Bianca Adler

KITcube - a mobile observation platform for convection studies deployed during HyMeX

With the increase of spatial resolution of weather forecast models to order O(1 km), the need for adequate observations for model validation becomes evident. Therefore, we designed and constructed the ‘‘KITcube’’, a mobile observation platform for convection studies of processes on the meso-c scale. The KITcube consists of in-situ and remote sensing systems which allow measuring the energy balance components of the Earth’s surface at different sites; the mean atmospheric conditions by radiosondes, GPS station, and a microwave radiometer; the turbulent characteristics by a sodar and wind lidars; and cloud and precipitation properties by use of a cloud radar, a micro rain radar, disdrometers, rain gauges, and an X-band rain radar. The KITcube was deployed fully for the first time on the French island of Corsica during the HyMeX (Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean eXperiment) field campaign in 2012. In this article, the components of KITcube and its implementation on the island are described. Moreover, results from one of the HyMeX intensive observation periods are presented to show the capabilities of KITcube.

Dry and moist convection in the boundary layer over the Black Forest - a combined analysis of in situ and remote sensing data

During the COPS experiment performed in south-western Germany and eastern France in 2007, several insitu and remote sensing systems were operated at Hornisgrinde - the highest summit of the northern Black Forest mountains. For this case study, data from a surface flux station, radiosondes, cloud camera, cloud radar, wind lidar, water vapour differential absorption lidar, and microwave profiler were used to investigate turbulence characteristics in cloud-free and cloud-topped convective boundary layers (CBLs). Short time intervals were analysed, during which dry and moist convective cells occurred, in order to obtain insight of the processes that determine the turbulent characteristic in the CBL. The frequently-used aerosol concentration was used to calculate the CBL height, zi. It was found that active CBL clouds penetrated deeper into the free troposphere than dry convective cells. In the cloud-free CBL the normalised variance of the vertical velocity, rw 2 , decreased to zero approximately at zi, while rw 2 was nearly constant between 0.5 and 1 z/zi in the cloud-topped CBL. The higher normalised rw 2 values in the cloud layer could be attributed to the additional elevated heat source due to condensation. In the cloud-free CBL the latent heat flux showed a strong decrease between 0.7 and 1.1 z/zi, i.e., it considerably moistened the upper part of the CBL and entrainment zone. In the cloud-topped CBL the latent heat flux decreased significantly above the CBL top only and became zero at about 1.4 z/zi. CBL height calculations, which took measures of the turbulence into account, resulted in normalised rw 2 and E profiles, which became zero at the CBL top and appeared more appropriate for CBL height scaling over complex terrain. The case studies demonstrated that only the combined use of different monitoring systems allowed for the recording of the entire structure of the convective cells and that synergetic measurements in cloud-topped CBLs were indispensable to capture the latters’ turbulent characteristics. Also, significant differences between turbulent characteristics in cloud-free and cloud-topped CBLs became evident.

The Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud Interactions in West Africa Field Campaign: Overview and Research Highlights

Unprecedented ground-based and aircraft measurements in June-July 2016 in southern West Africa characterize atmospheric composition and dynamics, low-level cloud properties, the diurnal cycle, and air pollution impacts on health. The EU-funded project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) investigates the relationship between weather, climate, and air pollution in southern West Africa, an area with rapid population growth, urbanisation, and increase in anthropogenic aerosol emissions. The air over this region contains a unique mixture of natural and anthropogenic gases, liquid droplets and particles, emitted in an environment, in which multi-layer clouds frequently form. These exert a large influence on the local weather and climate, mainly due to their impact on radiation, the surface energy balance, and thus the diurnal cycle of the atmospheric boundary layer. In June and July 2016, DACCIWA organized a major international field campaign in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Three supersites in Kumasi, Save, and Ile-Ife conducted permanent measurements and 15 Intensive observation periods. Three European aircraft together flew 50 research flights between 27 June and 16 July 2016 for a total of 155 hours. DACCIWA scientists launched weather balloons several times a day across the region (772 in total), measured urban emissions, and evaluated health data. The main objective was to build robust statistics of atmospheric composition, dynamics, and low-level cloud properties in various chemical landscapes to investigate their mutual interactions. This article presents an overview of the DACCIWA field campaign activities as well as some first research highlights. The rich data obtained during the campaign will be made available to the scientific community and help to advance scientific understanding, modeling, and monitoring the atmosphere over southern West Africa.

The SCALEX Campaign: Scale-Crossing Land Surface and Boundary Layer Processes in the TERENO-preAlpine Observatory

AbstractScaleX is a collaborative measurement campaign, collocated with a long-term environmental observatory of the German Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO) network in the mountainous terrain of the Bavarian Prealps, Germany. The aims of both TERENO and ScaleX include the measurement and modeling of land surface–atmosphere interactions of energy, water, and greenhouse gases. ScaleX is motivated by the recognition that long-term intensive observational research over years or decades must be based on well-proven, mostly automated measurement systems, concentrated in a small number of locations. In contrast, short-term intensive campaigns offer the opportunity to assess spatial distributions and gradients by concentrated instrument deployments, and by mobile sensors (ground and/or airborne) to obtain transects and three-dimensional patterns of atmospheric, surface, or soil variables and processes. Moreover, intensive campaigns are ideal proving grounds for innovative instruments, methods, and...

