Estimation of roughness and zero-displacement heights over Baghdad utilizing remote sensing and GIS techniques

The objective of this study was to estimate the height of roughness element (ZH) and zero-displacement length (Zd) for Baghdad city using remote sensing and GIS techniques and resources such as DEM, DSM, and shapefile. The difference between DEM and DSM produced digital height model which represents the height of the roughness element for the region, which was used to determine the zero-displacement height. The results showed that the variations in Zd values depend strongly on ZH. Rusafa had the highest Zd (15.8 m) while Dora had the lowest values (4.7 m). Thus, Baghdad city has medium density classification according to the results of Zd and ZH values.

Surface and Aerodynamic Parameters Estimation for Urban and Rural Areas

Numerical weather prediction models require an accurate parametrization of the energy budget at the air-ground interface, that can be obtained only through long-term atmospheric boundary layer measurements at different spatial and temporal scales. Despite their importance, such measurements are still scarce even in well-characterized areas. In this paper, a three-year dataset from four micrometeorological stations run by the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Lazio was analyzed to estimate albedo, zero-displacement height, roughness length and surface properties over Rome and its suburbs, characterizing differences and interconnections between urban, suburban and rural areas of the same municipality. The integral albedo coefficient at the zenith for the urban station was found to be almost twice that for suburban and rural stations. The zero-displacement height of the urban site was strongly dependent on wind direction, with values varying between 12.0 and 17.8 m, while the roughness length (≈1.5 m) was almost independent of upwind direction, but it was significantly higher than the typical values calculated for rural stations (≈0.4 m). The apparent thermal capacities and thermal conductivity at all the non-urban sites were in fair agreement with each other and typical of soils with relatively low water content, as expected for a relatively dry Mediterranean area like Rome, while the apparent thermal diffusivity reflected the presence of different soil types.

Evaluating the Accuracy of RANS Wind Flow Modeling Over Forested Terrain. Part 2: Impact on Capacity Factor for Moderately Complex Topography

This study evaluates the uncertainty in speed-up factors predicted using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes equations to model flow over moderately complex forested terrain and considers its effect on the uncertainty in wind energy calculations. All simulations are solved using the open-source software openfoam v.2.4.0 with a modified k–ε turbulence closure. The forest drag effect is calculated with two models: a displacement height model and a canopy model that estimates the pressure loss due to the forest through analogy with porous media. Two years of concurrent wind data from three meteorological masts at a potential wind farm site in Canada are used for validation purposes. In all, these experimental data are compared with the predictions of four wind flow models: (A) a terrain only model, (B) a displacement height model, (C) a uniform forest canopy model, and (D) a non-uniform forest canopy model. Overall, the canopy models provide better agreement with the mean statistical results than the displacement height model. In this case, the 2.76% uncertainty in the speed-up factor associated with the wind flow predictions of the non-uniform forest distribution model leads to an uncertainty in the energy calculation of just 5.94%.

Modulation of near-wall turbulence in the transitionally rough regime

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent channels with rough walls are conducted in the transitionally rough regime. The effect that roughness produces on the overlying turbulence is studied using a modified triple decomposition of the flow. This decomposition separates the roughness-induced contribution from the background turbulence, with the latter essentially free of any texture footprint. For small roughness, the background turbulence is not significantly altered, but merely displaced closer to the roughness crests, with the change in drag being proportional to this displacement. As the roughness size increases, the background turbulence begins to be modified, notably by the increase of energy for short, wide wavelengths, which is consistent with the appearance of a shear-flow instability of the mean flow. A laminar model is presented to estimate the roughness-coherent contribution, as well as the displacement height and the velocity at the roughness crests. Based on the effects observed in the background turbulence, the roughness function is decomposed into different terms to analyse different contributions to the change in drag, laying the foundations for a predictive model.

From lidar scans to roughness maps for wind resource modelling in forested areas

Applying erroneous roughness lengths can have a large impact on the estimated performance of wind turbines, particularly in forested areas. In this study, a new method called the objective roughness approach (ORA), which converts tree height maps created using airborne lidar scans to roughness maps suitable for wind modelling, is evaluated via cross predictions among different anemometers at a complex forested site with seven tall meteorological masts using the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). The cross predictions were made using ORA maps created at four spatial resolutions and from four freely available roughness maps based on land use classifications. The validation showed that the use of ORA maps resulted in a closer agreement with observational data for all investigated resolutions compared to the land use maps. Further, when using the ORA maps, the risk of making large errors (> 25 %) in predicted power density was reduced by 40–50 % compared to satellite-based products with the same resolution. The results could be further improved for high-resolution ORA maps by adding the displacement height. The improvements when using the ORA maps were both due to a higher roughness length and due to the higher resolution.

From lidar scans to roughness maps for wind resource modeling in forested areas

Applying erroneous roughness lengths can have a large impact on the estimated performance of wind turbines, particularly in forested areas. In this study, a new method called the Objective Roughness Approach (ORA), which converts tree height maps created using airborne lidar scans to roughness maps suitable for wind modeling, is evaluated via cross-predictions between different anemometers at a complex forested site with seven tall meteorological masts using the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application program (WAsP). The cross-predictions were made using ORA maps created at four spatial resolutions and from four freely available roughness maps based on land-use classifications. The validation showed that the use of ORA maps resulted in a closer agreement with observational data for all investigated resolutions compared to the land-use maps. Further, when using the ORA maps, the risk of making large errors (25 %) in predicted power density was reduced by 40–50 % compared to satellite based products with the same resolution. The results could be further improved for high-resolution ORA maps by adding the displacement height. The improvement when using the ORA maps came down to two factors, first they had a higher roughness length for forests, which was confirmed to by increasing the forest roughness value of the land-use based maps to the value of the ORA map, and second, due to the higher resolution of the ORA data, since the ORA maps with the highest resolution had the largest reduction in mean absolute errors.

