Turbulence measurements over complex terrain

Horizontal turbulence measurements obtained from 22 wind sensors located on 9 towers in a mountainous coastal area are described and categorized by stability and terrain. Vector wind time series are high-pass filtered, and lateral and longitudinal wind speed variance is calculated for averaging times ranging from 15 s to 2 h. Parameterizations of the functional dependence of variance on averaging time are discussed, and a modification of Panofsky's (1988) uniform terrain technique applicable to complex terrain is presented. The parameterization is applied to the data and shown to be more realistic than a less complicated power law technique. The parameter values are shown to be different than the flat terrain cases of Kaimal et al. (1972), and are primarily a function of sensor location within the complex terrain. The parameters are also examined in terms of their dependence upon season, stability, marine boundary-layer height, and measurement height.     

Wind profiles over complex terrain

A large set of routine wind profiles has been analyzed at three towers, located in various types of complex terrain in New England. After allowing for effects of roughness change, uphill flow and stability, roughness lengths have been estimated. In general, the profiles and roughness lengths could be explained by differences in terrain features and stability.     

Boundary-layer pollutant concentrations over complex terrain

Given the incident profiles of wind velocity and pollutant concentration, we seek to determine the 3-dimensional concentration field of a pollutant upon a region with complex terrain. The analytic solution of the wind velocity in a 3-dimensional boundary-layer model by Walmsley et al. (1980) is utilized as a forcing function in the simplified concentration perturbation equation for a pollutant. The resulting solution applies to an isolated cosine-squared hill in a neutrally stratified boundary-layer flow with a surface type which absorbs the pollutant totally. The solution shows that the concentration perturbation field is organized in accordance with the wind field. In particular, the east-west cross-section is 180° out of phase with the velocity perturbation field. The vertical profiles of the concentration perturbations for selected grid points approach the value of the upper boundary condition very rapidly.     

Turbulent dispersion of pollutant over complex terrain

A two-dimensional turbulent diffusion equation is derived in a streamline coordinate system, defined for rotational flow over complex terrain and limited aloft by an elevated, impenetrable inversion. In the first instance, the steady-state equation is solved for an inner region of the boundary layer, in which the effect of curvature is negligible and, for simplicity, it is assumed that vorticity has a power-law dependence upon stream function. A variational method of solution is also discussed, in which vorticity may have a more general representation. A numerical calculation is performed for a special case of symmetrical flow over an isolated hill. The dependence of pollutant concentration upon the flow field, downwind distance and source is examined and the effect of wind acceleration in the neighbourhood of the top of the hill is discussed. It is pointed out that the diffusion model can be applied to any realistic flow field, provided that the streamlines are specified.     

Wave drag in the planetary boundary layer over complex terrain

The concepts of mountain-induced wave drag are applied to the smaller scale problem of the boundary layer over complex terrain. It is found that the Reynolds stress and surface drag caused by surface-generated waves can be at least as large as those conventionally associated with turbulence. Conditions in which wave effects are important are identified.ATDD Contribution No. 88/5.     

On mountain wave drag over complex terrain

Summary Mountain wave drag is calculated for rotating, stratified, nonhydrostatic Boussinesq flow over a mountain ridge using linear theory for a variety of mountain profiles representing complex/irregular terrain. The inclusion of a sinusoidal corrugation to the familiar witch-of-Agnesi profile creates a stegosaurus profile. The associated drag is greatly enhanced for mesoscale mountains when the corrugation wave-number matches that for the dominant inertia-gravity wave contribution to the cross-mountain surface pressure gradient. Similarly, increasing the jaggedness (by decreasing the exponentb) increases the drag for mesoscale mountains whose topographic spectral intensity,M(k), has the form of a power law:M(k)=mk ^–b wherek is the zonal wavenumber.Spectral analysis of one-kilometer resolution topographic data for the Appalachian Mountains suggests that a power law profile withb=1.7 accurately represents the topographic spectral intensity and that it yields good estimates of the drag.The application of these results to the parameterization of mountain wave drag in general circulation models is discussed.With 7 Figures     

The numerical simulation on the PBL structure and its evolution over small-scale concave terrain

A high-resolution, nonhydrostatic, three-dimensional diagnostic PBL model over small-scale concave terrain was established in this paper. A two-dimensional prognostic model was developed based on the diagnostic model. The hydrostatic approximation was abandoned and the simple energy (E-ε) closure scheme was used in both mod-els. Using the two models, characteristics of PBL structure and its evolution were fully studied. The main characteris-tic of the PBL is the circulation, and it fairly affects the distribution of the pollutant in the pit.     

