Comparison Of Upwind Land Use And Roughness Length Measured In The Urban Boundary Layer

The results of wind measurements taken in two studies at an urban sitein Birmingham (UK) are presented. Displacement heights and roughnesslengths are calculated that compare well with previous measurements inthe urban canopy. Dimensionless windshear and vertical-velocity standarddeviation are also shown to obey Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. Themean roughness lengths measured at the highest measuring position (45 m)increase with the fraction of upwind urban cover calculated using asource-area model.     

Aerodynamic Roughness of Urban Areas Derived from Wind Observations

This study contributes to the sparse literature on anemometrically determined roughness parameters in cities. Data were collected using both slow and fast response anemometry in suburban areas of Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Vancouver. In all cases the instruments were mounted on tall towers, data were sorted by stability condition, and zero-plane displacement (zd) was taken into account. Results indicate the most reliable slow response estimates of surface roughness are based on the standard deviation of the wind speed obtained from observations at one level. For residential areas, winter roughness values (leaf-off) are 80–90% of summer (leaf-on) values. Direct comparison of fast and slow response methods at one site give very similar results. However, when compared to estimates using morphometric methods at a wider range of sites, the fast response methods tend to give larger roughness length values. A temperature variance method to determine zd from fast response sensors is found to be useful at only one of the four sites. There is no clear best choice of anemometric method to determine roughness parameters. There is a need for more high quality field observations, especially using fast response sensors in urban settings.     

The Effect of Stratification on the Aerodynamic Roughness Length and Displacement Height

The roughness length, z _0u , and displacement height, d _0u , characterise the resistance exerted by the roughness elements on turbulent flows and provide a conventional boundary condition for a wide range of turbulent-flow problems. Classical laboratory experiments and theories treat z _0u and d _0u as geometric parameters independent of the characteristics of the flow. In this paper, we demonstrate essential stability dependences—stronger for the roughness length (especially in stable stratification) and weaker but still pronounced for the displacement height. We develop a scaling-analysis model for these dependences and verify it against experimental data.     

An Approximate Analytical Solution Of Flux-Profile Relationships For The Atmospheric Surface Layer With Different Momentum And Heat Roughness Lengths

An approximate method for calculating the relationship between z/L(z = reference height, L = Obukhov length) and the bulk Richardsonnumber is presented. If this relationship is known, the momentum andheat fluxes can be computed easily without any iteration. The avoidance of iteration can speed up computationsin large-scale models considerably (up to 10 times) and cases which do not converge or converge very slowly cannot occur. The proposed formulae take into account the difference between momentum (z_0M) and heat roughnesslengths (z_0H). Because the roughness lengths are not neglected at any step of the derivation, the resulting analytical formulae can be used not only between the surface and the reference height but also between two finite levels z₁ andz₂ (by replacing z_0M and z_0H by z₁ and z by z₂). Theequations remain correct even in the limit z₁ z₂.The formulae are based upon the (partially modified) Businger–Dyer flux–profile relationships and,consequently, they are restricted to predominantly homogeneous terrain.These new approximations are an improvement over the existing solutions because they are simpler than most of the formulae in the literature and are able to match the numerical exact solution for different parameter sets (Businger, Dyer, Högström) with an maximum error of about 2% for a wide range of z/L, z/z_0M and z_0M/z_0H.Furthermore, in stable conditions, schemes with and without a finitecritical bulk Richardson number can be approximated. The possibleambiguity of the exact solution =f(RI_B) in (moderately) stable conditions is discussed briefly. The performance of the new formulae is compared to the exact numerical solution and to different formulae proposed in the literature.     

The Characteristics and Parameterization of Aerodynamic Roughness Length over Heterogeneous Surfaces

Aerodynamic roughness length (z0m is a key factor in surface flux estimations with remote sensing algorithms and/or land surface models. This paper calculates z0m over several land surfaces, with 3 years of experimental data from Xiaotangshan. The results show that z0m is direction-dependent, mainly due to the heterogeneity of the size and spatial distribution of the roughness elements inside the source area along different wind directions. Furthermore, a heuristic parameterization of the aerodynamic roughness length for heterogeneous surfaces is proposed. Individual z0m over each surface component (patch) is calculated firstly with the characteristic parameters of the roughness elements (vegetation height, leaf area index, etc.), then z0m over the whole experimental field is aggregated, using the footprint weighting method.     

