An international turbulence comparison experiment (ITCE 1976)

Turbulence data for the International Turbulence Comparison Experiment (ITCE) held at Conargo, N.S.W. (35° 18′ S., 145° 10′ E.) during October, 1976 are analysed. The standard deviation % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikaiqado% hagaqbamaaCaaaleqabaGaaGOmaaaakiaacMcadaahaaWcbeqaaiaa% igdacaGGVaGaaGOmaaaaaaa!3B93!\[(s'^2 )^{1/2} \] and covariance % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaWaa0aaaeaace% WG3bGbauaaceWGZbGbauaaaaaaaa!3809!\[\overline {w's'} \] measured by a number of instruments and instrument arrays have been compared to assess their field performance and calibration accuracy. Satisfactory agreement, i.e. typically 5% for % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikamaana% aabaGabm4CayaafaWaaWbaaSqabeaacaaIYaaaaaaakiaacMcadaah% aaWcbeqaaiaaigdacaGGVaGaaGOmaaaaaaa!3BA4!\[(\overline {s'^2 } )^{1/2} \] (except in humidity) and of the order of 20% for % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikaiqado% hagaqbamaaCaaaleqabaGaaGOmaaaakiaacMcadaahaaWcbeqaaiaa% igdacaGGVaGaaGOmaaaaaaa!3B93!\[(s'^2 )^{1/2} \], was achieved, but only after consideration of:

1. Instrumental response at high frequencies.
2. Flow distortion induced by instruments and supporting structures.
3. Spatial separation of instruments used for covariance measurements.
4. Statistical errors associated with single point measurements over a finite averaging time, and with lateral separation of two sensor arrays being compared.

     

A comparison of turbulence measurements by different instruments; Tsimlyansk field experiment 1970

In the summer of 1970 an international intercomparison of turbulence measurement sensors was carried out at the Tsimlyansk field station of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IFA) Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Improved sonic anemometer sensors of the IFA were compared with the Kaijo sonic used by the Canadian group and with the fluxatron from CSIRO, Australia.Results from the experiment indicate that spectral and cospectral shapes are basically similar between the sonic anemometers. The spectra and cospectra of the fluxatron in the high-frequency region showed an attenuation which can be explained in terms of the response characteristics of the fluxatron. The maintenance of absolute calibration of the sensors in the field was found to be difficult, but when properly corrected for this variation, the measurements were found to agree within 13%, with a standard error of 0.2. A single point observation of turbulent fluxes at a few meters above the surface and averaged over a period of the order of one hour was shown to be representative of turbulent fluxes at the site.     

Characterizing the severe turbulence environments associated with commercial aviation accidents. A real-time turbulence model (RTTM) designed for the operational prediction of hazardous aviation turbulence environments

Summary In this paper, we will focus on the real-time prediction of environments that are predisposed to producing moderate-severe (hazardous) aviation turbulence. We will describe the numerical model and its postprocessing system that is designed for said prediction of environments predisposed to severe aviation turbulence as well as presenting numerous examples of its utility. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that simple hydrostatic precursor circulations organize regions of preferred wave breaking and turbulence at the nonhydrostatic scales of motion. This will be demonstrated with a hydrostatic numerical modeling system, which can be run in real time on a very inexpensive university computer workstation employing simple forecast indices. The forecast system is designed to efficiently support forecasters who are directing research aircraft to measure the environment immediately surrounding turbulence. The numerical model is MASS version 5.13, which is integrated over three different grid matrices in real-time on a university workstation in support of NASA-Langley’s B-757 turbulence research flight missions. The model horizontal resolutions are 60, 30, and 15 km and the grids are centered over the region of operational NASA-Langley B-757 turbulence flight missions. The postprocessing system includes several turbulence-related products including four turbulence forecasting indices, winds, streamlines, turbulence kinetic energy, and Richardson numbers. Additionally there are convective products including precipitation, cloud height, cloud mass fluxes, lifted index, and K-index. Furthermore, soundings, sounding parameters, and Froude number plots are also provided. The horizontal cross section plot products are provided from 16,000–46,000 feet in 2,000 feet intervals. Products are available every three hours at the 60 and 30 km grid interval and every 1.5 hours at the 15 km grid interval. The model is initialized from the NWS ETA analyses and integrated two times a day.     