Estimates of effective surface roughness over complex terrain

Turbulence data collected in an area of three-dimensional complex terrain using instruments atteched to the tether cable of a captive balloon together with radiosonde ascents are presented. In addition, data collected using only radiosonde ascents in an area of two-dimensional complex terrain of large slope are also shown. Eddy correlation measurements of the turbulent momentum flux and wind velocity profiles are used to deduce the magnitude of the effective roughness from the drag coefficient and normalised velocity profiles. A relationship connecting the terrain characteristics and the roughness length is compared with the experimental data for both types of terrain plus previous experimental estimates of the roughness length over complex terrain. The formula taken from previous work by Grant and Mason (1990) is found to agree with the data when representing an area of order 100 km².     

Physical modelling of flow and dispersion over complex terrain

Atmospheric motion and dispersion over topography characterized by irregular (or regular) hill-valley or mountain-valley distributions are strongly dependent upon three general sets of variables. These are variables that describe topographic geometry, synoptic-scale winds and surface-air temperature distributions. In addition, pollutant concentration distributions also depend upon location and physical characteristics of the pollutant source. Overall fluid-flow complexity and variability from site to site have stimulated the development and use of physical modelling for determination of flow and dispersion in many wind-engineering applications. Models with length scales as small as 1:12,000 have been placed in boundary-layer wind tunnels to study flows in which forced convection by synoptic winds is of primary significance. Flows driven primarily by forces arising from temperature differences (gravitational or free convection) have been investigated by small-scale physical models placed in an isolated space (gravitational convection chamber). Similarity criteria and facilities for both forced and gravitational-convection flow studies are discussed. Forced-convection modelling is illustrated by application to dispersion of air pollutants by unstable flow near a paper mill in the state of Maryland and by stable flow over Point Arguello, California. Gravitational-convection modelling is demonstrated by a study of drainage flow and pollutant transport from a proposed mining operation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Other studies in which field data are available for comparison with model data are reviewed.     

Prediction of surface potential temperature over complex terrain

Based on a statistical approach, the surface potential temperature at seven observing stations in complex terrain has been examined. It is shown that the surface potential temperature depends primarily on the rate of change of slope wind and on the geostrophic-level potential temperature.     

Mesoscale modeling study of severe convection over complex terrain

Short squall lines that occurred over Lishui, southwestern Zhejiang Province, China, on 5 July 2012, were investigated using the WRF model based on 1°× 1° gridded NCEP Final Operational Global Analysis data. The results from the numerical simulations were particularly satisfactory in the simulated radar echo, which realistically reproduced the generation and development of the convective cells during the period of severe convection. The initiation of this severe convective case was mainly associated with the uplift effect of mesoscale mountains, topographic convergence, sufficient water vapor, and enhanced low-level southeasterly wind from the East China Sea. An obvious wind velocity gradient occurred between the Donggong Mountains and the southeast coastline, which easily enabled wind convergence on the windward slope of the Donggong Mountains; both strong mid–low-level southwesterly wind and low-level southeasterly wind enhanced vertical shear over the mountains to form instability; and a vertical coupling relation between the divergence on the upper-left side of the Donggong Mountains and the convergence on the lower-left side caused the convection to develop rapidly. The convergence centers of surface streams occurred over the mountain terrain and updrafts easily broke through the lifting condensation level(LCL) because of the strong wind convergence and topographic lift, which led to water vapor condensation above the LCL and the generation of the initial convective cloud. The centers of surface convergence continually created new convective cells that moved with the southwest wind and combined along the Donggong Mountains, eventually forming a short squall line that caused severe convective weather.     

Expansion of the planar-fit method to estimate flux over complex terrain

An expanded planar-fit (PF) method over complex terrain is presented and applied to coordinate rotation of the eddy-covariance (EC) flux and vertical velocity estimation. Theoretical analysis indicates that PF coefficients depend on wind direction, and an expression of vertical velocity is deduced. We applied the theory using 1?year of observations from the KoFlux site in the Gwangneung Forest in Korea and investigated the influence of wind direction on the PF method. Then, we performed an expansion of the PF method to consider dependence of PF coefficients on wind direction and applied the PF method to every sector. The results show that the PF coefficients and tilt angles over complex terrain vary with wind direction. Two hundred 30-min data sets are sufficient to derive stable PF coefficients over hilly terrain for each sector. The relative difference in eddy-covariance flux between the general planar fit (GPF) and sector planar fit (SPF) is less than 10% for the scalar flux and about 18% for friction velocity. Vertical velocity and vertical advection (VA) terms were also calculated and compared using SPF and GPF methods, and a normal distribution and diurnal trend of real vertical velocity on clear days are presented.     

Investigation of the planetary boundary layer height variations over complex terrain

The effects of sea-breeze interactions with synoptic forcing on the PBL height over complex terrain are investigated through the use of a 3-D mesoscale numerical model. Two of the results are as follows. First, steep PBL height gradients—order of 1500 m over a grid interval of 10 km — are associated with the sea-breeze front and are enhanced by the topography. Second, a significant horizontal shift in the maximum PBL height relative to the mountains, is induced by a corresponding displacement of the thermal ridge due to the mountains, in the presence of large scale flow.     

