夜间边界层的一维数值模拟

本文用一维数值模式,模拟了平坦地形情况下小风、晴空夜间边界层内风、温、湿的演变,计算结果与观测事实有较好的一致性。对有高云或少量中、低云存在时的计算结果分析表明,模式对风速的模拟仍然较好,对温度的模拟比实测值可偏低0.3—1℃,对相对湿度的模拟比实测值可偏高5—10％在符合模式使用范围的情况下,本模式可作为夜间边界层预报的一种方法参考使用。     

Modelling the Meteorology at the Cabauw Tower for 2005

The meteorology at the Cabauw tower site in the Netherlands has been modelled for 2005 using a local scale prognostic meteorological and air pollution model called TAPM. A number of performance measures have been used to assess model accuracy, including comparison statistics such as root-mean-square error (RMSE) and index of agreement (IOA). Results show that the model performs very well for prediction of wind and temperature at the six tower levels that range from 10 to 200 m above the ground, as well as performing well for radiation and surface fluxes. The model simulation shows almost no bias in mean and standard deviations of wind and temperature at each tower height level, with small RMSE (e.g. RMSE of 1.2 m s⁻¹ for 10-m wind speed, and 1.6°C for 10-m temperature) and high correlation and IOA (e.g. IOA of 0.92 for 10-m wind speed and 0.98 for 10-m temperature). Results for radiation and surface fluxes also show good performance, although some biases were seen for these variables, and possibilities for future model development were identified. An examination of model sensitivity also explored several aspects of the model configuration and input.     

Observations of Coherent Turbulence Structures in the Near-Neutral Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Turbulence structures of high Reynolds number flow in the near-neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are investigated based on observations at Shionomisaki and Shigaraki, Japan. A Doppler sodar measured the vertical profiles of winds in the ABL. Using the integral wavelet transform for the time series of surface wind data, the pattern of a descending high-speed structure with large vertical extent (from the surface to more than 200-m level) is depicted from the Doppler sodar data. Essentially this structure is a specific type of coherent structure that has been previously shown in experiments on turbulent boundary-layer flows. Large-scale high-speed structures in the ABL are extracted using a long time scale (240 s) for the wavelet transform. The non-dimensional interval of time between structures is evaluated as 3.0–6.2 in most cases. These structures make a large contribution to downward momentum transfer in the surface layer. Quadrant analyses of the turbulent motion measured by the sonic anemometer (20-m height) suggest that the sweep motion (high-speed downward motion) plays a substantial role in the downward momentum transfer. In general, the contribution of sweep motions to the momentum flux is nearly equal to that of ejection motions (low-speed upward motions). This contribution of sweep motions is related to the large-scale high-speed structures.     

Characterisation of the Nocturnal Boundary Layer at a Site in Northern Spain

The availability of well-calibrated meteorological data for a 10-month period on a 100-m tower has allowed a statistical study to be carried out of many boundary-layer variables. The analyses are restricted to nighttime conditions with stable stratification most of the time, allowing the checking of a number of similarity proposals and the quantifying of the frequency of the different nighttime regimes. We study in detail two typical nights at the site: one weakly stable and one with very strong stratification, highlighting the different aspects between the nights.     

The Morning Transition of the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

Six years of observations from a surface instrument site have been analysed to determine timings and factors influencing developmental changes in the near-surface wind and turbulent heat fluxes during the morning heating of the atmospheric boundary layer. A simple relationship has been found between near-surface wind speed and screen temperature, together with a predictive equation for the morning transition air temperature. Profile measurements from a probe mounted on a tethered balloon have beenused to supplement the surface data and study the processes underlying these surface relationships. The results have confirmed earlier work and have shown that both before and immediately after morning transition, almost all heating in the surface layer is due to turbulent diffusion from above. In order to explain the mechanisms involved in the relationships, a simple finite difference model has been run and validated against the profile data. The model predictions are compared with observations during both the morning and evening and the differences related to the different temperature profiles. Numerical forecasting rules for the surface wind speed and transition temperature are derived from the results.     

