Vertical velocity field in the convective boundary layer as observed with an acoustic Doppler sodar

The morning development of the daytime convective boundary layer (CBL) during fine weather has been observed with an acoustic Doppler sodar of the C.R.P.E. In particular, the vertical profile of the vertical velocity third-order statistic W* ³ has been obtained. This quantity is a maximum near 0.3z _I where z _I, is the height of the CBL. The histogram of vertical velocity in the CBL shows a relationship between W ³ and the convective velocity W _* and is useful for convective plume determination.     

Observations of the Relation Between Upslope Flows and the Convective Boundary Layer in Steep Terrain

Slope flow mechanisms are crucial for the transport of air pollutants in complex terrain. Previous observations in sloping terrain showed upslope flows filling the entire convective boundary layer (CBL) and reducing air pollution concentrations by venting air pollutants out of the CBL into the free atmosphere. During the Pacific 2001 Air Quality Field Study in the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada, we observed slope flows during weak synoptic winds, clear skies, and strong daytime solar heating. With a Doppler sodar we measured the three wind components at the foot of a slope having an average angle of 19° and a ridge height of 780 m. We operated a scanning lidar system and a tethersonde at a nearby site on the adjacent plain to measure backscatter of particulate matter, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and specific humidity. Strong daytime upslope flows of up to 6 m s⁻¹ through a depth of up to 500 m occurred in the lower CBL, but with often equally strong and deep return flows in the upper part of the CBL. The mass transport of upslope flow and return flow approximately balanced over a 4-h morning period, suggesting a closed slope-flow circulation within the CBL. These observations showed that air pollutants can remain trapped within a CBL rather than being vented from the CBL into the free atmosphere.     

Comparative analysis of sodar and ozone profile measurements in a complex structured boundary layer and implications for mixing height estimation

Profile data from simultaneous sodar and tethered balloon measurements have been analyzed with respect to the complex structure of the atmospheric boundary layer in the Upper Rhine Valley. Special attention was focused on ozone concentration profiles measured with a novel lightweight ozone sensor at the balloon. In general, good agreement was found between the signature of the ozone concentration profiles and special features of the backscattered sound intensity profiles. This allows reliable estimation of the mixing height from the sodar data even in a complex stable ABL, except for very shallow mixing layers (below about 75 m), which could not be detected by the sodar.     

声雷达定量测量C_T~2中的几个问题

本文讨论了逾量衰减和风对声线的弯曲作用对声雷达接收功率的影响.分析和计算表明在很多情况下分子吸收、逾量衰减和风的影响对测量C_T~2是不能忽略的,不考虑这些因素有时可使C_T~2低估500％以上.引进有效湍流外尺度后使声散射截面表达式在实际应用中变得合理而简单.由简化的几何模型导出了风衰减因子,经计算和以往的实验事实相符.因此在原声雷达方程中应加入风衰减因子.声雷达方程加上逾量衰减算式、风衰减算式和分子衰减算式,组成了适合定量测量C_T~2的声雷达方程组.利用温度脉动仪测定低高度上的C_T~2值可使估算工作简化,此方法在多普勒声雷达上应用效果会较好,本文并给出了初步实验结果.     

Detection of Inversions and Mixing Height by REMTECH PA2 Sodar in Comparison with Collocated Radiosonde Measurements

Summary A REMTECH PA2 Doppler Sodar is operated regularly at the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI) observatory in Prague, collocated with a routine rawinsonde sounding system. The Air Pollution Control Division of CHMI utilises the sodar data in air pollution studies and as an information support for the smog warning system operated in Prague. Besides of the basic software for echo strength and wind profile evaluation, optional routines for deriving parameters such as inversion and mixing height, stability class etc. were delivered by the sodar manufacturer. Based on a sufficiently large data set (more than one year) of synchronous sodar and rawinsonde measurements, an analysis and comparison of inversion and mixing heights provided by both sounding systems have been accomplished in order to evaluate the correctness and accuracy of sodar estimates of these parameters. In contrast to the wind speed and wind direction data, for which a satisfactory agreement with other kind of measurements has been reported by many studies, the results for inversion and mixing height detection were totally disappointing. A direct applicability of inversion height and mixing height data provided by the REMTECH’s automatic routines in air pollution studies or smog warning systems is quite problematical with the present “state of the art”. Received November 3, 1998 Revised April 20, 1999     

