Power and cross-power spectral studies of electric and meteorological parameters under fair weather conditions in the atmospheric surface layer

The influence of micrometeorological parameters (wind speed, temperature stratification and atmospheric stability) upon electric polar conductivity, potential gradient, vertical total current density and vertical convection current density is studied by means of power spectral and coherence spectral analysis. The analyses show great variations in the atmospheric electric parameters for frequencies corresponding to the diurnal wave (0.042 cph) and in many cases great variances are noted for the frequencies 0.083, 0.125 and 0.17 cph. The influence of the micrometeorological parameters upon atmospheric electricity seems to be significant for these frequencies. Annual changes of the power and coherence spectra are also observed.     

Internal gravity waves in a stably stratified boundary layer

Often, a combination of waves and turbulence is present in the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer. The presence of waves manifest itself in the vertical profiles of variances of fluctuations and in low-frequency contributions to the power spectra. In this paper we study internal waves by means of a linear stability analysis of the mean profiles in a stably stratified boundary layer and compare the results with observed vertical variance profiles of fluctuating wind and temperature along a 200 m mast. The linear stability analysis shows that the observed mean flow is unstable for disturbances in a certain frequency and wavenumber domain. These disturbances are expected to the detectable in the measurements. It is shown that indeed the calculated unstable frequencies are present in the observed spectra. Furthermore, the shape of the measured vertical variance profiles, which increase with height, is explained well by the calculated vertical structure of the amplitude of unstable Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, confirming the contribution of waves to the variances. Because turbulence and waves have quite distinct transport properties, estimates of diffusion from measurements of variances would strongly overestimate this diffusion. Therefore it is important to distinguish between them.     

Evidence of the terdiurnal,S 3, atmospheric tide in the surface wind field over the ocean

Surface winds were measured from anchored buoys at the corners of a 100-km triangle in the Atlantic ocean for three weeks in September 1972. The measurements were part of the British Royal Society Joint Air-Sea Interaction Project, JASIN-72. Peaks were found at a frequency of 0.125 cph (8-h period) in various wind statistics, indicating the presence of the terdiurnal, S ₃, component of the atmospheric tides that had previously been extensively studied because it is a prominent component in surface air-pressure records.     

A simple spectral model for the modification of turbulence in flow over gentle hills

A model is presented which calculates the changes of the velocity variances and stress uw in flow over gentle isolated hills. At intermediate frequencies spectra of the velocity components are modified according to rapid distortion theory. At low frequencies spectral densities change in proportion to the square of the mean wind. The inner and outer layer of the flow are distinguished. Streamline curvature effects are accounted for in the vertical velocity variance and the covariance.The sensitivity of the model to several parameters is investigated. Then, its results are compared with measurements of turbulent flow over various hills and an escarpment. The model is able to simulate the structure of the modified variance and covariance fields although larger differences occur at individual positions. The calculated modified spectra compare well with observed spectra.     

Influence of internal gravity waves on sound propagation in the lower atmosphere

Summary The effects of internal waves on the propagation of acoustic pulses in the lower atmosphere were studied theoretically and by acoustic pulse sounding of the stable atmospheric boundary layer. Due to a control in the experiments of the stratification and time variations of meteorological parameters, such as wind speed, temperature and atmospheric pressure, we were able to observe the influence of the variations of these parameters on a pulse wave form, travel time and time duration. For the travel time and wind speed variations we obtained statistical characteristics (variances, frequency spectra and coherences) in the range of periods from 1 min to 1h and found several dominant periods, which are inherent to the trapped internal waves in the lower atmosphere. Using a nonlinear model of internal wave spectrum in the atmosphere described here we have made the calculations of variances, frequency spectra and structure functions of travel time fluctuations, which allowed us to interpret some of the observed data.     

Taylor's hypothesis and spectra of velocity and temperature derivatives in a turbulent shear flow

Spectral densities of temporal velocity and temperature derivatives, measured in the atmospheric turbulent boundary layer and on the axis of a turbulent plane jet, are compared with the spectral densities of the ratios of these derivatives and of the local longitudinal instantaneous velocity. The comparison between the spectral densities, when both are normalized such that the areas under the spectra are equal, shows that the corrected spectrum is lower than the measured spectrum at frequencies larger than about one-seventh of the Kolmogorov frequency while the opposite trend is observed at low frequencies. A qualitatively similar result has been obtained when the measured velocity derivative spectrum is compared with that corrected using Lumley's method. While the unnormalized spectral densities and moments of the derivatives, as corrected by Lumley's method are smaller than the corresponding measured quantities, the opposite trend is found when the correction is made by dividing the temporal derivative by the longitudinal instantaneous velocity.     

