that the eddy diffusivities for heat and water vapour are not equal if |r_Tq| 1. Several conditions under which this can occur are discussed. It is concluded that if non-local effects are of the same order as local effects T and q will behave in a non-similar fashion. Moreover, it is shown that if |r_Tq| = 1, temperature and specific humidity both will obey Monin–Obukhov similarity. In addition, based on that derivation, a new method is presented to determine the Bowen ratio from the T - q correlation. A first test of this new Bowen ratio regression method is presented. It is recommended to use r_Tq as a diagnostic tool to judge whether T-q similarity holds.     

The Effect of Chessboard Variability of the Surface Fluxes on the Aggregated Turbulence Fields in a Convective Atmospheric Surface Layer

To what degree the variability of surface features can be identified in the turbulent signals observed in the atmospheric boundary layer is still an unresolved problem. This was investigated by conducting an analytical experiment for a one-dimensional 'chessboard'-type surface-flux distribution on the basis of local free convection scaling. The results showed that, due to their nonlinear dependency on the surface fluxes, the dimensionless gradients of the mean quantities and the dimensionless standard deviations are altered by the surface-flux variability. Furthermore, passive scalars, such as humidity, are considerably more sensitive to surface variability than the main active scalar, temperature. However, the response of the gradients of the mean quantities is fairly negligible in the range of variability studied herein as compared to that of the standard deviations, which were found to be more sensitive to the surface-flux variability. In addition, the phase difference between the active and the passive scalar flux distribution strongly affects the passive scalar turbulence. This dissimilarity between passive and active scalars, or between passive scalars when their source distributions are different, brings into question the use of variance methods for the measurement of a scalar flux, such as evaporation, over variable surfaces. The classical Bowen ratio method, which depends on the validity of the Reynolds analogy for the vertical gradients of the mean quantities, was shown to be relatively more robust. However, under conditions of strong surface variability, it can also be expected to fail.     

Large Aperture Scintillometer Used Over A Homogeneous Irrigated Area, Partly Affected By Regional Advection

Scintillometer measurements were collected over an irrigated wheat field ina semi-arid region in northwest Mexico. Conditions were unstable in the morning andstable during the afternoon, while latent heat fluxes remained high throughout the day.Regional advection was observed during near-neutral conditions. Monin–Obukhovsimilarity relationships for the structure parameter of temperature were verified in both unstable and stable conditions, but were violated close to near-neutral conditions. We found that, using additional measurements of radiation, soil heat flux and windspeed, areally averages of both sensible and latent heat fluxes can be reliably predicted by large aperture scintillometer measurements, as long as the net radiation is greater than zero.     

Diurnal Variations of Thermal Roughness Height over a Grassland

The thermal roughness height associated with the surface radiation temperature has been previously found to vary between different surface types. This study finds that the thermal roughness height varies diurnally even over a homogeneous senescent grassland. The corresponding roughness length for momentum is relatively constant.Both the aerodynamic temperature and the surface radiation temperature are found to be closely related to the air temperature in the middle of the grass canopy. However, the aerodynamic temperature is strongly influenced by the horizontally integrated heat transfer, while the surface radiation temperature represents the integrated thermal emission through the grass depth within the field of view of the radiometer. The aerodynamic temperature is less sensitive to variations and measurement errors in sensible heat flux, wind speed, and air temperature than the thermal roughness height. We find that formulating the aerodynamic temperature in terms of the surface radiation temperature is better posed for use in the bulk formula than using the surface radiation temperature directly and adjusting the thermal roughness length.     

Turbulence Structure of the Unstable Atmospheric Surface Layer and Transition to the Outer Layer

We present a new model of the structure of turbulence in the unstable atmospheric surface layer, and of the structural transition between this and the outer layer. The archetypal element of wall-bounded shear turbulence is the Theodorsen ejection amplifier (TEA) structure, in which an initial ejection of air from near the ground into an ideal laminar and logarithmic flow induces vortical motion about a hairpin-shaped core, which then creates a second ejection that is similar to, but larger than, the first. A series of TEA structures form a TEA cascade. In real turbulent flows TEA structures occur in distorted forms as TEA-like (TEAL) structures. Distortion terminates many TEAL cascades and only the best-formed TEAL structures initiate new cycles. In an extended log layer the resulting shear turbulence is a complex, self-organizing, dissipative system exhibiting self-similar behaviour under inner scaling. Spectral results show that this structure is insensitive to instability. This is contrary to the fundamental hypothesis of Monin--Obukhov similarity theory. All TEAL cascades terminate at the top of the surface layer where they encounter, and are severely distorted by, powerful eddies of similar size from the outer layer. These eddies are products of the breakdown of the large eddies produced by buoyancy in the outer layer. When the outer layer is much deeper than the surface layer the interacting eddies are from the inertial subrange of the outer Richardson cascade. The scale height of the surface layer, z _s, is then found by matching the powers delivered to the creation of emerging TEAL structures to the power passing down the Richardson cascade in the outer layer. It is z _s = u _* ³ /k_s, where u _* is friction velocity, k is the von Kármán constant and _s is the rate of dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy in the outer layer immediately above the surface layer. This height is comparable to the Obukhov length in the fully convective boundary layer. Aircraft and tower observations confirm a strong qualitative change in the structure of the turbulence at about that height. The tallest eddies within the surface layer have height z _s, so z _s is a new basis parameter for similarity models of the surface layer.     