Radiative Processes in the Stable Boundary Layer: Part II. The Development of the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

The interaction between radiation and turbulence in the stable boundary layer over land is explored using an idealized model, with a focus on the surface layer after the evening transition. It is shown that finer vertical resolution is required in transitional boundary layers than in developed ones. In very light winds radiative cooling determines the temperature profile, even if similarity functions without a critical Richardson number are used; standard surface similarity theory applied over thick layers then yields poor forecasts of near-surface air temperatures. These points are illustrated with field data. Simulations of the developing nocturnal boundary layer are used to explore the wider role of radiation. Comparatively, radiation is less significant within the developed stable boundary layer than during the transition; although, as previous studies have found, it remains important towards the top of the stable layer and in the residual layer. Near the ground, reducing the surface emissivity below one is found to yield modest relative radiative warming rather than intense cooling, which reduces the potential importance of radiation in the developed surface layer. The profile of the radiative heating rate may be strongly dependent on other processes, leading to quite varied behaviour.     

Observations of Wind-Direction Variability in the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

Large sudden wind-direction shifts and submeso variability under nocturnal conditions are examined using a micrometeorological network of stations in north-western Victoria, Australia. The network was located in an area with mostly homogeneous and flat terrain. We have investigated the main characteristics of the horizontal propagation of events causing the wind-direction shift and not addressed in previous studies. The submeso motions at the study site exhibit behaviour typical of flat terrain, such as the lower relative mesovelocity scale and smaller cross-wind variances than that for complex terrain. The distribution of wind-direction shifts shows that there is a small but persistent preference for counter-clockwise rotation, occurring for 55% of the time. Large wind-direction shifts tend to be associated with a sharp decrease in air temperature (74% of the time), which is associated with rising motion of cold air, followed by an increase in turbulent mixing. The horizontal propagation of events was analyzed using the cross-correlation function method. There is no preferred mean wind direction associated with the events nor is there any relationship between the mean wind and propagation directions. The latter indicates that the events are most likely not local flow perturbations advected by the mean flow but are rather features of generally unknown origin. This needs to be taken into account when developing parametrizations of the stable boundary layer in numerical models.     

Microstructure of Turbulence in the Stably Stratified Boundary Layer

The microstructure of a stably stratified boundary layer, with a significant low-level nocturnal jet, is investigated based on observations from the CASES-99 campaign in Kansas, U.S.A. The reported, high-resolution vertical profiles of the temperature, wind speed, wind direction, pressure, and the turbulent dissipation rate, were collected under nocturnal conditions on October 14, 1999, using the CIRES Tethered Lifting System. Two methods for evaluating instantaneous (1-sec) background profiles are applied to the raw data. The background potential temperature is calculated using the “bubble sort” algorithm to produce a monotonically increasing potential temperature with increasing height. Other scalar quantities are smoothed using a running vertical average. The behaviour of background flow, buoyant overturns, turbulent fluctuations, and their respective histograms are presented. Ratios of the considered length scales and the Ozmidov scale are nearly constant with height, a fact that can be applied in practice for estimating instantaneous profiles of the dissipation rate.     

Modelling of the Evolving Stable Boundary Layer

A single-column model of the evolving stable boundary layer (SBL) is tested for self-similar properties of the flow and effects of ambient forcing. The turbulence closure of the model is diagnostic, based on the K-theory approach, with a semi-empirical form of the mixing length, and empirical stability functions of the Richardson number. The model results, expressed in terms of local similarity scales, are universal functions, satisfied in the entire SBL. Based on similarity expression, a realizability condition is derived for the minimum allowable turbulent heat flux in the SBL. Numerical experiments show that the development of “horse-shoe” shaped, fixed-elevation hodographs in the interior of the SBL around sunrise is controlled by effects imposed by surface thermal forcing.     

