On the application of a proposed global system for measuring meteor winds

Summary This paper discusses the need for a global network of meteor wind stations for determining the general circulation of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Continuous observations of horizontal motions from such a network would permit resolution of planetary scale eddy winds, tides, and gravity waves, and hypotheses that such motions propagate vertically from the lower atmosphere or are generated in situ by solar activity could be examined critically with observational data. The observed mean winds from the lower stratosphere to the meteor wind level are summarized to support the hypothesis that a standing wave pattern in the winds extends into the lower thermosphere. Data on tidal meridional momentum transports from meteor wind stations suggest that tides in the lower thermosphere are important for the maintenance of mean winds. Some of the geomagnetic and photochemical processes in the lower thermosphere that could be investigated with meteor wind data are briefly reviewed.This paper is adapted from our presentation at the 1966 Fall URSI meeting at Palo Alto, California     

Double-averaging methodology and its application to turbulent flow in and above vegetation canopies

Double averaged equations for atmospheric boundary layer flows are introduced as natural extensions of single averaged Reynolds equations. We show that in circumstances where double averaged equations are needed, the two fundamental properties of Reynolds averaging are violated. First, we consider double-averaging in free air turbulence, where the aim is to separate coherent motions from background turbulence. We illustrate the different properties of the main operators that have been used and the physical meaning of the terms that result. Second, in canopy flows, the multiply connected nature of the canopy airspace leads to a different set of departures from the standard Reynolds equations. We establish the physical meaning of the extra terms that arise. Finally we briefly discuss the problems, both practical and theoretical, that arise when we use double averaged equations to interpret real data.     

Full-correlation analysis of turbulent scattering layers in the mesosphere observed by the MU radar

We have applied a full-correlation analysis technique to the echo power fluctuations observed by the MU radar (35°N, 136°E), and analyzed the horizontal structure of the scattering pattern in the mesosphere as well as their horizontal motions. The velocity of the scattering pattern did not agree with the background wind velocity, but was associated with the horizontal propagating direction of a saturated inertia gravity wave identified in the wind field. The length of the long axis of the characteristic ellipse of the scattering pattern was approximately 50 km, and the direction was almost perpendicular to the propagating direction of the wave. The correlation time of the scattering pattern was approximately 700 s, which is much longer than the lifetime of the isolated turbulence itself. This implies that the observed scattering pattern is associated with a region where the saturated inertia gravity wave generates turbulence.     

The comparison of ensemble or deterministic dispersion modeling on global dispersion during Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident

Ensemble forcasting,originally developed for weather prediction,is lately being extended to atmospheric dispersion applications,which is a new,effective methodology for improving the atmospheric dispersion numerical modeling.In March 2011,due to the massive 9.0 earthquakes and ensuing tsunami that struck off the northern coast of the island of Honshu,the Fukushima Nuclear Plant I had the substantial leak of radioactive materials into surrounding environment and atmosphere.To aim at the global dispersion modeling of atmospheric radionuclides from Fukushima Nuclear Accident,this paper presents two approaches of atmospheric dispersion forecasting:ensemble dispersion modeling(EDM) and deterministic dispersion modeling(DDM),conducts the globally dispersion modeling cases for Fukushima nuclear accident,and analyzes and evaluates the simulation results using observation data.In this paper,EDM includes three different perturbation methods:meteorological perturbation method,turbulence perturbation method,and physical parameterization ensemble forecasting method.The simulation results show that the trajectories from EDM have a better performance,which is in better agreement with the atmospheric circulation and observation data; the spread from DDM is slower and not as far as EDM.Additionally,the results from EDM display a better performance in the modeling of transport from Japan to China East Sea on April 4.The reasons for these results are:the techniques of MET and TUR are performed by adding perturbations on mean wind and turbulent velocity,respectively; the various different flow fields will result in far spreading in horizontal and the simulation results closer to observation; PHY is performed by using different diffusion physical parameterizations and produces the perturbations on vertical wind,which results the spreading in smaller range and discontinuous in horizontal.Finally,the comparative analysis between modeling results and observation data shows that all cases results are in good agreement with trends of observed radionuclides surface concentration; however,the modeling surface concentration is smaller than observation,especially in DDM and PHY.Furthermore,the EDM results show that MET and TUR are of more evolutionary advantage than PHY in modeling of average and maximum concentration.Therefore,this study can serve as a reference to atmospheric dispersion and environmental emergency response(EER).     

