scholarly journals Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Drobinski ◽  
Pierre Carlotti ◽  
Jean-Luc Redelsperger ◽  
Valery Masson ◽  
Robert M. Banta ◽  
...  

Abstract This study combines the experimental measurements with large-eddy simulation (LES) data of a neutral planetary boundary layer (PBL) documented by a 60-m tower instrumented with eight sonic anemometers, and a high-resolution Doppler lidar during the 1999 Cooperative Atmospheric and Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99) experiment. The target of the paper is (i) to investigate the multiscale nature of the turbulent eddies in the surface layer (SL), (ii) to explain the existence of a −1 power law in the velocity fluctuation spectra, and (iii) to investigate the different nature of turbulence in the two sublayers within the SL, which are the eddy surface layer (ESL; lower sublayer of the SL lying between the surface and about 20-m height) and the shear surface layer (SSL; lying between the ESL top and the SL top). The sonic anemometers and Doppler lidar prove to be proper instruments for LES validation, and in particular, the Doppler lidar because of its ability to map near-surface eddies. This study shows the different nature of turbulence in the ESL and the SSL in terms of organized eddies, velocity fluctuation spectra, and second-order moment statistics. If quantitative agreement is found in the SSL between the LES and the measurements, only qualitative similarity is found in the ESL due to the subgrid-scale model, indicating that the LES captures part of the physics of the ESL. The LES helps explain the origin of the −1 power-law spectral subrange evidence in the velocity fluctuation spectra computed in the SL using the CASES-99 dataset: strong interaction between the mean flow and the fluctuating vorticities is found in the SL, and turbulent production is found to be larger than turbulent energy transfer for k1z > 1 (k1 being the longitudinal wavenumber and z the height), which is the condition of the −1 power-law existence.

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1803-1819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luksa Luznik ◽  
Cody J. Brownell ◽  
Murray R. Snyder ◽  
Hyung Suk Kang

Abstract This paper describes a set of turbulence measurements at sea in the area of high flow distortion in the near-wake and recirculation zone behind a ship's superstructure that is similar in geometry to a helicopter hangar/flight deck arrangement found on many modern U.S. Navy ships. The instrumented ship is a 32-m-long training vessel operated by the United States Naval Academy that has been modified by adding a representative flight deck and hangar structure. The flight deck is instrumented with up to seven sonic anemometers/thermometers that are used to obtain simultaneous velocity measurements at various spatial locations on the flight deck, and one sonic anemometer at bow mast is used to characterize inflow atmospheric boundary conditions. Data characterizing wind over the deck at an incoming angle of 0° (head winds) and wind speeds from 2 to 10 m s−1 obtained in the Chesapeake Bay are presented and discussed. Turbulent statistics of inflow conditions are analyzed using the Kaimal universal turbulence spectral model for the atmospheric surface layer and show that for the present dataset this approach eliminates the need to account for platform motion in computing variances and covariances. Conditional sampling of mean flow and turbulence statistics at the flight deck indicate no statistically significant variations between unstable, stable, and neutral atmospheric inflow conditions, and the results agree with the published data for flows over the backward-facing step geometries.


2000 ◽  
Vol 418 ◽  
pp. 313-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. FINNIGAN ◽  
G. N. IVEY

Laboratory experiments are used to investigate the processes governing steady convectively driven circulation in a basin that communicates with a large external reservoir over a shallow sill. The motion is maintained by a steady loss of buoyancy distributed over the surface of the basin. Turbulent convection associated with the forcing produces a horizontal buoyancy gradient across the sill and the resulting mean flow consists of a layer directed into the basin near the surface with a dense counter flow below.To first order, the magnitude of the exchange flow over the sill is determined by the horizontal momentum balance within the basin. Measurements of the mean and turbulent flow fields are used to show that inertia, buoyancy and friction may each contribute significantly to the balance. The interior flow produces a horizontal pressure gradient near the surface which must also contribute to the momentum balance. The density of the lower layer at the sill reflects the cumulative effect of interior processes, such as mixing, and these in turn influence the hydraulically controlled exchange flow over the sill. The basin dynamics are therefore coupled in a nonlinear fashion with the submaximal sill exchange. This coupling is investigated first by showing how interior processes are affected by changes in the magnitude of the forcing, and then by observing the associated variation of the flow state at the sill. The flow state is defined in terms of its relative proximity to the theoretical maximal exchange limit. Results show that the exchange flows are submaximal with flow rate approximately 85% of the maximal limit. This state appears to change very little in response to increasing forcing.For a stratified basin, which exhibits a deep stagnant layer under the convectively driven near-surface exchange flow, the possibility of basin ventilation or erosion of deep fluid exists in the long term. This process and its dependence on external parameters is also explored.


1999 ◽  
Vol 386 ◽  
pp. 167-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
LIAN SHEN ◽  
XIANG ZHANG ◽  
DICK K. P. YUE ◽  
GEORGE S. TRIANTAFYLLOU