Aerodynamic Variables in the Bulk Formulation of Turbulent Fluxes

Aerodynamic variables are required to apply Monin–Obukhov similarity theory in the bulk formulation of surface fluxes. In the literature, these aerodynamic variables are commonly misinterpreted. In this paper, we review the concept of the aerodynamic variable, its connection to surface-layer similarity theory and how and why the aerodynamic variable is replaced with other variables.Observed mean variables below the surface layer, such as the surface radiation temperature, or the air temperature at canopy height, are often used in place of the extrapolated aerodynamic variables in the bulk formula, requiring empirical relationships between aerodynamic and observed variables, or requiring empirical adjustments of bulk resistances. The present study examines the validity of these relationshi Experiment (CODE). The results indicate that using a measured substitute for an aerodynamic variable can lead to significant errors in estimates of turbulent surface fluxes.     

Power Spectra and Cospectra for Wind and Scalars in a Disturbed Surface Layer at the Base of an Advective Inversion

This paper reports power spectra and cospectra of windspeed and several scalars measured at two heights nearthe base of an advective inversion. The inversion hadformed over a paddy field downwind of an extensive dryregion. Winds over the paddy field were variable instrength and direction, as a result of convectivemotions in the atmospheric boundary layer passing overfrom the dry region upwind. Fetch over the rice waslarge enough that advective effects on the transportprocesses were small at the upper level and negligibleat the lower level. Results from the lower level areinterpreted in terms of a horizontally homogeneous,but disturbed, surface layer.Power spectra of longitudinal and lateral velocitywere substantially enhanced at low frequencies. Theresulting vertical motions added only a small amountto the spectrum of vertical velocity but this stronglyaffected scalar power spectra and cospectra. Thesewere all substantially enhanced over a range of lowfrequencies. We also found that differences in lowerboundary conditions cause differences among scalarspectra at low frequencies.Our analysis shows that the spectra and cospectra havethree components, characterized by different scalingregimes. We call these the ILS (inner-layer scaling),OLS (outer-layer scaling) and CS (combined scaling)components. Of these, the CS component had notpreviously been identified. We identify CS componentsof spectra by their independence of height andfrequency. Spectra with these characteristics had beenpredicted by Kader and Yaglom for a layer of theatmosphere where spectral matching between ILS and OLSwas proposed. However, we find that the velocity andscalar scales used by Kader and Yaglom do not fit ourresults and that their concept of a matching layer isincompatible with our application. An alternativebasis for this behaviour and alternative scales areproposed.We compare our decomposition of spectra into ILS, CSand OLS components with an extended form of Townsend'shypothesis, in which wind and scalar fluctuations aredivided into active and inactive components. Wefind the schemes are compatible if we identify all OLSspectral components as inactive, and all CS and ILScomponents as active.By extending the implications of our results toordinary unstable daytime conditions,we predict that classical Monin–Obukhovsimilarity theory should be modified. We find that theheight of the convective boundary layer is animportant parameter when describing transportprocesses near the ground, and that the scalar scalein the ILS part of the spectrum, which includes theinertial subrange, is proportional to observationheight times the local mean scalar gradient, and notthe Monin–Obukhov scalar scale parameter. The formerdepends on two stability parameters: the Monin–Obukhovstability parameter and the ratio of the inner-layerand outer-layer velocity scales. The outer-layer scalecan reflect disturbances by topographically-inducededdying as well as by convective motions.     

Bulk Formulation of the Surface Heat Flux

An interpretive literature survey examines different approachesfor applying the bulk aerodynamic formulato predict the surface heat flux. The surface heat flux is often predicted in terms of the surface radiation temperature, which is also used to predict the upward longwave radiation and the heat flux into the soil. In models, the thermal roughness length based on the surface radiation temperature (radiometric roughness length) is often specified to be smaller than the roughness length for momentum for a number of distinct reasons. The definition of the radiometric roughness length depends on the way that the surface temperature is measured, the choice of stability functions and displacement height and inclusion of any additional resistances.Using airborne eddy correlation data collected over eight different sites including bare soil, crops and grassland and several types of forests, the radiometric roughness length is found to vary by orders of magnitude in a manner that is difficult to formulate. Alternatively, we evaluate the approach where the thermal roughness length is equated with the better behaved roughness length for momentum and the corresponding aerodynamic surface temperature is modelled in terms of the surface radiation temperature, solar radiation, and vegetation index. The influence of wind speed and soil moisture on the difference between the aerodynamic and surface radiation temperatures is also examined.     

Test Of Turbulence Models For Wind Flow Over Terrain With Separation And Recirculation

Several two-equation turbulence models using isotropic eddy viscosity and wall functions are assessed by solution of the neutral atmospheric boundary layer over a flat surface and wind flow over two- and three-dimensional models and real terrain. Calculations are presented for wind flow over the Sirhowy Valley in Wales, an embankment along the Rhine in Germany and the Askervein Hill in Scotland. Comparisons of predictions with previous work, and laboratory and field data, show that the RNG-based k– model gives the best agreement with respect to the flow profiles and length of the separated flow region. The results of this model are analyzed with a non-linear stress-strain relation to gauge the potential effect of turbulence anisotropy.