The effect of intensity of turbulence in umbrella cloud on tephra dispersion during explosive volcanic eruptions: Experimental and numerical approaches

During an explosive volcanic eruption, tephra fall out from the umbrella region of the eruption cloud to the ground surface. We investigated the effect of the intensity of turbulence in the umbrella cloud on dispersion and sedimentation of tephra by performing a series of laboratory experiments and three dimensional (3-D) numerical simulations. In the laboratory experiments, spherical glass-bead particles are mixed in stirred water with various intensities of turbulence, and the spatial distribution and the temporal evolution of the particle concentration are measured. The experimental results show that, when the root-mean-square of velocity fluctuation in the fluid (W_rms) is much greater than the particle terminal velocity (v_t), the particles are homogeneously distributed in the fluid, and settle at their terminal velocities at the base of the fluid where turbulence diminishes. On the other hand, when W_rms is as small as or smaller than v_t, the particle concentration increases toward the base of the fluid during settling, which substantially increases the rate of particle settling. The results of the 3-D simulations of eruption cloud indicate that W_rms is up to 40 m/s in most of the umbrella cloud even during a large scale plinian eruption with a magma discharge rate of 10⁹ kg/s. These results suggest that relatively coarse pyroclasts (more than a few mm in diameter) tend to concentrate around the base of the umbrella cloud, whereas fine pyroclasts (less than 1/8 mm in diameter) may be distributed homogeneously throughout the umbrella cloud during tephra dispersion. The effect of the gradient of particle concentration in the umbrella cloud explains the granulometric data of the Pinatubo 1991 plinian deposits.     

Observations of the spring–neap modulation of the gravitational circulation in a partially mixed estuary

The long-term variability of the non-tidal circulation in Southampton Water, a partially mixed estuary, was investigated using 71-day acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) time series. The data show evidence that the spring–neap tidal variability of the turbulent mixing modulates the strength of the non-tidal residual circulation, with subtidal neap tide surface flows reaching 0.12 m s^–1 compared to <0.05 m s^–1 at spring tides. The amplitude of the neap-tide events in this non-tidal circulation is shown to be related to a critical value of the tidal currents, illustrating the strong dependence on tidal mixing. The results suggest that the dominant mechanism for generating these neap-tide circulation events is the baroclinic forcing of the horizontal density gradient, rather than barotropic forcing associated with ebb-induced periodic stratification. While tidal turbulence is thought to be the dominant control on this gravitational circulation, there is evidence of the additional effect of wind-driven mixing, including the effects of wind fetch and possibly wave development with along-estuary winds being more efficient at mixing the estuary than across-estuary winds. Rapid changes in atmospheric pressure also coincided with fluctuations in the gravitational circulation. The observed subtidal flows are shown to be capable of rapidly flushing buoyant material out of the estuary and into the coastal sea at neap tides.Responsible Editor: Iris Grabemann     

On the influence of the horizontal component of the earth's rotation on long period waves

Abstract

A general linearized wave equation for a stratified rotating fluid is derived and applied to obtain a dispersion relation for waves of short latitudinal extent in a thin shell of fluid. Long period wave solutions in three ocean models are compared: (1) for a stratified ocean with both components of the rotation vector; (2) for a stratified ocean without the horizontal component of rotation, and finally, (3) for a homogeneous ocean without horizontal rotation. The inclusion of the horizontal component of the Earth's rotation is found to have no noticeable effect on the dispersion relation of long period waves; its only influence is the introduction of a vertical phase shift in the motions. The origin of this phase shift is found in the tendency of the motions to satisfy the Taylor-Proudman theorem. The phase shift is of possible oceanographic relevance only for bottom-trapped buoyancy waves in a relatively weak stratification. The differences between the three ocean models are also discussed with the help of graphs of the numerically integrated dispersion relations. The relative influences of shell thinness and stratification in inhibiting the influence of the horizontal component of the earth's rotation are also briefly discussed.     

