Carmen J. Nappo

CASES-99: A Comprehensive Investigation of the Stable Nocturnal Boundary Layer

Abstract The Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study—1999 (CASES-99) refers to a field experiment carried out in southeast Kansas during October 1999 and the subsequent program of investigation. Comprehensive data, primarily taken during the nighttime but typically including the evening and morning transition, supports data analyses, theoretical studies, and state-of-the-art numerical modeling in a concerted effort by participants to investigate four areas of scientific interest. The choice of these scientific topics is motivated by both the need to delineate physical processes that characterize the stable boundary layer, which are as yet not clearly understood, and the specific scientific goals of the investigators. Each of the scientific goals should be largely achievable with the measurements taken, as is shown with preliminary analysis within the scope of three of the four scientific goals. Underlying this effort is the fundamental motivation to eliminate deficiencies in surface layer and turbul...

Atmospheric disturbances that generate intermittent turbulence in nocturnal boundary layers

Using the unprecedented observational facilities deployed duringthe 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99),we found three distinct turbulent events on the night of 18October 1999. These events resulted from a density current,solitary wave, and internal gravity wave, respectively. Our studyfocuses on the turbulence intermittency generated by the solitarywave and internal gravity wave, and intermittent turbulenceepisodes associated with pressure change and wind direction shiftsadjacent to the ground. Both the solitary and internal gravitywaves propagated horizontally and downward. During the passage ofboth the solitary and internal gravity waves, local thermal andshear instabilities were generated as cold air was pushed abovewarm air and wind gusts reached to the ground. These thermal andshear instabilities triggered turbulent mixing events. Inaddition, strong vertical acceleration associated with thesolitary wave led to large non-hydrostatic pressure perturbationsthat were positively correlated with temperature. The directionaldifference between the propagation of the internal gravity waveand the ambient flow led to lateral rolls. These episodic studiesdemonstrate that non-local disturbances are responsible for localthermal and shear instabilities, leading to intermittentturbulence in nocturnal boundary layers. The origin of thesenon-local disturbances needs to be understood to improve mesoscalenumerical model performance.

Intermittent Turbulence Associated with a Density Current Passage in the Stable Boundary Layer

Using the unprecedented observational capabilities deployed duringthe Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study-99 (CASES-99),we found three distinct turbulence events on the night of 18October 1999, each of which was associated with differentphenomena: a density current, solitary waves, and downwardpropagating waves from a low-level jet. In this study, we focus onthe first event, the density current and its associatedintermittent turbulence. As the cold density current propagatedthrough the CASES-99 site, eddy motions in the upper part of thedensity current led to periodic overturning of the stratifiedflow, local thermal instability and a downward diffusion ofturbulent mixing. Propagation of the density current induced asecondary circulation. The descending motion following the head ofthe density current resulted in strong stratification, a sharpreduction in the turbulence, and a sudden increase in the windspeed. As the wind surge propagated toward the surface, shearinstability generated upward diffusion of turbulent mixing. Wedemonstrate in detail that the height and sequence of the localthermal and shear instabilities associated with the dynamics ofthe density current are responsible for the apparent intermittentturbulence.

Analysis of Ducted Motions in the Stable Nocturnal Boundary Layer during CASES-99

Abstract Data obtained with multiple instruments at the main site of the 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99) are employed to examine the character and variability of wave motions occurring in the stable nocturnal boundary layer during the night of 14 October 1999. The predominant motions are surprisingly similar in character throughout the night, exhibiting largely westward propagation, horizontal wavelengths of ∼1 to 10 km, phase speeds slightly greater than the mean wind in the direction of propagation, and highly coherent vertical motions with no apparent phase progression with altitude. Additionally, vertical and horizontal velocities are in approximate quadrature and the largest amplitudes occur at elevated altitudes of maximum stratification. These motions are interpreted as ducted gravity waves that propagate along maxima of stratification and mean wind and that are evanescent above, and occasionally below, the altitudes at which they are ducted. Modal structures for ducte...

Wave Exchange between the Ground Surface and a Boundary-Layer Critical Level

Abstract Gravity waves induced by two- and three-dimensional terrain features are examined theoretically in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) using a linear wave model that includes reabsorption at a critical level. The PBL structure is characterized by a constant Brunt-Vaisala frequency and a hyperbolic tangent wind speed profile, which can be adjusted to produce critical levels. It is found that for typical values of wind speed and thermal stratification in the stable PBL and for even mild terrain disturbances, the Reynolds stress and surface drag caused by surface-generated waves can be at least as large as those conventionally associated with surface friction. The wave drag will act on the PBL flow where wave dissipation occurs, for example, at a critical level or in regions of wave breaking. The drag over a given crosswind section of a two-dimensional ridge is about twice as great as that over a three-dimensional of approximately the same horizontal area. An entirely new result is the prediction tha...