Influence of Obstacles on the Aerodynamic Roughness of the Netherlands

The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of large- and small-scale obstacles (orography, tree lines, and dikes) on the effective aerodynamic roughness of the Netherlands, a relatively flat, small-scale landscape. The roughness averaging approach was based on drag coefficients. The effective roughness was locally dominated by small-scale obstacles such as tree lines and dikes. Even at a regional scale (40,000 km2), the small-scale obstacle drag was of the same order of magnitude as the shear stress due to landuse. The neglect of those obstacles on a regional scale would result in approximately 10% overestimated averaged windspeed at 10~m above the surface. It was concluded that small-scale obstacles need to be taken into account to calculate the aerodynamic roughness of flat landscapes. Orography was of minor importance in this lowland country.     

The Influences of Thermodynamic Characteristics on Aerodynamic Roughness Length over Land Surface

It has previously been shown that aerodynamic roughness length changes significantly along with nearsurface atmospheric thermodynamic state; however, at present, this phenomenon remains poorly understood, and very little research concerning this topic has been conducted. In this paper, by using the data of different underlying surfaces provided by the Experimental Co-observation and Integral Research in Semi-arid and Arid Regions over North China, aerodynamic roughness length (z₀) values in stable, neutral, and unstable atmospheric stratifications are compared with one another, and the relationship between z₀ and atmospheric thermodynamic stability (ζ) is analyzed. It is found that z₀ shows great differences among the stable, neutral, and unstable atmospheric thermodynamic states, with the difference in z₀ values between the fully thermodynamic stable condition and the neutral condition reaching 60% of the mean z₀. Furthermore, for the wind speed range in which the wind data are less sensitive to z₀, the surface z₀ changes more significantly with ζ, and is highly correlated with both the Monin-Obukhov stability (ζ₀) and the overall Richardson number (R_ib), with both of their correlation coefficients greater than 0.71 and 0.47 in the stable and unstable atmospheric stratification, respectively. The empirical relation fitted with the experimental observations is quite consistent with the Zilitinkevich theoretical relation in the stable atmosphere, but the two are quite distinct and even show opposite variation tendencies in the unstable atmosphere. In application, however, verification of the empirical fitted relations by using the experimental data finds that the fitted relation is slightly more applicable than the Zilitinkevich theoretical relation in stable atmospheric stratification, but it is much more suitable than the Zilitinkevich relation in unstable atmospheric stratification.     

城市表面粗糙度长度的确定

讨论了动量粗糙度长度与热量和水汽等标量粗糙度长度在形式上和物理本质上的不同，以及造成这些不同的原因和条件，分析了决定动量粗糙度的几种因素，并给出了确定动量粗糙度长度的简化关系式，并且根据城市冠层与其上惯性次层能量和动量守衡的原因，建立了热量和水汽粗糙度与动量粗糙度之间的联系，得到了确定热量和水汽粗糙度长度的简化关系式，最后，通过数值试验，表明了动量粗糙度和标量粗糙度变化特征以及对一些主要参数的敏感程度，以及动量粗糙度与标量粗糙度的动态关系。     

卫星遥感结合地面资料对区域表面动量粗糙度的估算

利用地面湍流观测资料估算了黑河实验区几个典型下垫面的局地地表动量粗糙度，与卫星观测Landsat TM资料相结合得到了由标准化差值植被指数(NDVI)计算地表动量粗糙度的经验关系式，进而估算了实验区夏季和近冬季的地表粗糙度的区域分布，并对所得关系式进行了合理性检验。     

Estimates of Roughness Parameters for Arrays of Obstacles

Some methods are evaluated and extended to estimate roughness length and zero plane displacement height for atmospheric flow over arrays of obstacles, typically buildings. It appears that the method proposed by Bottema, with an extension to account for low density obstacle arrays, performs best. Procedures are proposed to represent irregular obstacle arrangements by a representative regular array to which Bottema's method can be applied. It is shown that this can be done without loss of accuracy, in general, roughness length can be predicted within a factor of two in more than 74% of the cases (95% reliability estimate). The methods proposed by Lettau and Raupach have been included in the evaluation. Lettau's model, which only requires input on the frontal area density, predicts roughness length unbiassed for frontal area densities up to 0.3, but predictions will be within a factor of two in more than 59% of the cases only (95% reliability estimate).     