A comparison between transilient turbulence theory and the exchange coefficient model approaches

The transilient turbulence model of Stull and Driedonks (1987) and the exchange coefficient model of Bougeault and Lacarrère (1989) are intercompared on four convective days of the HAPEX-MOBILHY experiment. We show that the numerical formulations of the models are very close to each other, despite their totally different theoretical backgrounds. Both models describe the mixing effect of the turbulence via matrices having the same general characteristics. The results of the models are also found to be very similar in general, although the transilient approach requires more computations. Some systematic differences are noted and discussed in detail. We argue that similar work should be conducted on non-convective cases before deciding on the superiority of one or the other approach.     

The South China Sea Monsoon Experiment(SCSMEX) Implementation Plan

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Regional Advection Perturbations in an Irrigated Desert (RAPID) experiment

Summary The RAPID field experiment took place in August–September 1999 at a site 25km south of Twin Falls, Idaho, USA. The experiment concerned micrometeorological observations over extensive, well-irrigated fields covered with the fast-growing crop alfalfa. During daytime, on a number of days the sensible heat flux was negative and the latent heat flux exceeded net radiation. The energy required for the latent heat flux to be larger than net radiation has to be advected from elsewhere. As the fields were large, we refer to this process as regional advection. Local advection, on the other hand, refers to advection effects, where the wet to dry transition is on a field scale. Evidence is presented that the RAPID data are subject to regional advection conditions.A simple model, based on Penman-Monteith, is derived that describes the regional-advection case rather well. The influence of wind speed under those conditions is illustrated using data and the model. The correlation coefficients between temperature and horizontal wind component appear to be good indicators for advection.     

Decaying stratified turbulence: comparison between a two-point closure EDQNM model and direct numerical simulations

A new statistical two-point closure EDQNM (Eddy Damped Quasi Normal Markovian) model for axisymmetric stratified turbulence is presented. This model takes into account the detailed anisotropic structure of the flow, including angular dependence, and its closure assumption may involve explicit effects of the stratification. In the present paper, a simplified closure assumption is used, in which these explicit effects are not taken into account. The model is tested against three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) of decaying homogeneous stratified turbulence. A very good agreement is found between DNS results and EDQNM predictions, when energy transfers between the different modes of motion are considered. However, transfers among wavenumbers are insufficiently damped by the EDQNM model, because of the simplified closure assumption, thus yielding a somewhat less satisfactory agreement. An interesting prediction of the EDQNM model is the existence of a ‘directional’ anisotropy at all scales of motion, to the smallest: the level of the total (kinetic + potential) energy density spectrum E(k,θ_k) varies with the angle θ_k that the wavenumber vector k makes with the vertical.     

A comparison of local and non-local turbulence closure methods for the case of a cold air outbreak

Numerical experiments have shown that large-eddy-simulation models (LES) are able to reproduce the common features of convective boundary layers (CBL) quite well. Models which cannot resolve the convective motions due to their grid structure (1D-models or models with coarse horizontal and/or vertical resolution) have to take into account the effects of large eddies within their subgrid diffusion terms. Turbulent fluxes are frequently parameterized through first-order-closure methods (K-theory). Recently, non-local closure schemes have also been developed. In this paper we compare 1D-and 2D-models using different local and non-local first-order closure methods. The analysis is carried out for the case of an idealized cold air outbreak (CAO). One of the non-local closures is based on the so-called transilient turbulence theory. The reference states are given by a bulk-model and a 2D-model which resolves the large eddies explicitly. A comparison of the results is presented for characteristic quantities such as evolution of boundary-layer height and surface heat flux as well as mean wind and temperature profiles. It is found that simple local first-order closure does not give good agreement with the reference models. The results of the transilient turbulence model shows that a non-local closure is able to parameterize the effects of the large eddies. Comparable results are produced by a local closure where eddy diffusivities are parameterized by dimensionless gradient-functions.     