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is used to examine low Froude number free-surface turbulence (FST) over a two-dimensional mean shear flow. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved using a finite-difference scheme with a grid resolution of 1283. Twenty separate simulations are conducted to calculate the statistics of the flow. Based on the velocity deficit and the vertical extent of the shear of the mean flow, the Reynolds number is 1000 and the Froude number is 0.7. We identify conceptually and numerically the surface layer, which is a thin region adjacent to the free surface characterized by fast variations of the horizontal vorticity components. This surface layer is caused by the dynamic zero-stress boundary conditions at the free surface and lies inside a thicker blockage (or ‘source’) layer, which is due to the kinematic boundary condition at the free surface. The importance of the outer blockage layer is manifested mainly in the redistribution of the turbulence intensity, i.e. in the increase of the horizontal velocity fluctuations at the expense of the vertical velocity fluctuation. A prominent feature of FST is vortex connections to the free surface which occur inside the surface layer. It is found that as hairpin-shaped vortex structures approach the free surface, their ‘head’ part is dissipated quickly in the surface layer, while the two ‘legs’ connect almost perpendicularly to the free surface. Analysis of the evolution of surface-normal vorticity based on vortex surface-inclination angle shows that both dissipation and stretching decrease dramatically after connection. As a result, vortex structures connected to the free surface are persistent and decay slowly relative to non-connected vorticities. The effects of surface and blockage layers on the turbulence statistics of length scales, Reynolds-stress balance, and enstrophy dynamics are examined, which elucidate clearly the different turbulence mechanisms operating in the respective near-surface scales. Finally we investigate the effect of non-zero Froude number on the turbulence statistics. We show that the most significant effect of the presence of the free surface is a considerable reduction of the pressure–strain correlation at this surface, compared to that at a free-slip at plate. This reduction is finite even for very low values of the Froude number.


2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.V. Sachenko ◽  
◽  
V.P. Kostylev ◽  
V.G. Litovchenko ◽  
V.G. Popov ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoru Okajima ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura ◽  
Yohai Kaspi

AbstractMigratory cyclones and anticyclones account for most of the day-to-day weather variability in the extratropics. These transient eddies act to maintain the midlatitude jet streams by systematically transporting westerly momentum and heat. Yet, little is known about the separate contributions of cyclones and anticyclones to their interaction with the westerlies. Here, using a novel methodology for identifying cyclonic and anticyclonic vortices based on curvature, we quantify their separate contributions to atmospheric energetics and their feedback on the westerly jet streams as represented in Eulerian statistics. We show that climatological westerly acceleration by cyclonic vortices acts to dominantly reinforce the wintertime eddy-driven near-surface westerlies and associated cyclonic shear. Though less baroclinic and energetic, anticyclones still play an important role in transporting westerly momentum toward midlatitudes from the upper-tropospheric thermally driven jet core and carrying eddy energy downstream. These new findings have uncovered essential characteristics of atmospheric energetics, storm track dynamics and eddy-mean flow interaction.


2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 883-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Banta ◽  
Yelena L. Pichugina ◽  
Neil D. Kelley ◽  
R. Michael Hardesty ◽  
W. Alan Brewer

Addressing the need for high-quality wind information aloft in the layer occupied by turbine rotors (~30–150 m above ground level) is one of many significant challenges facing the wind energy industry. Without wind measurements at heights within the rotor sweep of the turbines, characteristics of the flow in this layer are unknown for wind energy and modeling purposes. Since flow in this layer is often decoupled from the surface, near-surface measurements are prone to errant extrapolation to these heights, and the behavior of the near-surface winds may not reflect that of the upper-level flow.


1997 ◽  
Vol 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. C. Venezia ◽  
T. E. Haynes ◽  
A. Agarwal ◽  
H. -J. Gossmann ◽  
D. J. Eaglesham

ABSTRACTThe diffusion of Sb and B markers has been studied in vacancy supersaturations produced by MeV Si implantation in float zone (FZ) silicon and bonded etch-back silicon-on-insulator (BESOI) substrates. MeV Si implantation produces a vacancy supersaturated near-surface region and an interstitial-rich region at the projected ion range. Transient enhanced diffusion (TED) of Sb in the near surface layer was observed as a result of a 2 MeV Si+, 1×1016/cm2, implant. A 4× larger TED of Sb was observed in BESOI than in FZ silicon, demonstrating that the vacancy supersaturation persists longer in BESOI than in FZ. B markers in samples with MeV Si implant showed a factor of 10× smaller diffusion relative to markers without the MeV Si+ implant. This data demonstrates that a 2 MeV Si+ implant injects vacancies into the near surface region.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruzica Dadic ◽  
Martin Schneebeli ◽  
Henna-Reeta Hannula ◽  
Amy Macfarlane ◽  
Roberta Pirazzini

<p>Snow cover dominates the thermal and optical properties of sea ice and the energy fluxes between the ocean and the atmosphere, yet data on the physical properties of snow and its effects on sea ice are limited. This lack of data leads to two significant problems: 1) significant biases in model representations of the sea ice cover and the processes that drive it, and 2) large uncertainties in how sea ice influences the global energy budget and the coupling of climate feedback. The  MOSAiC research initiative enabled the most extensive data collection of snow and surface scattering layer (SSL) properties over sea ice to date. During leg 5 of the MOSAiC expedition, we collected multi-scale (microscale to 100-m scale) measurements of the surface layer (snow/SSL) over first year ice (FYI) and MYI on a daily basis. The ultimate goal of our measurements is to determine the spatial distribution of physical properties of the surface layer. During leg 5 of the MOSAiC expedition, that surface layer changed from the  surface scattering layer (SSL),   characteristic for the melt season, to an early autumn snow pack. Here,  we will present data showing both a) the physical properties and the spatial distribution of the SSL during the late melt season and b) the transition of the sea ice surface from the SSL to the fresh autumn snowpack. The structural properties of this transition period are poorly documented, and this season is critical  for the initialization of sea ice and snow models. Furthermore, these data are crucial to interpret simultaneous observations of surface energy fluxes, surface optical and remote sensing data (microwave signals in particular), near-surface biochemical activity, and to understand the sea ice  processes that occur as the sea ice transitions from melting to freezing.</p>


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