Review of wave‐turbulence interactions in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

Flow in a stably stratified environment is characterized by anisotropic and intermittent turbulence and wavelike motions of varying amplitudes and periods. Understanding turbulence intermittency and wave-turbulence interactions in a stably stratified flow remains a challenging issue in geosciences including planetary atmospheres and oceans. The stable atmospheric boundary layer (SABL) commonly occurs when the ground surface is cooled by longwave radiation emission such as at night over land surfaces, or even daytime over snow and ice surfaces, and when warm air is advected over cold surfaces. Intermittent turbulence intensification in the SABL impacts human activities and weather variability, yet it cannot be generated in state-of-the-art numerical forecast models. This failure is mainly due to a lack of understanding of the physical mechanisms for seemingly random turbulence generation in a stably stratified flow, in which wave-turbulence interaction is a potential mechanism for turbulence intermittency. A workshop on wave-turbulence interactions in the SABL addressed the current understanding and challenges of wave-turbulence interactions and the role of wavelike motions in contributing to anisotropic and intermittent turbulence from the perspectives of theory, observations, and numerical parameterization. There have been a number of reviews on waves, and a few on turbulence in stably stratified flows, but not much on wave-turbulence interactions. This review focuses on the nocturnal SABL; however, the discussions here on intermittent turbulence and wave-turbulence interactions in stably stratified flows underscore important issues in stably stratified geophysical dynamics in general.

The Effects of Critical Layers on Residual Layer Turbulence

Abstract The authors report results of a study of finescale turbulence structure in the portion of the nocturnal boundary layer known as the residual layer (RL). The study covers two nights during the Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study 1999 (CASES-99) field experiment that exhibit significant differences in turbulence, as indicated by the observed turbulence dissipation rates in the RL. The RL turbulence sometimes reaches intensities comparable to those in the underlying stable boundary layer. The commonly accepted concept of turbulence generation below critical values of the gradient Richardson number (Rig) is scale dependent: Ri values typically decrease with decreasing vertical scale size, so that critical Rig values (≈0.25) occur at vertical scales of only a few tens of meters. The very small scale for the occurrence of subcritical Ri poses problems for incorporating experimentally determined Rig -based methods in model closures in models with poor resolution. There appear to be two distinc...

Wind and Temperature Oscillations Generated by Wave–Turbulence Interactions in the Stably Stratified Boundary Layer

AbstractThe authors investigate atmospheric internal gravity waves (IGWs): their generation and induction of global intermittent turbulence in the nocturnal stable atmospheric boundary layer based on the new concept of turbulence generation discussed in a prior paper by Sun et al. The IGWs are generated by air lifted by convergence forced by the colliding background flow and cold currents near the ground. The buoyancy-forced IGWs enhance wind speed at the wind speed wave crests such that the bulk shear instability generates large coherent eddies, which augment local turbulent mixing and vertically redistribute momentum and heat. The periodically enhanced turbulent mixing, in turn, modifies the air temperature and flow oscillations of the original IGWs. These turbulence-forced oscillations (TFOs) resemble waves and coherently transport momentum and sensible heat. The observed momentum and sensible heat fluxes at the IGW frequency, which are due to either the buoyancy-forced IGWs themselves or the TFOs, are...

DISPERSION OF FINE SPRAY FROM AERIAL APPLICATIONS IN STABLE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS

A field study of aerial spray movement and dispersion was conducted at the New Mexico State University spray study site on the USDA Jornada Desert research ranch in April 2005. The purpose of the study was to measure the plume movement and in-plume spray concentrations of very fine droplets applied during calm, stable atmospheric conditions. Spray plume movement and dispersion were measured and recorded with a portable elastic-backscatter lidar. Supporting meteorology and air turbulence measurements were made simultaneously with 3-D sonic anemometers. A Cessna T188C equipped with Micronair AU5000 rotary atomizers produced small droplets (volume mean diameter of 37.3 µm). The amount of spray material remaining in the air decreased rapidly for 1 to 2 min, and thereafter remained nearly constant and drifted as a definable plume with the slight air currents.

The Relationships among Wind, Horizontal Pressure Gradient, and Turbulent Momentum Transport during CASES-99

Relationships among the horizontal pressure gradient, the Coriolis force, and the vertical momentum transport by turbulent fluxes are investigated using data collected from the 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere‐ Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99). Wind toward higher pressure (WTHP) adjacent to the ground occurredabout 50% ofthe time.For windspeed at 5m abovethe groundstrongerthan5ms 21 , WTHPoccurred about 20% of the time. Focusing on these moderate to strong wind cases only, relationships among horizontal pressuregradients, Coriolis force, and vertical turbulenttransport in the momentumbalance are investigated. The magnitude of thedownwardturbulent momentumfluxconsistentlyincreaseswith heightunder moderate to strong winds, which results in the vertical convergence of the momentum flux and thus provides a momentum source and allows WTHP. In the along-wind direction, the horizontal pressure gradient is observed to be well correlated with the quadratic wind speed, which is demonstrated to be an approximate balance between the horizontal pressure gradient and the vertical convergence of the turbulent momentum flux. That is, antitriptic balance occurs in the along-wind direction when the wind is toward higher pressure. In the crosswind direction, the pressure gradient varies approximately linearly with wind speed and opposes the Coriolis force, suggesting the importance of the Coriolis force and approximate geotriptic balance of the airflow. A simple one-dimensional planetary boundary layer eddy diffusivity model demonstrates the possibility of wind directed toward higher pressure for a baroclinic boundary layer and the contribution of the vertical turbulent momentum flux to this phenomenon.