Sea‐level response at Nain,Labrador, to atmospheric pressure and wind

Abstract

Two years of subtidal sea‐level data from Nain, Labrador, are analysed in terms of local atmospheric pressure and the two components of geostrophic wind or stress. Frequency‐dependent response coefficients are determined by multiple regression analysis involving inversion of the cross‐spectral matrix of the inputs. At very low frequencies the response to pressure is isostatic and the wind stress coefficients are consistent with those determined by Thompson et al. (1985) from analysis of a longer series of monthly means. There is very little change in the response between icy and ice‐free seasons. The wind, or stress, coefficients correspond to geostrophic set‐up by a narrow longshore current but do not show as much of an increase of phase lag with increasing frequency as expected. The pressure response is less than isostatic and lags as the frequency increases from zero to about 0.02 cph. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Removal of wind as well as pressure effects ffom the sea‐level data makes only minor changes to the monthly mean residual sea‐level.     

Surface layer turbulence spectra and dissipation rates during low winds in tropics

Spectral characteristics of surface layer turbulence in an urban atmosphere are investigated. The observations used for this purpose represent low wind conditions in the tropics. The normalized power spectral shapes exhibit the usual characteristics in the inertial subrange and obey Monin-Obukhov scaling. However, the low-frequency behaviours do not conform to the previous observed relations. For horizontal components, large energy is contained in the low frequencies in contrast to the vertical component where roll-off to zero frequency is faster.The turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate estimated from the spectra using Kolmogorov's inertial subrange law is found to be isotropic unlike the velocity variances. The expressions for the dimensionless dissipation rate do not seem to work well in low winds in an urban atmosphere. For the data considered, the dissipation rate exhibits a power law relationship with the mean windspeed and the friction velocity.     

Spectra of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and Water Vapour in the Marine Atmospheric Surface Layer

Spectra of CO₂ and water vapour fluctuations from measurements made in the marine atmospheric surface layer have been analyzed. A normalization of spectra based on Monin–Obukhov similarity theory, originally developed for wind speed and temperature, has been successfully extended also to CO₂ and humidity spectra. The normalized CO₂ spectra were observed to have somewhat larger contributions from low frequencies compared to humidity spectra during unstable stratification. However, overall, the CO₂ and humidity spectra showed good agreement as did the cospectra of vertical velocity with water vapour and CO₂ respectively. During stable stratification the spectra and cospectra displayed a well-defined spectral gap separating the mesoscale and small-scale turbulent fluctuations. Two-dimensional turbulence was suggested as a possible source for the mesoscale fluctuations, which in combination with wave activity in the vertical wind is likely to explain the increase in the cospectral energy for the corresponding frequency range. Prior to the analysis the turbulence time series of the density measurements were converted to time series of mixing ratios relative to dry air. Some differences were observed when the spectra based on the original density measurements were compared to the spectra based on the mixing ratio time series. It is thus recommended to always convert the density time series to mixing ratio before performing spectral analysis.     

Turbulence Structure In Unstable Conditions Over Various Surfaces

A comprehensive study of the turbulent structure of the atmospheric boundary layer in unstable conditions has been carried out using turbulence data obtained from the Gobi desert, grassland, suburban and urban sites based on the same instrumentation, data acquisition and data processing systems. The normalized standard deviations of u and v over the suburban and urban sites are systematically smaller than those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. However, the normalized standard deviations of w, temperature and humidity q over the suburban and urban sites are quite close to those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. The normalized humidity standard deviations are quite similar to those of temperature over the grassland and suburban sites. The temperature and humidity spectra are found to be independentof atmospheric stability in all frequency ranges, but spectra obtained from the Gobi desert and grassland sites reveal flatter peaks than those of the suburban and urban sites in the lower frequency range. The normalized spectral curves of temperature and humidity are independent of atmospheric stability both at high and low frequencies. The spectral characteristics of humidity over the grassland and suburban sites aresimilar to those of temperature, but the humidity spectra over the Gobi desert site are quite different from temperature spectra due to evaporation and/or large eddies in the boundary layer.     

