Turbulent mixing of reactive gases in the convective boundary layer

We study the interactions of chemistry and turbulent mixing of tracersin the convective boundary layer with a second-order closure model,including higher order chemistry terms. In order to limit the number of predictive equations we prescribe the profiles for ¯w¯, ¯w¯ ¯ and the lengthscale l. However, for model validation we treat temperature and humidity asinert tracers, and compare the results with profiles observed during theAir Mass Transformation Experiment, and with similarity expressions for thesurface layer. We find good agreement of the mean profiles, but the (co-)variances are slightly underpredicted. Furthermore, the model usesdiagnostic equations expressing third moments of concentration in terms ofsecond moments and their vertical derivatives. They are compared withlarge-eddy model results, showing good agreement and, therefore, thesimplifications are justified. The model is applied to the transport of two gases subject to one bimolecular reaction. The importance of concentration correlations on themean transformation rate is studied. For two gases diffusing in oppositedirections we find for moderate and fast chemistry a 50% and90% decreased transformation rate due to the negatively correlatedconcentrations. These values are similar to large-eddy results of Schumannand Sykes et al. For two bottom-up tracers we find that the covariance ofboth reactive species is either positive or negative, increasing or reducingthe effective transformation rate depending on the Damköhler number (the ratio of the turbulent and the chemistry timescale). A significantdirect influence of chemistry on the flux divergence is found in bothcases. According to the model the effective transport to mid-levels of theboundary layer is increased when two reactive tracers diffuse in oppositedirections, and decreased in the case of two bottom-up tracers.