Development of observation-based parameterizations of standard deviations of wind velocity fluctuations over an Indian region

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The present study utilizes the turbulence observations over an Indian region, Ranchi, to study the diurnal and seasonal characteristics of mean and turbulent...     

A Semi-Analytical Approach for Parametrization of the Obukhov Stability Parameter in the Unstable Atmospheric Surface Layer

A semi-analytical scheme is proposed to parametrize the Obukhov stability parameter \(\zeta \) (= \(z/L\) ; \(z\) is the height above the ground and \(L\) is the Obukhov length) in terms of the bulk Richardson number ( \(R_{iB}\) ) in unstable conditions within the framework of Monin–Obukhov similarity (MOS) theory. The scheme involves, (i) a solution of a cubic equation in \(\zeta \) whose coefficients depend on the gradient Richardson number ( \(R_{i}\) ), and (ii) a relationship between \(R_{i}\) and \(R_{iB}\) . The proposed scheme is applicable for a wide range (i) \(-5\le R_{iB}\le 0\) , (ii) \(0\le \hbox {ln}(z_{0}/z_{h})\le 29.0\) , and (iii) \(10\le z/z_{0}\le 10^{5}\) and performs relatively better than all other schemes in terms of accuracy in computation of surface-layer transfer coefficients. The absolute errors in computing the transfer coefficients do not exceed 7 %. The analysis presented here is found to be valid for different \(\gamma _{m}\) and \(\gamma _{h}\) appearing in the expressions of the similarity functions \(\varphi _{m}\) and \(\varphi _{h}\) (representing non-dimensional wind and temperature profiles), so long as the ratio of \(\gamma _{m}\) to \(\gamma _{h} \ge 1\) . The improved scheme can be easily employed in atmospheric modelling for a comprehensive range of \(R_{iB}\) and a variety of surfaces.     

Identification of a Point of Release by Use of Optimally Weighted Least Squares

This paper addresses the parametric inverse problem of locating the point of release of atmospheric pollution. A finite set of observed mixing ratios is compared, by use of least squares, with the analogous mixing ratios computed by an adjoint dispersion model for all possible locations of the release. Classically, the least squares are weighted using the covariance matrix of the measurement errors. However, in practice, this matrix cannot be determined for the prevailing part of these errors arising from the limited representativity of the dispersion model. An alternative weighting proposed here is related to a unified approach of the parametric and assimilative inverse problems corresponding, respectively, to identification of the point of emission or estimation of the distributed emissions. The proposed weighting is shown to optimize the resolution and numerical stability of the inversion. The importance of the most common monitoring networks, with point detectors at various locations, is stressed as a misleading singular case. During the procedure it is also shown that a monitoring network, under given meteorological conditions, itself contains natural statistics about the emissions, irrespective of prior assumptions.     

Least Square Data Assimilation for Identification of the Point Source Emissions

The identification of single and multiple-point emission sources from limited number of atmospheric concentration measurements is addressed using least square data assimilation technique. During the process, a new two-step algorithm is proposed for optimization, free from initialization and filtering singular regions in a natural way. Source intensities are expressed in terms of their locations reducing the degree of freedom of unknowns to be estimated. In addition, a strategy is suggested for reducing the computational time associated with the multiple-point source identification. The methodology is evaluated with the synthetic, pseudo-real and noisy set of measurements for two and three simultaneous point emissions. With the synthetic data, algorithm estimates the source parameters exactly same as the prescribed in all the cases. With the pseudo-real data, two and three point release locations are retrieved with an average error of 17 m and intensities are estimated on an average within a factor of 2. Finally, the advantages and limitations of the proposed methodology are discussed.     

Surface-Layer Characteristics in the Stable Boundary Layer with Strong and Weak Winds

An extensive meteorological dataset obtained from the plumevalidation experiment conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) atKincaid during 1980–1981 is analysed for studying the characteristic differences in thesurface-layer parameters in strong and weak wind stable conditions. The surface-layerparameters are computed using the similarity functions _m and _h proposed byBeljaars and Holtslag. The weak winds are characterized using the geostrophic wind speedas well as the wind speed at the 10-m level. The surface fluxes are found to be finitein weak wind conditions.Empirical formulations for the eddy diffusivities of momentum(K_M) and heat (K_H), and drag (C_D) and heat exchange (C_H) coefficients, as powerlaw functions of the bulk Richardson number (Ri_B), are proposed under both strong andweak wind conditions. Results are close to those based on observations taken from the IndianInstitute of Technology low wind diffusion experiment, the Land surface processes experiment,the Hanford diffusion experiment, the Cabauw field experiment and the Cooperative Atmospheric SurfaceExchange Study 1999 (CASES-99) experiment. In addition, the fluxes obtained fromthe proposed empirical relations are in good agreement with those based on similarity theory as wellas the turbulence measurements taken from the CASES-99 experiment.     

