Ann-Sofi Smedman

A case study of air-sea interaction during swell conditions

Air-sea interaction data from a situation with pronounced unidirectional swell have been analyzed. Measurements of turbulence at three levels (10, 18, and 26 m above mean sea level) together with directional wave buoy data from the site Ostergarnsholm in the Baltic Sea were used. The situation, which lasted for ∼48 hours, appeared in the aftermath of a gale. The wind direction during the swell situation turned slowly within a 90° sector. Both during the gale phase and the swell phase the over-water fetch was >150 km. The wind speed during the swell phase was typically 4 m s−1. During the swell phase a wind maximum near or below the lowest wind speed measuring level 10 m was observed. The net momentum flux was very small, resulting in CD values ∼0.7 × 10−3. Throughout the lowest 26 m, covered by the tower measurements, turbulence intensities in all three components remained high despite the low value of the kinematic momentum flux -u′w′¯ resulting in a reduction of the correlation coefficient for the longitudinal and vertical velocity from its typical value around −0.35 to between −0.2 and 0 (and with some positive values at the higher measuring levels), appearing abruptly at wave age c0/U10 equal to 1.2. Turbulence spectra of the horizontal components were shown not to scale with height above the water surface, in contrast to vertical velocity spectra for which such a variation was observed in the low-frequency range. In addition, spectral peaks in the horizontal wind spectra were found at a frequency as low as 10−3 Hz. From a comparison with results from a previous study it was concluded that this turbulence is of the “inactive” kind, being brought down from the upper parts of the boundary layer by pressure transport.

OBSERVATIONS OF A MULTI-LEVEL TURBULENCE STRUCTURE IN A VERY STABLE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER

Boundary-layer measurements conducted at the Marsta site in Sweden from a winter-time situation (23–25 Feb.) with stable stratification have been analysed. The data comprise wind and temperature profile measurements up to 30 m, turbulence measurements at 2, 6 and 30 m and Doppler acoustic sounder data up to about 150 m. The upwind fetch at the site is flat and free from obstacles to a distance of ca 5 km for the particular sector chosen for the experiment.During the night, a two-layer vertical structure developed. Analysis of power spectra, co-spectra and variances in a shallow and very stable turbulent boundary layer near the ground show that the turbulence is fully developed and follow the universal behaviour.Above, at a height of 30 m, another turbulent layer is produced by increased wind shear near a low-level jet. This turbulent upper layer can be regarded as a layer of free shear flow. At this height, there also exist wave-turbulence interactions at low frequencies which sometimes cause a countergradient heat flux.

Evolution of stable internal boundary layers over a cold sea

The situation studied in this paper relates to air flow from a heated land surface out over a water surface with much lower temperature. Observations from the Baltic Sea, where this kind of situati ...

Spectra, variances and length scales in a marine stable boundary layer dominated by a low level jet

A flow situation over coastal waters of the Baltic Sea is studied. The boundary layer was characterized by stable stratification and the presence of a pronounced low level jet at very low height, 30–150 m, above the surface of the sea. The atmospheric surface layer was apparently extremely shallow; thus the non-dimensional wind gradients and temperature gradients derived from measurements at 8 m do not show adherence to Monin-Obukhov similarity, in sharp contrast to findings from the same site at similar stability conditions but with no low level jet. Instead these quantities are shown to be governed by scales characteristic of stable shear flow away from the surface. The height to the jet centre appears to be an important quantity. Thus, for the cases with the lowest jet height values (30–50 m), some turbulent characteristics of the flow (non-dimensional velocity standard deviations and the correlation between the longitudinal and vertical velocity) have values similar to those found for the zero pressure-gradient laboratory boundary layer over a flat plate (the so called ‘canonical’ boundary layer) rather than the typical values found in atmospheric boundary-layer flow. It was inferred that the large scale fluctuations known as ‘inactive’ turbulence, as well as gravity waves, were suppressed in this case.

Critical test of the validity of Monin-Obukhov similarity during convective conditions

A recent study of convective boundary layer characteristics performed with large eddy simulation technique (LES) has demonstrated unexpected influence of the depth of the boundary layer on surface layer characteristics. The present study tests some of the predictions from these simulations with field measurements from a summertime experiment in Sweden, which includes in addition to regular surface layer data also airborne measurements and numerous radio soundings, which enable accurate determination of boundary layer depth. It is found that the measurements strongly support most of the conclusions draws from the LES study and give additional information over a wider stability range. Thus, the normalized wind gradient fm is found to depend on both z/L, where z is height above the ground and L is the Monin‐Obukhov length, and zi/L, where zi is the height of the convective boundary layer. This additional dependence on zi/L explains much of the scatter between experiments encountered for this parameter. In the case of the normalized temperature gradient fh, the experimental data follow the generally accepted functional relation with z/L, but with an additional, slight ordering according to zi/L. Analyses of nondimensional variances show (i) the horizontal velocity variance scales on mixed layer variables and is a function only of zi/L, in agreement with the LES results and with previous measurements; (ii) the normalized vertical velocity variance depends on the large-scale pressure gradient length scale for slight instability and is primarily a function of z /L for moderate and strong instability; (iii) the normalized temperature variance is a function of z/L, with a possible slight dependence on zi/L; and (iv) whereas mean temperature gradient is characterized by local shear scales, temperature variances are normalized by local buoyancy-driven scales.