Seasonal variation of the auroral E-region neutral wind for different solar activities

Seasonal variations in the auroral E-region neutral wind for different solar activity periods are studied. This work is based on neutral wind data obtained over 56 days between 95–119 km altitude under geomagnetic quiet conditions (A_p<16) during one solar cycle by the European Incoherent Scatter radar located in northern Scandinavia. In general, the meridional mean wind shifts northward, and the zonal mean wind increases in eastward amplitude from winter to summer. The zonal mean wind blows eastward in the middle and lower E-region for each season and for each solar condition except for the equinox, where the zonal mean wind blows westward at and below 104 km. Solar activity dependence of the mean wind exists during the winter and equinox seasons, while in summer it is less prominent. Under high solar activity conditions, the altitude profiles of the horizontal mean winds in winter and the equinoxes tend to resemble those in summer. The horizontal diurnal tide is less sensitive to solar activity except during summer when the meridional amplitude increases by ∼10 m s⁻¹ and the corresponding phase shifts to a later time period (1–2 h) during high solar activity. Seasonal dependence of the semidiurnal tide is complex, but is found to vary with solar activity. Under low solar activity conditions the horizontal semidiurnal amplitude shows seasonal dependence except at upper E-region heights, while under high solar activity conditions it becomes less sensitive to seasonal effects (except for the meridional component above 107 km). Comparisons of mean winds with LF and UARS observations are made, and the driving forces for the horizontal mean winds are discussed for various conditions.     

An alternative construction of normalized seismic design spectra for near-fault regions

This paper presents a methodology for constructing seismic design spectra in near-fault regions.By analyzing the characteristics of near-fault pulse-type ground motions,an equivalent pulse model is proposed,which can well represent the characteristics of the near-fault forward-directivity and fling-step pulse-type ground motions.The normalized horizontal seismic design spectra for near-fault regions are presented using recorded near-fault pulse-type ground motions and equivalent pulse-type ground motions,which are derived based on the equivalent pulse model coupled with ground motion parameter attenuation relations.The normalized vertical seismic design spectra for near-fault regions are obtained by scaling the corresponding horizontal spectra with the vertical-to-horizontal acceleration spectral ratios of near-fault pulse-type ground motions.The proposed seismic design spectra appear to have relatively small dispersion in a statistical sense.The seismic design spectra for both horizontal and vertical directions can provide alternative spectral shapes for seismic design codes.     

An On Line Atmospheric Dispersion Model (OLADMO) for the World Wide Web

This paper presents an overview of earlier and current methods of modelling atmospheric dispersion, and proposes and evaluates a screening model for operation over the World Wide Web. The On Line Atmospheric Dispersion Model (OLADMO) is a quasi boundary layer parameterised Gaussian plume model with additional algorithms to account for plume rise, building wake effects and deposition processes. The Monin–Obukhov length boundary layer parameter is utilised to define six stability classes in order to determine atmospheric turbulence and stability, whilst new equations, derived from an intercomparison study of old and next generation dispersion models, are used to calculate the horizontal and vertical dispersion coefficients σ _y and σ _z . Using data from two field experiments in Copenhagen, Denmark and Lillestrøm, Norway, the model results from OLADMO are found to compare favourably with the results from several old and next generation dispersion models. As a consequence of the unique nature of the meteorological and location factors of the Lillestrøm experiment, all models struggled to represent the concentrations observed during the field study adequately. However, OLADMO was the best performing model in this case, with a mean normalised crosswind integrated concentration 13% closer to the mean observed concentration than its nearest competitor. Because the evaluation of the model was conducted with a limited dataset, several limitations and improvements to both the model and experimental procedure are suggested.     

Computational issues in the determination of solute discharge moments and implications for comparison to analytical solutions

Solute discharge moments (mean and variance) are computed using numerical modeling of flow and advective transport in two-dimensional heterogeneous aquifers and are compared to theoretical results. The solute discharge quantifies the temporal evolution of the total contaminant mass crossing a certain compliance boundary. In addition to analyzing the solute discharge moments within a classical absolute dispersion framework, we also analyze relative dispersion formulation, whereby plume meandering (deviation from mean flow path caused by velocity variations at scales larger than plume size) is removed. This study addresses some important issues related to the computation of solute discharge moments from random walk particle tracking experiments, and highlights some of the important differences between absolute and relative dispersion frameworks. Relative dispersion formulation produces maximum uncertainty that coincides with the peak mean discharge. Absolute dispersion, however, results in earlier arrival of the uncertainty peak as compared to the first moment peak. Simulations show that the standard deviation of solute discharge in a relative dispersion framework requires increasingly large temporal sampling windows to smooth out some of the large fluctuations in breakthrough curves associated with advective transport. Using smoothing techniques in particle tracking to distribute the particle mass over a volume rather than at a point significantly reduces the noise in the numerical simulations and removes the need to use large temporal windows. Same effect can be obtained by adding a local dispersion process to the particle tracking experiments used to model advective transport. The effect of the temporal sampling window bears some relevance and important consequences for evaluating risk-related parameters. The expected value of peak solute discharge and its standard deviation are very sensitive to this sampling window and so will be the risk distribution relying on such numerical models.     