Probabilistic comparison between turbulence closure model and Bulk Richardson Number approach for ABL height estimation using copula

In this paper, a numerical study has been carried out to assess changes in Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) height under changing hydro-climatic conditions. ABL height is estimated by using the data from experiments conducted at three different sites- LAnd Surface Process EXperiment (LASPEX-97) in Sabarmati river basin, Gujarat, India, during 1997; Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) in Lannemezan, France, during 2011 and Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) in Tucson at Arizona, USA, during 2011. Here ABL height is estimated, during Intensive Observation Period (IOP), using 1-D turbulence closure model at all three site locations as well as following the Bulk Richardson Number (BRN) Approach. For LASPEX-97 only, the 1-D model with module for sub-surface processes coupled with upper-surface model is used for the estimation and compared with the only upper-surface model. ABL height, estimated by the coupled model, is found to be slightly higher than that by the un-coupled model. A copula-based analysis indicates that ABL height estimated by the 1-D model and same by BRN-based approach are statistically similar within 90% confidence interval (CI) under similar stratification condition. Thus, it validates the 1-D turbulence closure model for ABL height estimation. The sensitivity analysis of height of ABL, derived by 1-D model, against critical parameters reveals that surface condition (soil temperature) is more critical than atmospheric condition (net radiation) in forcing change on height of ABL in summer.     

A comparison of turbulence statistics in the surface layer over plant canopies with those over several other surfaces

Turbulence statistics, including higher order moments, in the surface layer over plant canopies were compared with those observed over several different surfaces, using a nondimensional height (z – d)/z ₀: The values of (z – d)/z ₀extend over a very wide range from 10 over plant canopies to 10⁷ over the ocean. Several properties such as intensities of turbulence and skewness factors show a remarkable height-dependency in the air layer below (z – d)/z ₀ = 10², which is supposed to be much influenced by the underlying surface. In that layer, some peculiar phenomena, such as a downward energy transport and positive flux of shear stress, are frequently observed.     

Impacts of cloud and turbulence schemes on integrated water vapor: comparison between model predictions and GPS measurements

Summary Structures in atmospheric Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) have been studied for the three successive cyclones, Kerstin, Liane and Monika, which controlled the meteorological conditions in the Baltic Sea catchment region in the period from 28 August to 5 September 1995 (part of the PIDCAP observational campaign defined within BALTEX). Several model predictions of these cyclones have been performed with a regional atmospheric general circulation model (RACMO). The impact of two different versions of the model physics package (standard ECHAM4 and a revised version with modifications in the cloud and turbulence scheme) has been investigated. Model predicted IWV has been evaluated with GPS station data from several stations in Sweden and Finland. For the most strongly developed cyclone Monika, the revised scheme generates more pronounced IWV structures, with well defined bands of high and low values of IWV curving into the center of the cyclone. In particular, the shape of the minima are in better agreement with the GPS station data, and the consistency between two subsequent model forecasts is also larger with the revised physics package. For the weaker systems, Kerstin and Liane, results from both model versions are very similar. Received August 11, 2000 Revised February 13, 2001     

Growth of homogeneously nucleated water droplets: a quantitative comparison of experiment and theory