On Modelling the One-Dimensional Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Several commonly used turbulence closure schemes forthe atmospheric boundarylayer (ABL) are applied to simulate neutral, nocturnal and diurnal cyclesituations in a one-dimensional ABL. Results obtained with the differentschemes, E-, E- and its modified versions, and twoversions ofthe q ² Level 2.5, are compared and discussed.     

Improving the Representation of the Nocturnal Near-Neutral Surface Layer in the Urban Environment with a Mesoscale Atmospheric Model

A new approach to improve the representation of surface processes in the Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) atmospheric model associated with the exchanges between the urban canopy and the atmosphere is presented. Effects of the urban canopy on the evolution of surface-layer wind, temperature, moisture, and turbulence are directly parametrized in order to allow realistic interactions between the canopy elements (i.e., roofs, roads, and walls) and the atmosphere at GEM’s multiple vertical levels that are positioned inside the canopy. Surface energy budgets as implemented in the Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme have been used to determine temperatures of the urban canopy elements for the proposed multilayer scheme. Performance of the multilayer scheme is compared against standard implementations of the TEB scheme for one nighttime intensive observation period of the Joint Urban 2003 experiment held in Oklahoma City, USA. Although the new approach is found to have a negligible impact on urban surface-layer wind profiles, it improves the prediction of near-neutral nocturnal profiles of potential temperature close to the surface. The urban heat island effect is simulated with a better accuracy by the multilayer approach. The horizontal temperature gradient across the central business district of the city along the direction of flow is also reasonably well captured by the proposed scheme.     

Study of the Probability Density Functions From a Large-Eddy Simulation for a Stably Stratified Boundary Layer

Turbulence in a non-strongly stably stratified large-eddy simulation (LES) case is studied through probability density functions (PDFs) to obtain additional information than that provided by classical LES averages. The PDFs are computed for one hour within the steady-state regime at three different levels: near the surface, in the middle and at the top of the boundary layer, for the wind components and the temperature. The physical significance of these PDFs from LES is discussed and they are compared to those obtained from observations. The analysis of the eddy structures within the stably stratified boundary layer is made through the combined study of the fields, the spectra and the statistical moments obtained from the PDFs and joint PDFs. The homogeneity of the fields is inspected through a comparison of the ensemble to the temporal and the spatial PDFs, showing that the ergodic theorem is not fulfilled. To this end, the sensitivity of the PDF moments to the LES resolution is explored.     

Interaction Between Waves and Turbulence Within the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

Boundary-Layer Meteorology - Within the roughness sublayer (RSL) of dense urban canopies composed of uniformly distributed cuboids, the time and planar-averaged mean velocity profile exhibits an...     

Systematic Vertical Variation of Mesoscale Fluxes in the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

The vertical mesoscale flux in the nocturnal boundary layer is generally considered to be difficult to estimate because of the small mesoscale vertical velocities and the large random variation of the mesoscale fluxes. However, the mesoscale vertical flux of heat, computed from FLOSSII data, varies quasi-systematically with height, stability and time scale. Such systematic variation requires correction for sonic misalignment and averaging over a large quantity of data. The relation of the mesoscale heat flux to the vertical structure of the nocturnal boundary layer is examined. For the most common conditions, the vertical convergence of the mesoscale heat flux acts to reduce the nocturnal cooling rate. Important uncertainties are discussed as well as the need for improved observations.     