The METCRAX II Field Experiment: A Study of Downslope Windstorm-Type Flows in Arizona’s Meteor Crater

AbstractThe second Meteor Crater Experiment (METCRAX II) was conducted in October 2013 at Arizona’s Meteor Crater. The experiment was designed to investigate nighttime downslope windstorm−type flows that form regularly above the inner southwest sidewall of the 1.2-km diameter crater as a southwesterly mesoscale katabatic flow cascades over the crater rim. The objective of METCRAX II is to determine the causes of these strong, intermittent, and turbulent inflows that bring warm-air intrusions into the southwest part of the crater. This article provides an overview of the scientific goals of the experiment; summarizes the measurements, the crater topography, and the synoptic meteorology of the study period; and presents initial analysis results.

Warm-air intrusions in Arizona's meteor crater

Episodic nighttime intrusions of warm air, accompanied by strong winds, enter the enclosed near-circular Meteor Crater basin on clear, synoptically undisturbed nights. Data analysis is used to document these events and to determine their spatial and temporal characteristics, their effects on the atmospheric structure inside the crater, and their relationship to larger-scale flows and atmospheric stability. A conceptual model that is based on hydraulic flow theory is offered to explain warm-air-intrusion events at the crater. The intermittent warm-air-intrusion events were closely related to a stable surface layer and a mesoscale (;50 km) drainage flow on the inclined plain outside the crater and to a continuous shallow cold-air inflow that came over the upstream crater rim. Depending on the upstream conditions, the cold-air inflow at the crater rim deepened temporarily and warmer air from above the stable surface layer on the surrounding plain descended into the crater, as part of the flowing layer. The flow descended up to 140 m into the 170-m-deep crater and did not penetrate the approximately 30-m-deep crater-floor inversion. The intruding air, which was up to 5 K warmer than the crater atmosphere, did not extend into the center of the crater, where the nighttime near-isothermal layerintheambientcrateratmosphereremainedlargelyundisturbed.Newinvestigationsaresuggestedtotest the hypothesis that the warm-air intrusions are associated with hydraulic jumps.

The Impact of Upstream Flow on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer in a Valley on a Mountainous Island

Comprehensive measurements on the mountainous island of Corsica were used to investigate how the mountain atmospheric boundary layer (mountain ABL) in a valley downstream of the main mountain ridge was influenced by the upstream flow. The data used were mainly collected with the mobile observation platform KITcube during the first special observation period of the Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) in 2012 and were based on various in situ, remote sensing and aircraft measurements. Two days in autumn 2012 were analyzed in detail. On these days the mountain ABL evolution was a result of convection and thermally-driven circulations as well as terrain-induced dynamically-driven flows. During periods when dynamically-driven flows were dominant, warm and dry air from aloft with a large-scale westerly wind component was transported downwards into the valley. On one day, these flows controlled the mountain ABL characteristics in a large section of the valley for several hours, while on the other day their impact was observed in a smaller section of the valley for about 1 h only. To explain the observations we considered a theoretical concept based on uniform upstream stratification and wind speed, and calculated the non-dimensional mountain height and the horizontal aspect ratio of the barrier to relate the existing conditions to diagnosed regimes of stratified flow past a ridge. On both days, wave breaking, flow splitting and lee vortices were likely to occur. Besides the upstream conditions, a reduction of stability in the valley seemed to be important for the downward transport to reach the ground. The spatio-temporal structure of such a mountain ABL over complex terrain, which was affected by various interacting flows, differed a lot from that of the classical ABL over homogeneous, flat terrain and it is stressed that the traditional ABL definitions need to be revised when applying them to complex terrain.

The nocturnal evolution of atmospheric structure in a basin as a larger-scale katabatic flow is lifted over its rim

AbstractThe successive stages of nocturnal atmospheric structure inside a small isolated basin are investigated when a katabatically driven flow on an adjacent tilted plain advects cold air over th...

Katabatically driven cold air intrusions into a basin atmosphere

AbstractThe interactions between a katabatic flow on a plain and a circular basin cut into the plain and surrounded by an elevated rim were examined during a 5-h steady-state period during the Second Meteor Crater Experiment (METCRAX II) to explain observed disturbances to the nocturnal basin atmosphere. The approaching katabatic flow split horizontally around Arizona’s Meteor Crater below a dividing streamline while, above the dividing streamline, an ~50-m-deep stable layer on the plain was carried over the 30–50-m rim of the basin. A flow bifurcation occurred over or just upwind of the rim, with the lowest portion of the stable layer having negative buoyancy relative to the air within the crater pouring continuously over the crater’s upwind rim and accelerating down the inner sidewall. The cold air intrusion was deepest and coldest over the direct upwind crater rim. Cold air penetration depths varied around the inner sidewall depending on the temperature deficit of the inflow relative to the ambient env...