Flow over Hills: A Large-Eddy Simulation of the Bolund Case

Simulation of local atmospheric flows around complex topography is important for several applications in wind energy (short-term wind forecasting and turbine siting and control), local weather prediction in mountainous regions and avalanche risk assessment. However, atmospheric simulation around steep mountain topography remains challenging, and a number of different approaches are used to represent such topography in numerical models. The immersed boundary method (IBM) is particularly well-suited for efficient and numerically stable simulation of flow around steep terrain. It uses a homogenous grid and permits a fast meshing of the topography. Here, we use the IBM in conjunction with a large-eddy simulation (LES) and test it against two unique datasets. In the first comparison, the LES is used to reproduce experimental results from a wind-tunnel study of a smooth three-dimensional hill. In the second comparison, we simulate the wind field around the Bolund Hill, Denmark, and make direct comparisons with field measurements. Both cases show good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data, with the largest disagreement observed near the surface. The source of error is investigated by performing additional simulations with a variety of spatial resolutions and surface roughness properties.     

Towards a Method for Quantitative LA‐ICP‐MS Imaging of Multi‐Phase Assemblages: Mineral Identification and Analysis Correction Procedures

Here, we present an approach to laser ablation ICP‐MS mapping of multi‐phase assemblages that permits the use of different internal standard elements, concentration values and reference materials for each mineral. In this way, we obtain not only broad pictures of elemental distributions within samples but can also extract high accuracy concentration data for any user‐selected region. This is accomplished by assigning regions of an image to corresponding mineral phases on a pixel‐by‐pixel basis. In this way, accurate trace element concentrations can be determined for each mineral phase, despite potential variations in their ablation characteristics. We present an example where elemental maps are constructed from ablation of a gabbroic sample that includes the phases apatite, amphibole and plagioclase. This work represents an important first step towards development of a method to produce highly accurate LA‐ICP‐MS elemental maps of multi‐phase samples.     

Characterizing snowmelt anomalies in hydrochemographs of a karst spring,Cumberland Valley,Pennsylvania (USA): evidence for multiple recharge pathways

Conductivity, water level, air temperature, and depth of snowpack were monitored during a 26-day melt period of 88-cm-deep snowpack at a karst spring to characterize internal runoff and diffuse infiltration. Chloride from road salt provided a tracer and the snowpack a recharge source during the melt period. The melt period was divided into phases based on air temperature and chemograph pattern. For the first and third phases, mean air temperatures were below freezing, but above freezing during the second and fourth phases. During the first phase when the temperature peaked above freezing, conductivity typically spiked 10–50 μS/cm, suggesting input of road salt from conduits. When the snowpack continuously melted, conductivity and water-level trends were upward with smaller daily spikes in conductivity indicating infiltration from the dilute snowpack. This pattern suggests that road salt input continued when snowmelt recharged through the epikarst, but at lower concentrations than the conduit input. Refreezing of the snowpack and shallow subsurface for a brief period interrupted the recharge, and there was no longer a sawtooth pattern of conductivity. It is apparent that frozen conditions did not cease recharge because a dual recharge process was evident. While dual recharge from internal runoff and diffuse infiltration occurred, the portions varied because of changing melting rates. Observed patterns indicated internal runoff dominated during frozen periods because recharge water moved as overland flow across a frozen surface to focused pathways. Diffuse infiltration became available during warmer periods because subsurface thawing allowed the snowmelt to penetrate the epikarst. Results of snowmelt monitoring in spring discharge indicated the transient nature of karst recharge.     

Large Wind Farms and the Scalar Flux over an Heterogeneously Rough Land Surface

The influence of surface heterogeneities extends vertically within the atmospheric surface layer to the so-called blending height, causing changes in the fluxes of momentum and scalars. Inside this region the turbulence structure cannot be treated as horizontally homogeneous; it is highly dependent on the local surface roughness, the buoyancy and the horizontal scale of heterogeneity. The present study analyzes the change in scalar flux induced by the presence of a large wind farm installed across a heterogeneously rough surface. The change in the internal atmospheric boundary-layer structure due to the large wind farm is decomposed and the change in the overall surface scalar flux is assessed. The equilibrium length scale characteristic of surface roughness transitions is found to be determined by the relative position of the smooth-to-rough transition and the wind turbines. It is shown that the change induced by large wind farms on the scalar flux is of the same order of magnitude as the adjustment they naturally undergo due to surface patchiness.