Temporal and Spatial Variations of the Aerodynamic Roughness Length in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet

To understand the response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change the so-called ablation zone is of particular importance, since it accommodates the yearly net surface ice loss. In numerical models and for data analysis, the bulk aerodynamic method is often used to calculate the turbulent surface fluxes, for which the aerodynamic roughness length (z ₀) is a key parameter. We present, for the first time, spatial and temporal variations of z ₀ in the ablation area of the Greenland ice sheet using year-round data from three automatic weather stations and one eddy-correlation mast. The temporal variation of z ₀ is found to be very high in the lower ablation area (factor 500) with, at the end of the summer melt, a maximum in spatial variation for the whole ablation area of a factor 1000. The variation in time matches the onset of the accumulation and ablation season as recovered by sonic height rangers. During winter, snow accumulation and redistribution by snow drift lead to a uniform value of z ₀≈ 10⁻⁴ m throughout the ablation area. At the beginning of summer, snow melt uncovers ice hummocks and z ₀ quickly increases well above 10⁻² m in the lower ablation area. At the end of summer melt, hummocky ice dominates the surface with z ₀ > 5  ×  10⁻³ m up to 60 km from the ice edge. At the same time, the area close to the equilibrium line (about 90 km from the ice edge) remains very smooth with z ₀ = 10⁻⁵ m. At the beginning of winter, we observed that single snow events have the potential to lower z ₀ for a very rough ice surface by a factor of 20 to 50. The total surface drag of the abundant small-scale ice hummocks apparently dominates over the less frequent large domes and deep gullies. The latter results are verified by studying the individual drag contributions of hummocks and domes with a drag partition model.     

Approximate Solutions For The Obukhov Length And The Surface Fluxes In Terms Of Bulk Richardson Numbers

Simple analytic approximate solutions arepresented for the set of equations that follows fromthe Monin–Obukhov flux-profile relationships using thestability functions of Dyer (unstable case) andBeljaars–Holtslag (stable case). Several publicationsare devoted to the same subject, however the currentapproach contains some new features, namely: (a) itappears to be more accurate for unstable situationsand (b) it applies also to the general case where windspeed (u) and potential temperature() are given at different levels. In order toillustrate the accuracy of the approach a comparisonwith the actual solutions is presented for someselected combinations of and u levelstypical for various practical applications.     

Stability Dependence of Height Scales and Effective Roughness Lengths of Momentum and Heat Transfer Over Roughness Changes

It is widely accepted that the correct formulation of an effective roughness length, defined as the area average of the roughness length in heterogeneous terrain, relies upon the appropriate de-termination of a height scale. At this height a meteorological quantity is approximately in equilibrium with local surface conditions and independent of horizontal position. This research note determines explicitly the different height scales from the perturbation solutions of flow velocity and temperature, as well as the fluxes of momentum and heat, in a stratified boundary layer. These solutions are derived from the asymptotic approximation theory and shown to capture major characteristics of momentum and heat transfer over heterogeneous terrain with changes of the underlying roughness lengths. The effective roughness lengths can then be computed by use of these height scales. The dependence of height scales and effective roughness lengths upon stratification is also discussed briefly.     

Aerodynamic Parameters of Regular Arrays of Rectangular Blocks with Various Geometries

The aerodynamic effects of various configurations of an urban array were investigated in a wind-tunnel experiment. Three aerodynamic parameters characterising arrays—the drag coefficient (C _d ), roughness length (z _o) and displacement height (d)—are used for analysis. C _d is based on the direct measurement of the total surface shear using a floating element, and the other two parameters are estimated by logarithmic fitting of the measured wind profile and predetermined total drag force. The configurations of 63 arrays used for measurement were designed to estimate the effects of layout, wind direction and the height variability of the blocks on these parameters for various roughness packing densities. The results are summarised as follows: (1) The estimated C _d and z _o of the staggered arrays peak against the plan area index (λ _p ) and frontal area index (λ _f ), in contrast with values for the square arrays, which are less sensitive to λ _p and λ _f . In addition, the square arrays with a wind direction of 45° have a considerably larger C _d , and the wind direction increases z _o/H by up to a factor of 2. (2) The effect of the non-uniformity of roughness height on z _o is more remarkable when λ _f exceeds 20%, and the discrepancy in z _o is particularly remarkable and exceeds 200%. (3) The effect of the layout of tall blocks on C _d is stronger than that of short blocks. These results indicate that the effects of both wind direction and the non-uniformity of the heights of buildings on urban aerodynamic parameters vary greatly with λ _p and λ _f ; hence, these effects should be taken into account by considering the roughness packing density.     