Spectra of surface wind speed and air temperature over the ocean in the mesoscale frequency range in JASIN-1978

Based on the data from an array of buoys during the JASIN-1978 field experiment made in an area northwest of Scotland, power spectra of surface wind speed and air temperature over the ocean in the mesoscale frequency range were studied. The averaged composite spectrum of wind speed for the whole period shows the existence of a spectral gap in the frequency range from 10^–4 to 5 × 10^–3 Hz. However, significant peaks in this range are often seen in particular spectra under certain weather conditions. Mesoscale spectral peaks of wind speed occur in 14 segments of the data record, approximately 10% of the total duration of the observations. In 4 of these segments, the mesoscale spectral peaks of both wind speed and air temperature occurred simultaneously. Several wave patterns of mesoscale atmospheric disturbances when mesoscale spectral peaks were seen are derived from phase differences between buoys. Significant mesoscale peaks in spectra appear in relatively strong winds and unstable or near-neutral atmospheric conditions, and none in stable atmospheric conditions. A criterion of wind speed and atmospheric stability is found for the mesoscale spectral peak appearance.     

Determination of turbulent momentum and heat fluxes by spectral methods

Methods are studied which permit one to evaluate turbulent fluxes from the results of spectral measurements in turbulent laboratory flows and an unstable atmospheric surface layer. The well known dissipation method of flux measurements, which uses spectral data related to the inertial range, is reanalyzed. New theoretical ideas and the latest experimental data are used to specify this method in cases of moderately and very strongly unstable thermal stratifications.Moreover, it is also explained how to estimate momentum and heat fluxes from data in the low frequency parts of the velocity and temperature spectra in the low frequency ranges beyond the lower limit of the inertial range. This permits one to estimate fluxes using rather simple and cheap instruments (e.g., Pilot-tubes and thermocouples in laboratory flows or cup anemometers and crude resistance thermometers in meteorological studies). The equations for flux determination are based in such cases on the recent models by Kader (1987, 1988) and Kader and Yaglom (1990, 1991) of spectral shapes at mesoscale wave numbers; these models agree quite satisfactorily with many (though not all) data of direct spectral measurements. It is shown that estimated momentum and heat fluxes in the laboratory and in an unstably stratified atmospheric surface layer obtained by the method suggested in this paper agree satisfactorily with direct flux measurements.     

Modelling velocity spectra in the lower part of the planetary boundary layer

Principles used when constructing models for velocity spectra are reviewed. Based upon data from the Kansas and Minnesota experiments, simple spectral models are set up for all velocity components in stable air at low heights, and for the vertical spectrum in unstable air through a larger part of the planetary boundary layer. Knowledge of the variation with stability of the (reduced) frequency % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaaccaGae8NKby% kaaa!37B5!\[f\] _m for the spectral maximum is utilized in this modelling. Stable spectra may be normalized so that they adhere to one curve only, irrespective of stability, and unstable w-spectra may also be normalized to fit one curve.The problem of using filtered velocity variances when modelling spectra is discussed. A simplified procedure to provide a first estimate of the filter effect is given.In stable, horizontal velocity spectra, there is often a gap at low frequencies. Using dimensional considerations and the spectral model previously derived, an expression for the gap frequency is found.     

Statistical characteristics of concentration fluctuations in dispersing plumes in the atmospheric surface layer

Measurements have been made of concentration fluctuations in a dispersing plume from an elevated point source in the atmospheric surface layer using a recently developed fast-response photoionization detector. This detector, which has a frequency response (–6 dB point) of about 100 Hz, is shown to be capable of resolving the fluctuation variance contributed by the energetic subrange and most of the inertial-convective subrange, with a reduction in the fluctuation variance due to instrument smoothing of the finest scales present in the plume of at most 4%.Concentration time series have been analyzed to obtain the statistical characteristics of both the amplitude and temporal structure of the dispersing plume. We present alongwind and crosswind concentration fluctuation profiles of statistics of amplitude structure such as total and conditional fluctuation intensity, skewness and kurtosis, and of temporal structure such as intermittency factor, burst frequency, and mean burst persistence time. Comparisons of empirical concentration probability distributions with a number of model distributions show that our near-neutral data are best represented by the lognormal distribution at shorter ranges, where both plume meandering and fine-scale in-plume mixing are equally important (turbulent-convective regime), and by the gamma distribution at longer ranges, where internal structure or spottiness is becoming dominant (turbulent-diffusive regime). The gamma distribution provides the best model of the concentration pdf over all downwind fetches for data measured under stable stratification. A physical model is developed to explain the mechanism-induced probabilistic schemes in the alongwind development of a dispersing plume, that lead to the observed probability distributions of concentration. Probability distributions of concentration burst length and burst return period have been extracted and are shown to be modelled well with a powerlaw distribution. Power spectra of concentration fluctuations are presented. These spectra exhibit a significant inertial-convective subrange, with the frequency at the spectral peak decreasing with increasing downwind fetch. The Kolmogorov constant for the inertial-convective subrange has been determined from the measured spectra to be 0.17±0.03.     

