Countergradient Fluxes of Conserved Variables in the Clear convective and Stratocumulus-topped Boundary Layer: The role of the Entrainment Flux

Large-eddy simulations of a clear convective boundary layer (CBL)and a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer are studied. Bottom-upand a top-down scalars were included in the simulations, and theprinciple of linear superposition of variables was applied toreconstruct the fields of any arbitrary conserved variable.This approach allows a systematic analysis of countergradient fluxesas a function of the flux ratio, which is defined as the ratio betweenthe entrainment flux and the surface flux of the conserved quantity.In general, the turbulent flux of an arbitrary conserved quantityis counter to the mean vertical gradient if the heights where thevertical flux and the mean vertical gradient change sign do notcoincide. The regime where the flux is countergradient is thereforebounded by the so-called zero-flux and zero-gradient heights. Becausethe vertical flux changes sign only if the entrainment flux has anopposite sign to the surface flux, countergradient fluxes arepredominantly found for negative flux ratios. In the CBL the fluxratio for the virtual potential temperature is, to a good approximation,constant, and equal to -0.2. Only if the moisture contribution to thevirtual potential temperature is negligibly small will the flux ratio forthe potential temperature be equal to this value. Otherwise, theflux ratio for the potential temperature can have any arbitrary(negative) value, and, as a consequence, the fluxes for thepotential temperature and the virtual potential temperature willbe countergradient at different heights. As a practical application ofthe results, vertical profiles of the countergradient correction termfor different entrainment-to-surface-flux ratios are discussed.     

A New Tethered Balloon-Borne Payload for Fine-Scale Observations in the Cloudy Boundary Layer

A new scientific payload is introduced for fine-scale measurements of meteorological (wind vector, static air temperature, humidity, and air pressure) and microphysical (aerosol particles and cloud droplets) properties, suspended below a tethered balloon. The high resolution sensors and the tethered balloon are described. Measurements in a lifted fog layer from a first field campaign are presented.The detailed investigation of the fog/haze and the temperature inversion layer demonstrates the damping influence of the fog on temperature fluctuations, while thewind fluctuations are significantly decreased by theevolving temperature inversion, whichwas about 30 m above the fog layer.From spectral analysis the noise floors of the high-resolution sensors are determined to10^-6 kg m^-3 for the LWC (liquid water content) and 4 mK for the fast temperature sensor (UFT-B). The correlation betweentemperature and LWC structures in shallow haze layers is investigated. The release of latent heat and the corresponding warming in the haze of about 0.1 K could be quantified.     

The Control Of Coherent Eddies In Vegetation Canopies: Streamwise Structure Spacing, Canopy Shear Scale And Atmospheric Stability

An analogy has been established between a plane mixing layer and the atmospheric flow near the top of a vegetation canopy. It is based on a common feature, a strong inflection in the mean velocity profile, responsible for hydrodynamical instabilities that set the pattern for the coherent eddies and determine the turbulence length scales. In an earlier study, this analogy was tested using a small data set from thirteen experiments, all in near-neutral conditions. It provided a good prediction of the streamwise spacing _w of the dominant canopy eddies (evaluated from time series of vertical velocity) that appears to depend on a shear length scale L_s = U(h)/U'(h), where h is canopy height, U is mean velocity and U' the vertical gradient dU/dz. The present analysis utilizes an extensive data set of approximately 700 thirty-minute runs, from six experiments on two forest sites and a maize crop, with a large range of stability conditions. _w was estimated for each run using the wavelet transform as an objective, automated detection method. First, the variations of _w and L_s with atmospheric stability are discussed. Neutral and unstable values exhibit a large scatter whereas in stable conditions both variables decrease with increasing stability. It is subsequently found that _w is directly related to L_s, in a way close to the neutral prediction _w /h = 8.1L_s/h.The Strouhal number S_tr = L_s /_w is then shown to vary with atmospheric stability, weakly in unstable conditions, more significantly in stable conditions. Altogether these results suggest that, to some extent, the plane mixing-layer analogy can be extended to non-neutral conditions. It is argued that the primary effect of atmospheric stability, at least in stable conditions, is to modify the shear length scale L_s through changes in U(h) and U'(h), which in turn determines the streamwise spacing of the active, coherent motions.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地近地层春季铅直湍流的小波分析

利用塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地近地层10m高度处快速响应探测系统的湍流资料,对春季晴天和沙尘暴天气下不同稳定层结的铅直湍流脉动进行小波变化及其方差分析,以期了解铅直湍流的尺度结构特征。结果表明,不稳定层结条件下,春季晴天近地层的铅直湍流脉动以12—17S的周期为主,最小周期为1-1．5s;春季沙尘暴时最主要的周期则为6-10s,最小周期为0．4—0．6s。沙尘暴时不稳定层结的湍流尺度总体上小于晴天,较小尺度波动振荡更加明显,湍流运动比晴天更加频繁。稳定层结条件下,春季晴天以10—16S的周期振荡为主,最小周期为1．3-1．8s;春季沙尘暴则以11—20s的周期振荡为主,最小周期为0．5—0．8s。晴天稳定层结时的铅直脉动比沙尘暴时周期小,小周期的湍流运动更明显一些,但周期更小的波动在沙尘暴天气时则多一些。     