Atmospheric thermic structure studied by acoustic echo sounder, boundary layer model, and direct measurements

In this work, the thermic structure of the atmospheric boundary layer is analyzed by means of direct measurements with radiosonde equipment, remote exploration with a three-monostatic Doppler sodar, and a boundary layer model of order one-and-a-half. Intercomparisons of radiosonde data, sodar data, and model results are made through the study of radiative nocturnal inversion, subsidence inversion, development and height of the mixing layer, and calculus of the temperature structure parameter. The ability of sodar to find the mixing layer height and to detect stable layers is enhanced when these layers are low enough.     

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE DOPPLER SODAR AND IN-SITU WIND MEASUREMENTS

In this paper,a comparison is made of the Doppler sodar wind measurement with the in-situ measurements on a 325 m meteorological tower.The results show that when the ratio of signal to noise is larger than 1,the mean wind speeds and directions obtained from the two techniques are well correlated,thus their profiles are close to each other.The mean value and root mean square of vertical velocity measured by the Doppler sodar are a little larger than those measured by a sonic anemometer at a height of 85 m,which is in agreement with the analysis by Gaynor et al.(1983).We notice that there are some differences in the observational results between the Doppler sodar and insitu measurements,especially when comparing the values measured at each time.Therefore,it is important to analyze the reason for the differences and to make corrections to the Doppler sodar measurements.     

An Independent Method to Determine the Height of the Mixed Layer

A method for the independent evaluation ofmixed-layer (ML) height, zi, has beenproposed. The ML height is determined bythe functional relationshipszi = 0.75 z/nv max or 0.53 z/nu max in which, z is a measuring height; nv max and nu max are normalized peak frequencies of lateral velocity component, v, and longitudinal velocity component, u, spectra at height z in the surface layer respectively. Using Doppler sodar data, the technique was shown to be feasible; it is easy to apply to micro-meteorological field experiments and works even for the ML top above the range of the sodar.     

北京燕山地区声回波探测资料的统计分析

近十几年来,许多国家用声雷达长时间的连续观测资料为厂区、城区和山区污染状况的预评价和污染事件的监测和预告服务,并进行了边界层气候和污染气候方面的研究。如何更有效而合理地使用声雷达的长时间连续观测资料,并从中获得有规律性的结果,是十分重要的问题。我们于1984年5月26日至6月23日,10月6日至12月12日,1985年1月8日至2月8日,4月11日至26日四个季节,     

A one dimensional wind profile model with stability and eddy viscosity estimations from sodar data

In a one-dimensional wind profile model, methods for eddy viscosity and stability estimations from sodar data have been evaluated with soundings. For eddy viscosity parameterization the ageostrophic method and mixing-length theory have been investigated. Three methods for estimating the static stability have been evaluated; a wind profile adjustment method, gravity wave analysis of sodar backscatter and flux profile functions for windspeed and standard deviation of vertical wind-speed. The wind profile model with variable momentum flux (VF) with height shows better results than an earlier constant flux model (Bergström, 1986). The VF model can be used for extending the sodar profile up to 1500 m.     

A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF SODAR DATA DETECTED IN YANSHAN MOUNTAIN AREA,BEIJING

According to the characteristics of sodar echo,a classified method for temperature stratification is given.By using sodar data observed in Yanshan Mountain area in Beijing,the statistical characteristics for the heightof inversion layer,thermal plume,and the depth of mixed layer are compared.Finally,the appearancefrequency for stable,unstable and neutral stratification is analyzed.     