Experimental determination of saltating glass particle dispersion in a turbulent boundary layer

A horizontal saltation layer of glass particles in air is investigated experimentally over a flat bed and also over a triangular ridge in a wind tunnel. Particle concentrations are measured by light scattering diffusion (LSD) and digital image processing, and velocities using particle image velocimetry (PIV). All the statistical moments of the particle concentration are determined such as mean concentration, root mean square concentration fluctuations, skewness and flatness coefficients. Over the flat bed, it is confirmed that the mean concentration decreases exponentially with height, the mean dispersion height being a significant length scale. It is shown that the concentration distribution follows quite well a lognormal distribution. Over the ridge, measurements were made at the top of the ridge and in the cavity region and are compared with measurements without the ridge. On the hill crest, particles are retarded, the saltation layer decreases in thickness and concentration is increased. Downwind of the ridge, particle flow behaves like a jet, in particular no particle return flow is observed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An extended structure-function model and its application to the analysis of solar wind intermittency properties

An extended structure-function model is developed by including the new effect in the p-model of Meneveau and Sreenivasan which shows that the averaged energy cascade rate changes with scale, a situation which has been found to prevail in nonfullydeveloped turbulence in the inner solar wind. This model is useful for the small-scale fluctuations in the inner heliosphere, where the turbulence is not fully developed and cannot be explained quantitatively by any of the previous intermittency turbulence models. With two model parameters, the intrinsic index of the energy spectrum <alpha>, and the fragmentation fraction P ₁, the model can fit, for the first time, all the observed scaling exponents of the structure functions, which are calculated for time lags ranging from 81 s to 0.7 h from the Helios solar wind data. From the cases we studied we cannot establish for P ₁ either a clear radial evolution trend, or a solar-wind-speed or stream-structure dependence or a systematic anisotropy for both the flow velocity and magnetic field component fluctuations. Generally, P ₁ has values between 0.7 and 0.8. However, in some cases in low-speed wind P ₁ has somewhat higher values for the magnetic components, especially for the radial component. In high-speed wind, the inferred intrinsic spectral indices (<alpha>) of the velocity and magnetic field components are about equal, while the experimental spectral indices derived from the observed power spectra differ. The magnetic index is somewhat larger than the index of the velocity spectrum. For magnetic fluctuations in both high- and low-speed winds, the intrinsic exponent <alpha> has values which are near 1.5, while the observed spectral exponent has much higher values. In the solar wind with considerable density fluctuations near the interplanetary current sheet near 1 AU, it is found that P ₁ has a comparatively high value of 0.89 for V _x . The impact of these results on the understanding of the nature of solar wind fluctuations is discussed, and the limitations in using structure functions to study intermittency are also described.     

Routing procedures for observed dispersion coefficients in two-dimensional river mixing

Routing procedures have been used for determining the observed values of the dispersion coefficient in river mixing studies. In order to overcome the shortcomings of the existing routing procedures, we developed a new routing procedure capable of being applied under a transient concentration situation while accounting for river irregularities. The proposed routing procedure is based on the exact solution of the depth-averaged, two-dimensional, mass transport equation combined with the stream-tube concept and was verified through the tracer data acquired from field tests conducted in natural rivers located in Korea. The observed dispersion coefficients evaluated by the routing procedure exhibited a stream-wise variation along the rivers, in that a minimum value was seen in the straight region and a maximum value downstream of the apex of the bend. This variation was attributed to the flow dynamics of secondary currents induced by the meandering of the rivers. The dispersion coefficients obtained by the new method over the reach were in the same range of those calculated by other methods.     

A Genetic Algorithm Variational Approach to Data Assimilation and Application to Volcanic Emissions

Variational data assimilation methods optimize the match between an observed and a predicted field. These methods normally require information on error variances of both the analysis and the observations, which are sometimes difficult to obtain for transport and dispersion problems. Here, the variational problem is set up as a minimization problem that directly minimizes the root mean squared error of the difference between the observations and the prediction. In the context of atmospheric transport and dispersion, the solution of this optimization problem requires a robust technique. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used here for that solution, forming the GA-Variational (GA-Var) technique. The philosophy and formulation of the technique is described here. An advantage of the technique includes that it does not require observation or analysis error covariances nor information about any variables that are not directly assimilated. It can be employed in the context of either a forward assimilation problem or used to retrieve unknown source or meteorological information by solving the inverse problem. The details of the method are reviewed. As an example application, GA-Var is demonstrated for predicting the plume from a volcanic eruption. First the technique is employed to retrieve the unknown emission rate and the steering winds of the volcanic plume. Then that information is assimilated into a forward prediction of its transport and dispersion. Concentration data are derived from satellite data to determine the observed ash concentrations. A case study is made of the March 2009 eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska. The GA-Var technique is able to determine a wind speed and direction that matches the observations well and a reasonable emission rate.     