On the analysis of wind wave-induced disturbances in the atmospheric turbulent surface layer

Simultaneous measurements of wind velocity, air humidity and sea surface wave-elevation fluctuations obtained on a platform in the open Caspian Sea are analyzed.It is shown that wave noises exist in the spectra and cospectra of the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer, not only for the frequency of the main energy transporting component of the sea waves, but also in other parts of the spectra, at both lower and higher frequencies. The high frequencies are noncoherent with the sea waves and could be considered as measurement errors due to the existence of the waves. A method of elimination of the coherent wave noises from the spectra and cospectra is suggested and the effectiveness of its application is demonstrated.The essential difference between cases of developing and decaying wind waves is demonstrated.     

SOME MEASUREMENTS OF TURBULENCE CHARACTERISTICS OVER COMPLEX TERRAIN

Results are presented from a windturbulence measurements campaign at the summit of ahill in complex terrain in Andros island (Greece)where a wind turbine park has been constructed. Meanturbulence parameters and power spectra from three 30 mmasts located at the summit, upwind and downwind ofthe hill are analysed to ascertain the differencesfrom respective parameters in flat terrain and toassess the influence of the irregular topography. Thevariances of the horizontal (vertical) wind components are found tobe smaller (larger) than the onesfrom flat terrain. Of the available correlations forthe power spectra, the Von Karman one was found togive better results, although the low frequency partsshow pronounced lags. The asymmetry of the upwindterrain for different wind directions and especiallyits slope is clearly felt both by variances and byspectra. This influence, as expected, is found toincrease with increasing stability. These results havean important significance for wind turbine design andwind energy utilisation.     

Some aspects of the interpretation of spectra in meteorology

The meaningfulness of spectral presentations, and of spectral peaks in particular, is considered by the use of simple examples. First, we derive analytically the spectra of sinusoidal finite-length waves and subject the spectra to several area-conserving transformations. The peak of the logarithmic spectrum (power density per unit natural logarithm of frequency) is shown to be the most appropriate for defining the scales (or frequencies) of the waves. The advantage of the logarithmic spectrum becomes even more apparent when a wave consisting of the positive part of a sine wave is considered. In that case, the conventional frequency presentation is misleading because in addition to the erroneous location of the spectral peak, an increase of power density towards low frequencies occurs, giving the spectra the appearance of red noise. For the same wave, it is shown that the logarithmic spectrum has a single peak at the position corresponding with the actual wave frequency.     

Frequency of Boundary-Layer-Top Fluctuations in Convective and Stable Conditions Using Laser Remote Sensing

The planetary boundary-layer (PBL) height is determined with high temporal and altitude resolution from lidar backscatter profiles. Then, the frequencies of daytime thermal updrafts and downdrafts and of nighttime gravity waves are obtained applying a fast Fourier transform on the temporal fluctuation of the PBL height. The principal frequency components of each spectrum are related to the dominant processes occurring at the daytime and nighttime PBL top. Two groups of cases are selected for the study: one group combines daytime cases, measured in weak horizontal wind conditions and dominated by convection. The cases show higher updraft and downdraft frequencies for the shallow, convective boundary layer and lower frequencies for a deep PBL. For cases characterized by strong horizontal winds, the frequencies directly depend on the wind speed. The temporal variation of the PBL height is determined also in the likely presence of lee waves. For nighttime cases, the main frequency components in the spectra do not show a real correlation with the nocturnal PBL height. Altitude fluctuations of the top of the nocturnal boundary layer are observed even though the boundary layer is statically stable. These oscillations are associated with the wind shear effect and with buoyancy waves at the PBL top.     

Turbulence spectra in the near-neutral surface layer over the Loess Plateau in China

We present the power spectra of wind velocity and the cospectra of momentum and heat fluxes observed for different wind directions over flat terrain and a large valley on the Loess Plateau. The power spectra of longitudinal (u) and lateral (v) wind speeds satisfy the −5/3 power law in the inertial subrange, but do not vary as observed in previous studies within the low frequency range. The u spectrum measured at 32 m height for flow from the valley shows a power deficit at intermediate frequencies, while the v spectrum at 32 m downwind of the valley reaches another peak in the low frequency range at the same frequency as the u spectrum. The corresponding peak wavelength is consistent with the observed length scale of the convective outer layer at the site. The v spectrum for flat terrain shows a spectral gap at mid frequencies while obeying inner layer scaling in its inertial subrange, suggesting two sources of turbulence in the surface layer. All the spectra and cospectra from the valley direction show a height dependency over the three levels.