Nocturnal boundary-layer height: Observations by acoustic sounders and predictions in terms of surface-layer parameters

Acoustic sounder measurements of the stable boundary-layer height taken during the EPRI Plume Model Validation and Development Project experiment are examined. Comparison of simultaneous measurements by two sodars located 15 km apart shows good agreement. Several widely used diagnostic formulas for estimation of the boundary-layer height, based on wind speed and surface-layer parameters, such as friction velocity and Monin-Obukhov length, are tested against the sodar data. Of these, best performance is found using a simple linear relationship with friction velocity or, alternatively, wind speed at 10 m height. No evidence is found to support the more often used Zilitinkevich (1972) formula. Tests using selected data from the Cabauw site in the Netherlands confirm the results found on the basis of EPRI data.     

A Comparison Of Aerosol-Layer And Convective Boundary-Layer Structure Over A Mountain Range During Staaarte '97

The temporal evolution and spatial structure of the aerosol layer (AL) height as observed with an airborne downlooking lidar over the Swiss Alps were investigated with a three-dimensional mesoscale numerical model and a particle dispersion model. Convective boundary-layer (CBL) heights were derived from the mesoscale model output, and the behaviour of surface-released particles was investigated with the particle dispersion model. While a previous investigation, using data from the same field study, equated the observed AL height with the CBL height, the results of the current investigation indicate that there is a considerable difference between AL and CBL heights caused by mixing and transport processes between the CBL and the free atmosphere. CBL heights show a more terrain-following behaviour and are lower than AL heights. We argue that processes causing the difference between AL and CBL heights are common over mountainous terrain and that the AL height is a length scale that needs to be considered in air pollution studies in mountainous terrain.     

Corrections for Wind-Speed Errors from Sodar and Lidar in Complex Terrain

The quality of lidar and sodar wind estimates is generally judged through comparisons with mast-mounted instruments, and the resulting regressions. Evaluation of the relative merits of lidars versus sodars is complicated by the fact that lidars are generally placed close to a mast whereas sodars are generally placed some distance from a mast so that acoustic reflections off the mast are reduced. This leads to the two technologies, lidar and sodar, not being compared in similar situations. Differences arising from the two geometries can be expected to be larger in complex terrain, where the wind regime can vary significantly spatially. The current work explores these differences in moderately complex terrain. Lidar–mast comparisons are performed with the lidar close to an 80 m mast, and sodar–mast comparisons performed with the sodar 300 m from the mast. Systematic variations in estimated wind speed are found to occur with height, consistent with predictions from a simple flow model. When the lidar was moved to the sodar location, further from the mast, there were significant changes in the estimated wind speeds and a reduction in correlation with the mast-based wind speeds, as expected. However, the correlation between collocated lidar and sodar winds was high. This finding emphasizes that any comparison of two remote sensing instruments needs to be through similar experiments, and that differences in accuracy often reported for the lidar and sodar technologies are likely to be contaminated due to poor comparison configurations. A method was devised to simulate the sodar being collocated with the mast, by using the lidar–sodar measurements and the lidar–mast measurements. It was found that there was then no statistically detectable difference between lidar–mast regressions and sodar–mast regressions for the particular lidar and sodar tested. Both remote sensing instruments were also found to be good estimators of Weibull parameters, as compared with those derived from mast data. The conclusion is that the sodar measured the winds above the sodar with a similar accuracy to the lidar measuring winds above the lidar.     

Composing the diurnal cycle of mixing height from simultaneous sodar and wind profiler measurements

Mixing heights have been determined independently from sodar and boundary-layer wind profiler measurements carried out at the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg of the German Weather Service between 1 June 1994 and 6 July 1994. Good agreement between both systems was found for mixing height values between about 250 m and 700 m, i.e., in an evolving convective boundary layer. Considering the typical sounding ranges of the sodar (50 m up to 800 m) and of the wind profiler (200 m up to higher than 3000 m), simultaneous operation of the two systems is demonstrated to be a promising tool for continously monitoring the mixing height throughout its complete diurnal cycle.     