Evaluating Land–Atmosphere Coupling Using a Resistance Pathway Framework

This paper presents a methodology for examining land–atmosphere coupling in a regional climate model by examining how the resistances to moisture transfer from the land to the atmosphere control the surface turbulent energy fluxes. Perturbations were applied individually to the aerodynamic resistance from the soil surface to the displacement height, the aerodynamic resistance from the displacement height to the reference level, the stomatal resistance, and the leaf boundary layer resistance. Only perturbations to the aerodynamic resistance from the soil surface to the displacement height systematically affected 2-m air temperature for the shrub and evergreen boreal forest plant functional types (PFTs). This was associated with this resistance systematically increasing the terrestrial and atmospheric components of the land–atmosphere coupling strength through changes in the partitioning of the surface energy balance. Perturbing the other resistances did contribute to changing the partitioning of the surface energy balance but did not lead to systematic changes in the 2-m air temperature. The results suggest that land–atmosphere coupling in the modeling system presented here acts mostly through the aerodynamic resistance from the soil surface to the displacement height, which is a function of both the friction velocity and vegetation height and cover. The results show that a resistance pathway framework can be used to examine how changes in the resistances affect the partitioning of the surface energy balance and how this subsequently influences surface climate through land–atmosphere coupling. Limitations in the present analysis include grid-scale rather than PFT-scale analysis, the exclusion of resistance dependencies, and the linearity assumption of how temperature responds to a resistance perturbation.

Heterogeneidade da Rugosidade em Terrenos Complexos e Implicações para o Aproveitamento Eólico (Heterogeneity of Roughness in Complex Terrains and Implications for Wind Power)

A demanda para a produção de energia renovável e de baixo impacto ambiental cresce a cada ano e, com isso, há também o aumento do interesse em turbinas eólicas de pequena escala a serem instaladas em relevos complexos que inclui áreas onde montanhas afetam o padrão de vento, como em grandes sistemas aquáticos localizados em regiões de planaltos. A influência da complexidade do relevo e da intensidade de turbulência foi investigada pela aplicação do método de Análise por Padrões de Gradientes em um modelo digital de elevação e uma série de dados histórica da direção e velocidade do vento. Os resultados indicaram que os padrões de fluxos são extremamente complexos e variam significativamente dependendo da direção do fluxo em sentido contrário. Esta variabilidade também torna difícil definir um plano zero de deslocamento ou um comprimento de rugosidade para um determinado ponto de medição, o que compromete a utilização do modelo de extrapolação vertical do vento baseado no coeficiente de rugosidade fixo. ABSTRACT As the demand for environmentally friendly energy production grows, there is also an increased interest in small scale wind turbines located in more complex relief that includes areas where mountains affect the wind pattern, as in large inland aquatic system localized close to hills. Influence of complex relief on the turbulence intensity was investigated by means of time series of the wind direction and speed and digital elevation model. The results indicated that the flow patterns are highly complex and vary significantly depending on the direction of the oncoming flow. This variability also makes it difficult to define a general zero plane displacement height or a roughness length for a certain measuring point. The resulting consequence for the usual one-dimensional wind profiles models are then pointed out. Keywords: GPA. Roughness of the relief. Wind power.

Large-eddy simulations of surface roughness parameter sensitivity to canopy-structure characteristics

Surface roughness parameters, namely the roughness length and displacement height, are an integral input used to model surface fluxes. However, most models assume these parameters to be a fixed property of plant functional type and disregard the governing structural heterogeneity and dynamics. In this study, we use large-eddy simulations to explore, in silico, the effects of canopy-structure characteristics on surface roughness parameters. We performed a virtual experiment to test the sensitivity of resolved surface roughness to four axes of canopy structure: (1) leaf area index, (2) the vertical profile of leaf density, (3) canopy height, and (4) canopy gap fraction. We found roughness parameters to be highly variable, but uncovered positive relationships between displacement height and maximum canopy height, aerodynamic canopy height and maximum canopy height and leaf area index, and eddy-penetration depth and gap fraction. We also found negative relationships between aerodynamic canopy height and gap fraction, as well as between eddy-penetration depth and maximum canopy height and leaf area index. We generalized our model results into a virtual "biometric" parameterization that relates roughness length and displacement height to canopy height, leaf area index, and gap fraction. Using a decade of wind and canopy-structure observations in a site in Michigan, we tested the effectiveness of our model-driven biometric parameterization approach in predicting the friction velocity over heterogeneous and disturbed canopies. We compared the accuracy of these predictions with the friction-velocity predictions obtained from the common simple approximation related to canopy height, the values calculated with large-eddy simulations of the explicit canopy structure as measured by airborne and ground-based lidar, two other parameterization approaches that utilize varying canopy-structure inputs, and the annual and decadal means of the surface roughness parameters at the site from meteorological observations. We found that the classical representation of constant roughness parameters (in space and time) as a fraction of canopy height performed relatively well. Nonetheless, of the approaches we tested, most of the empirical approaches that incorporate seasonal and interannual variation of roughness length and displacement height as a function of the dynamics of canopy structure produced more precise and less biased estimates for friction velocity than models with temporally invariable parameters.