A video-plankton and microstructure profiler for the exploration of in situ connections between zooplankton and turbulence

Turbulence and mixing are ubiquitous in the environment of planktonic organisms and critical in large-scale physical and chemical oceanographic budgets. Recent studies have shown conflicting results on the contribution of zooplankton to ocean mixing as well as the impact of turbulence on zooplankton feeding and swimming behavior. Some of the confusion arises from the lack of properly resolved, simultaneous and co-located observations of zooplankton and turbulence. This paper introduces and discusses results from preliminary deployments of a Video Plankton Recorder–Vertical Microstructure Profiler (VPR–VMP), which is shown to provide good quality, high-resolution, simultaneous observations of zooplankton and turbulence. Non-turbulent shear spectra associated with a zooplankton layer are discussed in terms of automating the rejection of unreliable dissipation estimates, the shear created by individual organisms and profiler avoidance. Comparing these fine-scale observations of zooplankton and turbulence with bulk measures and possible future improvements are also discussed.     

Magnetic reconnection in plasmas

A review of the present status of the theory of magnetic reconnection is given. In strongly collisional plasmas reconnection proceeds via resistive current sheets, i.e. quasi-stationary macroscopic Sweet-Parker sheets at intermediate values of the magnetic Reynolds numberR _m , or mirco-current sheets in MHD turbulence, which develops at highR _m . In hot, dilute plasmas the reconnection dynamics is dominated by nondissipative effects, mainly the Hall term and electron inertia. Reconnection rates are found to depend only on the ion mass, being independent of the electron inertia and the residual dissipation coefficients. Small-scale whistler turbulence is readily excited giving rise to an anomalous electron viscosity. Hence reconnection may be much more rapid than predicted by conventional resistive theory.     

Settling velocities of particulate systems 15: Velocities in turbulent Newtonian flows

The success in previous papers of this series in obtaining closed form solutions to the sedimentation of individual particles and to the suspensions of particles in fluids motivated the application of the same procedure to the turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids in conduits.The purpose of this paper is to present explicit equations for the Fanning friction factor and of the average velocity of a Newtonian fluid in a cylindrical tube, for any value of the Reynolds number and dimensionless roughness.Previously published equations for the friction coefficient are either implicit or explicit in the friction coefficient but dependent on the Reynolds number. Since the Reynolds number depends on the pipe diameter and fluid velocity, in both cases iterative method must be used to calculate the flowrate.By defining a dimensionless pipe diameter and a dimensionless average fluid velocity, and using conduit-flow material properties to define characteristic size and velocity parameters, explicit equations were obtained for the friction coefficient and for the average flow velocity valid for different roughness and flow regimes.     

A multiple scale modeling system for coastal hurricane wind damage mitigation

Hurricane wind damage constitutes the largest percentage of catastrophic insured losses in the US. Yet the complicated wind structures and their changes are not fully understood and, thus, have not been considered in current risk catastrophic models. To obtain realistic landfall hurricane surface winds, a large eddy simulation (LES) framework in a weather forecasting mode has been developed from a multiple nested Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model to explicitly simulate a spectrum of scales from large-scale background flow, hurricane vortex, mesoscale organizations, down to fine-scale turbulent eddies in a unified system. The unique WRF-LES enables the high resolution data to be generated in a realistic environment as a hurricane evolves. In this paper, a simulation of the landfalling Hurricane Katrina is presented to demonstrate various features of the WRF-LES. It shows that the localized damaging winds are caused by the large eddy circulations generated in the hurricane boundary layer. With a sufficient computational power, WRF-LES has the potential to be developed into the next generation operational public wind-field model for hurricane wind damage mitigation.     

VELOCITY FIELD AND RESISTANCE OF FLOW OVER ROUGH SURFACES WITH LARGE AND SMALL RELATIVE SUBMERGENCE

LINTRODUCTIONPreciseknowledgeofthevelocityfieldandthecorrespondingresistanceofflowoverrollghsurfacesareofgreatimportanceformanypracticalproblemssuchastheestimationofthestabilitVofbedmaterialinerosiveriversortheremovalofaccumulatedfinesedimentfromthechannelandthelooseningofgravelbedmaterialbycontrolledreleaseofreservoirwater.Thelatterprocedure,calledflushingflows,isfrequentlyspecifiedtorestoreortomaintainaquatichabitat(WILCOCKetal.,1996).Dependingonwaterdepthhandroughnessheightk.(=equiv…