Some aspects of determining the stable boundary layer depth from sodar data

The question of estimating the height of the stable boundary layer (SBL) based on digitalized vertical profiles of sodar signal intensity has been re-examined. A simple one-dimensional numerical boundary-layer model is used to compute vertical profiles of the temperature structure parameterC _T ² . It is shown that especially at the beginning of the night (when stratification is weak) one can not expect any significant profile structure in the upper part of the SBL if its depth is determined in terms of common turbulent height scales. From this it is concluded that the SBL-height will be underestimated early in the night when derived from the maximum gradient in the signal intensity profiles. Later in the night in contrast, the computations often show elevated maxima or even zones with reduced, and above them enhanced, vertical gradients ofC _T ² , from which a SBL-height can be deduced that compares well with other common height scales. The computed profiles ofC _T ² are shown to be in qualitative agreement with observed profiles of sodar signal intensity for several analysed cases from the HAPEX-MOBILHY experiment.Comparing different SBL-depth scales with sodar observations, it is demonstrated that most of them are often closely related to a sodar-derived SBL-height only during certain phases of the night. Thus the sodar-SBL-height can, after a transition period, be perhaps associated with the lower turbulent layer of the growing surface inversion during the first part and with the height of the low-level wind maximum during the second part of the night.     

对流边界层湍流通量及逆梯度输送参数化分析

"K"理论是众多气象预报模式中运用最广泛的湍流参数化方案之一,但无法解释"逆梯度"的输送,必须进行修正。最具代表性的修正方案有三种:方案Ⅰ(Deardroff方案)、方案Ⅱ(Holtslag和Moeng方案)和方案Ⅲ(刘烽方案)。本文利用香河的边界层观测资料对上述三种方案进行验证和比较,发现方案Ⅰ的结果在整个对流边界层(Convective Boundary Layer,CBL)呈系统性偏低,与观测不符;方案Ⅱ在CBL中上部能够再现逆梯度输送现象,基本能给出合理的湍流通量垂直分布,但在CBL的下部和上部与观测不符;方案Ⅲ的逆梯度项与高度有关,并在CBL中部达到最大,而其他两个方案中逆梯度项随高度不变。该方案不但在CBL中上部与方案Ⅱ的结果一致,并能合理表达整个CBL内的湍流通量分布,更接近观测结果。     

Determination of structure parameters using sodar

The temperature structure parameter at Delhi has been determined from intensity information of sodar observations for a period of one year at a height of 200 m in the planetary boundary layer applying the moisture correction due to Wesely. It is found that mean monthly values of the temperature structure parameter for stable and unstable conditions are quite different during the monsoon months (July to October) but are rather similar during the other months.The refractive index structure parameter values have been calculated for the dry atmosphere (optical) as well as by applying the moisture correction (radio) due to the Sirkis and Ottersten et al. models. It is found that the dry atmospheric values of the parameter are generally lower than the humidity-corrected values. The sodar-measured values of the parameter under dry atmospheric conditions have been examined in relation to the Hufnagel and Tsvang models.     

Boundary-layer depth and entrainment zone characterization with a boundary-layer profiler

A technique for determining the height of the convective atmospheric boundary layer (CBL) with a 915 MHz boundary-layer profiler is discussed. The results are compared with CBL heights determined from radiosonde measurements. The profiler provides continuous CBL height measurements with very good time resolution (30 minutes or less), allowing for detailed understanding of the growth and fluctuations of the CBL. In addition, the profiler provides information about the degree of definition of the CBL top and the thickness of the entrainment zone. The measurements discussed were taken during the Rural Oxidants in the Southern Environment II (ROSE II) experiment.     

The convective boundary layer over pasture and forest in Amazonia

Summary The coupling between different types of surface (tropical forest or grass) and the Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) has been investigated using observational (rawinsoundings) data collected over Rondônia in southwest Amazonia. The data reported here support the notion that deforestation may modify the dynamics of the boundary layer, in particular during the dry season. In this period the sensible heat fluxes are very high over pasture, creating a CBL around 550m deeper compared to that over the forest. The measurements showed the height of the fully developed CBL for pasture to be 1650m, compared to around 1100m for forest. During the wet season the height of the CBL is lower than during the dry season and has the same height (around 1000m) for forest and pasture sites. The CBL over pasture is hotter and drier than over forest during the dry season, but during the wet season the air temperatures and humidities are similar. Comparing the CBL growth during the dry and wet season, there is evidence that the CBL properties over the forest are not dependent on the surface characteristics, but over the pasture they are.