A simple and efficient procedure for the numerical simulation of wind fields in complex terrain

In spite of recent progress in the prognostic numerical simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer, the explicit simulation of turbulent flows in actual complex terrain is generally still very complicated and time consuming for many environmental applications. In an attempt to develop simpler and more efficient application oriented techniques, although less refined, we propose a multi-step procedure for simulating wind fields. Once obtained the necessary meteorological input, the mass-consistent modelling technique is used to perform high-resolution mean wind flow simulations taking into account recent developments in the atmospheric boundary-layer theory. Besides, a procedure based on a generalisation of the local logarithmic law-of-the-wall over complex terrain is used to estimate the effective parameters characterising the simulated wind profiles. Turbulence intensities and spectral properties are then calculated through the estimated effective parameters, in particular through the effective friction velocity parameter. Finally, time series of the instantaneous velocity field are simulated by the Monte Carlo technique. Two applications of the proposed approach are discussed briefly: the first one is related to a coastal area in southern Italy (the Messina Straits), where the construction of the world’s longest central span bridge is being planned; the second one corresponds to the flow in a mountainous area in northern Italy (the Albenga Airport).     

A numerical study of atmospheric pollution over complex terrain in Switzerland

A pollution-related study has been carried out for the Swiss city of Bienne that is located in complex terrain at the foot of the Jura mountains. The study consists of an analysis of pollutant transport and dispersion from various emittors located in the city, using a coupled system of mesoscale and micro-scale atmospheric numerical models. Simulations of atmospheric flow with the mesoscale model over a 20 × 20 km domain (horizontal resolution: 500 m; vertical resolution: 250 m) are used to initialize a microscale model centered over the city. The domain of this latter model is 4 × 4 km (horizontal resolution: 100 m; vertical resolution: 10 m). Plume trajectories are computed in the micro-scale model, and are a function of the regional-scale flow field previously calculated by the mesoscale model. Results show that the flow — and hence the plume trajectories embedded within this motion field — an sensitive not only to channeling effects by the local valley systems, but also to local or regional meteorological effects resulting from cloud activity, urban heat island, and the direction of the synoptic scale flow with respect to the orientation of the Jura mointains.     

A simple method of computing the variation of annual precipitation over mountainous terrain

A method for computing the distribution of annual precipitation for mountainous areas is presented. As a pilot study, the South Thompson River basin in British Columbia is examined. In addition to data from climatological (valley) stations, annual precipitation is estimated for snow course (mountain) locations from the water equivalent of the snowpack on April 1.An equation for the dependence of precipitation amount on orography is derived from simple physical considerations. Regression equations based on this are then computed and the calculated precipitation is checked with runoff data. A basic predictor is the mean vertical water vapor transport through a horizontal unit area due to flow over undulating terrain. This depends on the average slope of a region 3 deg long by 2 deg lat centered on each grid point. The transport at the earth's surface has a simple correlation coefficient with the combined valley and mountain precipitation data of 0.76. When the transport is computed at the mean cloud base (taken as 1800 m above sea-level), the correlation coefficient rises to 0.87.     

中国东南地区复杂地形下降水概率预报的订正研究

使用TIGGE (the THORPEX interactive grand global ensemble)资料集下欧洲中期天气预报中心(the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF)逐日起报的预报时效为24～168 h的日降水量集合预报资料,集合预报共包括51个成员,利用左删失的非齐次Logistic回归方法(left-Censored Non-homogeneous Logistic Regression, CNLR)和标准化的模式后处理方法(Standardized Anomaly Model Output Statistics, SAMOS)对具有复杂地形的中国东南部地区降水预报进行统计后处理。结果表明：采用CNLR方法能够有效改进原始集合预报的平均绝对误差(Mean Absolute Error, MAE)和连续分级概率评分(Continuous Ranked Probability Score, CRPS),提升了降水的定量预报和概率预报的预报技巧。而使用SAMOS方法对数据进行预处理,考虑地形...     

Simulation of three-dimensional wind flow over complex terrain in the atmospheric boundary layer

A three-dimensional model for wind prediction over rough terrain has been developed for practical use. It is a compromise between hydrodynamic and objective wind models. The proposed model includes: (1) a statistical model to predict the wind velocity and potential temperature at anemometer height at observing stations, (2) the drainage wind model expressed by Prandtl's analytic solution for the slope wind, (3) the Businger-Dyer surface-layer formulation which considers the surface energy budget and (4) the model for three-dimensional boundary-layer solutions to the stationary flow. In this model, mass consistency is guaranteed by using flow fields that satisfy the continuity equation. Model predictions show good agreement with the observations.