Near-inertial currents in the DeSoto Canyon region

Near-inertial currents in the DeSoto Canyon region are described using current and wind observations taken between April 1997 and March 1998 for the “DeSoto Canyon Eddy Intrusion Study”. Distinct energy peaks are present at near-inertial frequencies for the clockwise spectrum and there is little energy at the same frequencies for the counterclockwise current spectrum. In this region, amplitudes of the near-inertial currents can be as high as 40 cm s⁻¹. These currents are surface-intensified and display an increase in amplitude from the shelf break to offshore. Between November 1997 and March 1998, they were effectively generated by shifting winds accompanying passages of cold fronts. For this time period, near-inertial currents are reasonably well-simulated by a mixed-layer model forced by observed winds. During summer 1997, however, enhanced near-inertial motions often resulted from resonance between winds and existing currents.     

On the numerical analysis of bed-load transport of saltating grains

The focus of this paper is on the analysis of the influence of particles’ velocity distribution and their concentration on the sediment transport rate in bed-load from the Lagrangian perspective.Such aims are addressed by use of the relevant Lagrangian model of spherical saltating particles in which turbulence plays a significant role.The Monte Carlo approach is employed in the simulations to obtain the velocity and concentration of the saltating particles.Numerical simulations using two saltating particle models:(1) with;and(2) without particle-particle collisions are carried out.Based on the numerical results,we address the hypothesis that instead of averaged characteristics,the distributions of particles’ velocity and sediment concentration should be taken into account in the calculation of sediment transport rate.Moreover,our results also show that the interaction between particles during their collisions is the key for better understanding of the physics of sediment transport.All results are compared with well-known experimental formulae i.e.Meyer-Peter and Muller and Fernandez Luque and van Beek.     

太阳风中Alfven湍流的起源

由动力Alfven波沿磁场方向传播的扰动非线性方程，用量纲分析法导出太阳风中Alfven湍流谱. 太阳风中观测到的湍流谱恰是由方程得到谱的特例. 我们提出太阳风中Alfven湍流是一支反向串级的湍流，正向串级的一支湍流已经用于日冕而耗散掉. 理论上提出这支反向的Alfven湍流产生机制是由于动力Alfven波的非线性色散造成的调制不稳定性驱动的.     

Large scale vertical eddies in the atmosphere and the energy of the mean zonal flow

Summary The zonal eddy stress across horizontal surfaces due to large scale vertical motions was evaluated for two months from data for the northern hemisphere for a number of levels up to 50 mb. From this information and from the corresponding distributions for each of the two months of the mean zonal winds, the rate of transformation of kinetic energy from eddy to mean zonal form was calculated. The two sets of data gave rather small values for the hemisphere which were of opposite sign.     

一种基于层析成像技术提高浅地表面波勘探水平分辨率的方法

在高频面波方法中,水平分辨率是指水平方向上分辨异常体的能力.异常体在水平方向上的长度可用水平方向上横波速度的异常尺度来确定.面波多道分析（MASW）方法被广泛应用于浅地表横波速度结构的探测,然而该方法确定的横波速度是整个检波器排列的平均计算结果,因此水平分辨率较差.另外,采用共中心点（CMP）多次覆盖的方式采集数据亦增加了野外的工作量.我们在MASW方法的基础上,应用面波层析成像方法,提出一套提高面波勘探水平分辨率的完整方法的技术流程.首先,利用波场分离技术获得准确的基阶或高阶模式面波,采用相位扫描的互相关方法测量多道面波记录中任意两道之间的面波走时;然后根据面波层析成像方法,获得高分辨率的各目标网格内的纯路径相速度频散曲线;最后反演所有目标网格内的纯路径相速度频散曲线,得到研究区域的拟二维横波速度结构.这套方法具有一定的抗噪能力,理论上它可以准确地提取相邻两道之间面波的相速度频散曲线;同时由于该方法最少只需要1个排列就可以获得拟二维横波速度结构,因此它显著减小了野外工作量.理论模型和实际资料都证实了这套方法可有效提高面波勘探的水平分辨率.