Diagnostic and prognostic equations for the depth of the stably stratified Ekman boundary layer

Refined diagnostic and prognostic equations for the depth of the stably stratified barotropic Ekman boundary later (SBL) are derived employing a recently developed non-local formulation for the eddy viscosity. In well-studied cases of the thoroughly neutral SBL, the nocturnal atmospheric SBL and the oceanic SBL dominantly affected by the static stability in the thermocline, the proposed diagnostic equation reduces to the Rossby–Montgomery, Zilitinkevich and Pollard–Rhines–Thompson equations, respectively. In its general form it is applicable to a range of regimes including long-lived atmospheric SBLs affected by the near-surface buoyancy flux and the static stability in the free atmosphere. Both diagnostic and prognostic SBL depth equations are validated against recent data from atmospheric measurements. Copyright

The Near-Neutral Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer with No Surface Shearing Stress: A Case Study

Abstract Data from a marine coastal experiment over the Baltic Sea, comprising airborne measurements and mast measurements, have been used to highlight the turbulence dynamics of a case with most unusual flow characteristics. The boundary layer had a depth of about 1200 m. The thermal stratification was near neutral, with small positive heat flux below 300 m and equally small negative heat flux above. The entire situation lasted about 6 hours. Turbulence levels were unexpectedly high in view of the fact that momentum flux was negligible (in fact positive) in the layers near the surface, and buoyancy flux was also small. The turbulence was found to scale with the height of the boundary layer, giving rise to velocity spectra having the shape of those characteristic of convectively mixed boundary layers. Analysis of the turbulence budget for the entire planetary boundary layer (PBL) revealed that energy was produced from shear instability in the uppermost parts of the PBL and was distributed to the lower par...

Turbulent exchange above a pine forest. I: Fluxes and gradients

Measurements of gradients of wind, temperature and humidity and of the corresponding turbulent fluxes have been carried out over a sparse pine forest at Jädra»s in Sweden. In order to ascertain that correct gradient estimates were obtained, two independent measuring systems were employed: one system with sensors at 10 fixed levels on a 51 m tower and another with reversing sensors for temperature and humidity, covering the height interval 23 to 32 m. Turbulent fluxes were measured at three levels simultaneously. Data from three field campaigns: in June 1985, June 1987 and September 1987 have been analyzed. The momentum flux is found on the average to be virtually constant from tree top level, at 20 to 50 m. The average fluxes of sensible and latent heat are not so well behaved. The ratio of the non-dimensional gradients of wind and temperature to their corresponding values under ‘ideal conditions’ (low vegetation) are both found to be small immediately above the canopy (about 0.3 for temperature and 0.4 for wind). With increasing height, the ratios increase, but the values vary substantially with wind direction. The ratios are not found to vary systematically with stability (unstable stratification only studied). The ratio of the non-dimensional humidity gradient to the corresponding non-dimensional potential temperature gradient (equivalent to kh/kw) is found to be unity for (z − d)/Lv less than about −0.1 and about 1.4 for near neutral stratification, but the scatter of the data is very large.

Analysis of the turbulence structure of a marine low-level jet

Four aircraft measurement sets made in late May 1989 within low level jets over the Baltic Sea have been analyzed to estimate the turbulence energy budget. It is concluded that the jets had the same origin as found in an earlier study from the same general area: inertial oscillation caused by frictional decoupling when relatively warm air flows out over much colder water.In order to combine budget estimates from the four flights to form a representative average, self-preservation similarity was assumed. When the terms were made nondimensional with the proper scale combination, the largest terms in all four runs were of order one, indicating that the scaling is physically sound.Three terms were found to dominate the turbulence energy budget: shear production, dissipation and pressure transport. The latter was obtained as remainder term, since local time rate of change and advection terms were found to be of negligible magnitude. Shear production was found in a narrow layer above the jet core and in a much deeper layer below it. The pressure transport term was a gain in this layer as well, helping to keep the layer below the jet well mixed. This is in agreement with results from aircraft measurements in the low level jet and monsoon boundary layer over the Arabian Sea.It is concluded that development of the inertial jet downwind of a coastline is of fundamental importance for exchange of momentum at the sea surface in conditions when relatively warm air is advected over cold water. The jet produces turbulence that promotes mixing in the lower layers, which sharpens the shear below the jet core, so that mixing becomes even more effective. Turbulence brought down to the surface by the pressure transport term is likely to be of the ‘inactive’ type, which does not produce shear stress. Through the above-mentioned process it is, however, instrumental in promoting the mechanism that eventually produces ‘active turbulence’, the carrier of momentum.

Use of conventional stability parameters during swell

The situation with swell is of climatological importance over the Baltic Sea since swell is present during as much as 40% of the time. In this study, two periods with unstable and two periods with stable stratification and wind following swell are investigated. Data are taken at a small flat island in the Baltic Sea. During unstable stratification the turbulent structure shows great resemblance to the free convective boundary layer and scales with the boundary layer height. Since surface heat flux is too small to support the high levels of turbulence present, inactive turbulence is probably the dominating source. For the stably stratified layer, there are smaller differences between data with and without swell. The turbulence is mainly transported upward into the atmosphere with the aid of pressure fluctuations induced by the waves. For most of the data with swell the gradients are smaller than for growing sea. During unstable conditions the wind gradients are negative, indicating the presence of a wave-driven wind. The gradients increase with increasing height above the surface. The drag coefficient is smaller than is usually found for both stable and unstable stratification and varies very little with wind and stratification. There are only small variations in the heat transfer coefficients with changing stratification, but they are significantly different for stable and unstable stratification.