The formation of aerosols proceeds through nucleation, growth and aging stages. The understanding of nucleation and droplet growth is essential for handling the more complex atmospheric condensation processes. To achieve this goal, measurements of the nucleation rate of various systems are performed in an expansion chamber. In this manner nucleation and growth are decoupled by applying a short nucleation pulse of about 1 ms during which the nuclei are formed. The subsequent droplet growth is quantitatively monitored by Mie-scattering. To this end, the Mie-maxima and -minima are detected as a function of time and compared to theoretical Mie-scattering calculations for increasing radii. In this fashion, a wealth of growth curves for pure water depending on supersaturations, number densities of droplets, and temperatures were obtained. Following the approach of Fuchs and Sutugin [Fuchs, N.A., Sutugin, A.G., 1970. Highly Dispersed Aerosols. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor; Fuchs, N.A., Sutugin, A.G., 1971. In: Hidy, G.M., Brock, J.R. (Eds.), International Reviews in Aerosol Physics and Chemistry: Topics in Current Aerosol Research (Part 2), Pergamon, New York, p. 1], we calculated theoretical growth curves taking into account the depletion of water vapor, the increase of droplet- and system-temperature, temperature-dependent functions of the diffusion coefficient, surface tension, liquid density and latent heat of condensation. The calculated growth curves and experimental data for 230, 240 and 250 K with number densities of droplets between 5×10² and 2×10⁶ droplets/cm³ yield quantitative agreement between theory and experiment. This is remarkable in so far as the theory contains no adjustable parameters and assumes the sticking probability of the vapor molecules to be unity. Using a sticking probability smaller than 0.8 in the calculation leads to growth functions already outside the experimental error.     

Variation of turbulence in the marine boundary layer over the Arabian Sea during indian southwest monsoon (MONEX 79)

Analysis of high frequency (20 Hz) turbulence data collected from low level flights by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Electra aircraft over the central Arabian Sea on 20 and 24 June, 1979 as part of MONEX 79 indicates the influence of the Somali Jet on boundary-layer turbulence. Different stages of monsoon development were evident on the two observation days from mean boundary-layer profiles. However, turbulence statistics of wind speed components and temperature in the monsoon boundary layer for both days are generally greater than those observed in laboratory experiments or tropical and trade wind boundary layers in which a strong jet was not present. Analysis of high frequency wind, temperature and humidity data was made to obtain fluxes of momentum and heat. Magnitudes of the sensible and latent heat fluxes are three to five times larger than the values observed over the monsoon boundary layer over the Bay of Bengal. The turbulent kinetic energy budget over the Arabian Sea for 24 June indicates the importance of buoyancy, and to a lesser extent shear as the dominant term. Dissipation serves as the primary sink term.     

The International polar year (IPY) circumpolar flaw lead (CFL) system study: Overview and the physical system

Abstract

The Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) system study is a Canadian‐led International Polar Year (IPY) initiative with over 350 participants from 27 countries. The study is multidisciplinary in nature, integrating physical sciences, biological sciences and Inuvialuit traditional knowledge. The CFL study is designed to investigate the importance of changing climate processes in the flaw lead system of the northern hemisphere on the physical, biogeochemical and biological components of the Arctic marine system. The circumpolar flaw lead is a perennial characteristic of the Arctic throughout the winter season and forms when the mobile multi‐year (MY) pack ice moves away from coastal fast ice, creating recurrent and interconnected polynyas in the Norwegian, Icelandic, North American and Siberian sectors of the Arctic. The CFL study was 293 days in duration and involved the overwintering of the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen in the Cape Bathurst flaw lead throughout the annual sea‐ice cycle of 2007–2008.

In this paper we provide an introduction to the CFL project and then use preliminary data from the field season to describe the physical flaw lead system, as observed during the CFL overwintering project. Preliminary data show that ocean circulation is affected by eddy propagation into Amundsen Gulf (AG). Upwelling features arising along the ice edge and along abrupt topography are also detected and identified as important processes that bring nutrient rich waters up to the euphotic zone. Analysis of sea‐ice relative vorticity and sea‐ice area by ice type in the AG during the CFL study illustrates increased variability in ice vorticity in late autumn 2007 and an increase in new and young ice areas in the AG during winter. Analysis of atmospheric data show that a strong northeast–southwest pressure gradient present over the AG in autumn may be a synoptic‐scale atmospheric response to sensible and latent heat fluxes arising from areas of open water persisting into late November 2007. The median atmospheric boundary layer temperature profile over the Cape Bathurst flaw lead during the winter season was stable but much less so when compared to Russian ice island stations.