Analysis of Weak Wind Stable Conditions from the Observations of the Land Surface Processes Experiment at Anand in India

The observations in weak wind stable conditions are scarce. The present study examines the observations from the Land Surface Processes Experiment (LASPEX) conducted at Anand, (Gujarat, India) during the year 1997–1998 to study the characteristics of surface layer under weak wind stable conditions. The observed surface fluxes are compared with those computed using Monin-Obukhov (M-O) similarity theory. The upper air observations and regional climatology are used to justify the persistence of weak wind conditions at Anand. The frequency of occurrence of weak wind stable conditions is observed to be around 67%. In 86% of the cases under weak wind conditions, bulk Richardson number (R_iB) is found to be larger than 0.2. The magnitude of surface fluxes computed from M-O similarity theory is shown to be smaller in comparison to those based on the observations in weak wind stable conditions. Surface fluxes computed using the empirical relations for the eddy diffusivities and drag and heat exchange coefficients are found to be comparable with those based on M-O similarity theory however these fluxes are under-predicted in comparison to the observations. The traditional M-O similarity theory is not able to simulate the observed fluxes well in weak wind stable conditions at Anand.     

Inverse Modelling for Identification of Multiple-Point Releases from Atmospheric Concentration Measurements

An inverse modelling methodology is proposed for the identification of multiple-point sources releasing similar tracer, in which influences from the various emissions are merged in each detector’s measurement. The identification is addressed from a limited merged set of atmospheric concentration measurements. The methodology is blended with the natural information provided by the geometry of the monitoring network in terms of the weight functions that interpret the associated visibility/illumination of the monitoring network. The release parameters, locations and intensities of the multiple-point sources are estimated by minimizing the objective function within the least squares framework. The methodology has been successfully applied to identify the two- and three- point simultaneous emissions from synthetic measurements generated by the model without noise or with controlled noise artificially added, and from pseudo-real measurements generated from the Indian Institute of Technology low wind diffusion experiment by combining several of single-point release runs. With the synthetic measurements, all the release parameters are retrieved exactly as those prescribed in all the runs. With the pseudo-real measurements, the release locations are retrieved with an average error of 13 m and intensities are estimated on an average within a factor of 1.5. In a sensitivity analysis, it is shown that the incurred errors in the retrieval of the two- and three-point sources with the pseudo-real data correspond to the 10–30 % Gaussian distributed random noise in the observations. Theoretical and computational comparisons are given between the weighted and non-weighted classical formulations. In addition, an alternative strategy is proposed in order to reduce the computational time required in the source estimation.     

Microwave response to broad leaf vegetation (Spinach) and vegetation covered moist soil for remote sensing

Soil moisture is one of the most important parameter which controls the growth of the vegetation. For accurate data and sufficient information to increase food production, remote sensing technique is highly useful. This paper deals with the bistatic microwave response of spinach and spinach covered soil moisture at various growth stages on X-band if the frequency spectrum. The microwave response of spinach in different stages of growth have been studied in terms of scattering co-efficient (σ^°). The look angle effect on σ^° is observed for like polarization i.e. (VV-and-HH) only. A linear regression analysis has been done between the vegetation covered soil moisture and scattering co-efficient. It provides an idea that VV-polarization is more sensitive than HH-polarizalion for vegetation covered soil moisture and best suitable look angle for observing vegetation covered soil moisture is less than 40°(θ<40°).     

Finite element analysis of underground openings

A highly efficient technique is presented for the finite element analysis of stresses around underground openings surrounded by an infinite extent of linearly elastic rock mass. The effect of unbounded rock is incorporated in the analysis by using elastic supports around the finite element model. Expressions for stiffnesses of the elastic supports are derived and these are found to depend on the location of elastic supports, the shear modulus and Poisson's ratio of the rock, and the ratio of horizontal to vertical initial stresses. With the use of the proposed technique, the extent of the finite domain to be considered in the analysis is highly reduced. This results in a great computational advantage. The other principal merit of the proposed technique is that a standard finite element code for stress analysis may be used without making any modification. Results of some numerical tests are reported to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. The technique has the potential of being applied to more complex problems of unbounded domains in geomechanics.     

Role of sea surface temperature on the equatorial waves and intraseasonal oscillations

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Ocean interactions are known to play a major role in the modulation of intraseasonal variability. The role of sea surface temperature (SST) and major oceanic...