Aerodynamic Scaling for Estimating the Mean Height of Dense Canopies

We used an aerodynamic method to objectively determine a representative canopy height, using standard meteorological measurements. The canopy height may change if the tree height is used to represent the actual canopy, but little work to date has focused on creating a standard for determining the representative canopy height. Here we propose the ‘aerodynamic canopy height’ h _a as the most effective means of resolving the representative canopy height for all forests. We determined h _a by simple linear regression between zero-plane displacement d and roughness length z ₀, without the need for stand inventory data. The applicability of h _a was confirmed in five different forests, including a forest with a complex canopy structure. Comparison with stand inventory data showed that h _a was almost equivalent to the representative height of trees composing the crown surface if the forest had a simple structure, or to the representative height of taller trees composing the upper canopy in forests with a complex canopy structure. The linear relationship between d and z ₀ was explained by assuming that the logarithmic wind profile above the canopy and the exponential wind profile within the canopy were continuous and smooth at canopy height. This was supported by observations, which showed that h _a was essentially the same as the height defined by the inflection point of the vertical profile of wind speed. The applicability of h _a was also verified using data from several previous studies.     

Wind-Tunnel Measurements Of Restitution Coefficients And Ejection Number Of Snow Particles In Drifting Snow: Determination Of Splash Functions

Wind-tunnel experiments of drifting snow were carried out andsplash functions were formulated to describe probability distributions of vertical restitution coefficient, horizontal restitution coefficient and ejection number when a natural snow particle collided at a natural snow surface. The following results were obtained:(1) The vertical restitution coefficient was usually larger than unity and decreased sharply with impact angle. At smaller impact angles around 5 degrees the vertical restitution coefficient exceeded a magnitude of ten.(2) The horizontal restitution coefficient, ranging from -1 to 1.5, decreased with impact velocity, but was not clearly dependent on impact angle.(3) The ejection number amounted to five per impact and increasedwith impact velocity.(4) Three splash functions to express the probability distributions of the vertical restitution coefficient, horizontal restitution coefficient and ejection number were formulated, which will be used in future computer simulations of the snow drifting process.     

河西走廊下垫面粗糙度实测值与模拟值的差异性分析

利用甘肃省河西地区17个风塔观测资料和风向风速标准差法,计算了风塔处的下垫面粗糙度,并与中尺度数值模式ARPS中使用的粗糙度参数进行了比较分析。结果表明,数值模式中使用的粗糙度值和实况具有一定差异,其使用的粗糙度定义方案并不能准确地反映出下垫面粗糙度和非均一性特征。差异最大出现在草原下垫面上,可达375%,且差异程度随下垫面植被复杂程度增加。     

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.     

A Roughness Sublayer Wind Profile Above A Non-Uniform Surface

In atmospheric models for different scales the underlying surface consists of patches of bare soil and plant communities with different morphological parameters. Experimental evidence indicates that there is a significant departure of the wind profile above a vegetative surface from that predicted by the logarithmic relationship, which gives values that are greater than those observed. This situation can seriously disturb the physical picture concerning the transfers of momentum, heat and water vapour from the surface into the atmosphere.The intention of this paper is to generalise the calculation of exchange of momentum between the atmosphere and a non-homogenous vegetative surface, and to derive a general equation for the wind speed profile in a roughness sublayer under neutral conditions. Furthermore, these results are extended to non-neutral cases. The suggested expression for the wind profile is compared with some earlier approaches and the observations obtained above a broad range of plant communities.     

Optimized Computation of Transfer Coefficients in Surface Layer with Different Momentum and Heat Roughness Lengths

A new method for computing the surface transfer coefficients is proposed, based on state-of-the-art empirical flux-profile relationships. The influence of the roughness length ratio is first demonstrated with the classical iterative calculation method. Then a non-iterative algorithm is developed, taking into account the difference between momentum and heat roughness lengths.The new method is validated by comparison with the reference iterative computation. The large gain-in computer processing time (CPU) time gain for the calculation of surface fluxes in Eulerian grid models is finally assessed.