Global Intermittency and Collapsing Turbulence in the Stratified Planetary Boundary Layer

Direct numerical simulation of the turbulent Ekman layer over a smooth wall is used to investigate bulk properties of a planetary boundary layer under stable stratification. Our simplified configuration depends on two non-dimensional parameters: a Richardson number characterizing the stratification and a Reynolds number characterizing the turbulence scale separation. This simplified configuration is sufficient to reproduce global intermittency, a turbulence collapse, and the decoupling of the surface from the outer region of the boundary layer. Global intermittency appears even in the absence of local perturbations at the surface; the only requirement is that large-scale structures several times wider than the boundary-layer height have enough space to develop. Analysis of the mean velocity, turbulence kinetic energy, and external intermittency is used to investigate the large-scale structures and corresponding differences between stably stratified Ekman flow and channel flow. Both configurations show a similar transition to the turbulence collapse, overshoot of turbulence kinetic energy, and spectral properties. Differences in the outer region resulting from the rotation of the system lead, however, to the generation of enstrophy in the non-turbulent patches of the Ekman flow. The coefficient of the stability correction function from Monin–Obukhov similarity theory is estimated as \(\beta \approx 5.7\) in agreement with atmospheric observations, theoretical considerations, and results from stably stratified channel flows. Our results demonstrate the applicability of this set-up to atmospheric problems despite the intermediate Reynolds number achieved in our simulations.     

Steps, Waves and Turbulence in the Stably Stratified Planetary Boundary Layer

The stably-stratified planetary boundary layer contains small-vertical-scale, step-like structures, waves on a multitude of scales, large horizontal eddies and small-scale turbulence, all of which constantly interact with, and modify, one another. Current knowledge of how the various components act in the vicinity of the step-like structures is surveyed. It is concluded that packets of internal waves are the main conduit for interaction within and across the boundary layer, and low-intensity critical-level absorption at the fringes of their spectrum probably maintains the step-like structures. Further investigation of the processes requires intensive observations of the four-dimensional structure of the region, but such an investigation will need a new generation of high-resolution sensing systems.     

Small-Scale Horizontal Variability of Mean and Turbulent Quantities in the Nocturnal Boundary Layer

The study of the boundary layer can be most difficult when it is in transition and forced by a complex surface, such as an urban area. Here, a novel combination of ground-based remote sensing and in situ instrumentation in central London, UK, is deployed, aiming to capture the full evolution of the urban boundary layer (UBL) from night-time until the fully-developed convective phase. In contrast with the night-time stable boundary layer observed over rural areas, the night-time UBL is weakly convective. Therefore, a new approach for the detection of the morning-transition and rapid-growth phases is introduced, based on the sharp, quasi-linear increase of the mixing height. The urban morning-transition phase varied in duration between 0.5 and 4 h and the growth rate of the mixing layer during the rapid-growth phase had a strong positive relationship with the convective velocity scale, and a weaker, negative relationship with wind speed. Wind shear was found to be higher during the night-time and morning-transition phases than the rapid-growth phase and the shear production of turbulent kinetic energy near the mixing-layer top was around six times larger than surface shear production in summer, and around 1.5 times larger in winter. In summer under low winds, low-level jets dominated the UBL, and shear production was greater than buoyant production during the night-time and the morning-transition phase near the mixing-layer top. Within the rapid-growth phase, buoyant production dominated at the surface, but shear production dominated in the upper half of the UBL. These results imply that regional flows such as low-level jets play an important role alongside surface forcing in determining UBL structure and growth.     

Sodar Detected Top-Down Convection in a Nocturnal Cloud-Topped Boundary Layer: A Case Study

Nocturnal convection, originating in a well-mixed marine cloud-topped boundary layer, advected onshore, was observed using a Doppler sodar on the Tyrrhenian coast in Italy. The horizontal and vertical dimensions of the downdrafts were evaluated. The oscillation frequency triggered by the downdrafts at the inversion layer, derived from the harmonic analysis of the sodar measured vertical velocity (w), is compared with the Brunt-Vaisala frequency, obtained from the rawinsonde temperature profile. A similarity function for the ²_w vertical profile was used to fit the sodar experimental data and to retrieve the depth of the mixing layer and the sensible heat flux at the top of the cloud layer. The results are in agreement with the convection layer depth observed in the sodar echoes facsimile record, and with the energy budget evaluated at the top of the cloud layer using the rawinsonde profiles.