Christof Lüpkes

Modelling the arctic convective boundary-layer with different turbulence parameterizations

Different parameterizations of subgrid-scale fluxes are utilized in a nonhydrostatic and anelastic mesoscale model to study their influence on simulated Arctic cold air outbreaks. A local closure, a profile closure and two nonlocal closure schemes are applied, including an improved scheme, which is based on other nonlocal closures. It accounts for continuous subgrid-scale fluxes at the top of the surface layer and a continuous Prandtl number with respect to stratification. In the limit of neutral stratification the improved scheme gives eddy diffusivities similar to other parameterizations, whereas for strong unstable stratifications they become much larger and thus turbulent transports are more efficient. It is shown by comparison of model results with observations that the application of simple nonlocal closure schemes results in a more realistic simulation of a convective boundary layer than that of a local or a profile closure scheme. Improvements are due to the nonlocal formulation of the eddy diffusivities and to the inclusion of heat transport, which is independent of local gradients (countergradient transport).

A case study of an on-ice air flow over the Arctic marginal sea ice zone

A case study of warm air advection over the Arctic marginalsea-ice zone is presented, based on aircraft observations with direct flux measurements carriedout in early spring, 1998. A shallow atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) was observed, which wasgradually cooling with distance downwind of the ice edge. This process was mainly connected with astrong stable stratification and downward turbulent heat fluxes of about 10–20 W m-2, but wasalso due to radiative cooling. Two mesoscale models, one hydrostatic and the other non-hydrostatic,having different turbulence closures, were applied. Despite these fundamental differences betweenthe models, the results of both agreed well with the observed data. Various closure assumptions had amore crucial influence on the results than the differences between the models.Such an assumption was, for example,the parameterization of the surface roughness for momentum (z0) and heat (zT). This stronglyaffected the wind and temperature fields not only close to the surface but also within and abovethe temperature inversion layer. The best results were achieved using a formulation for z0 that took intoaccount the form drag effect of sea-ice ridges together withzT = 0.1z0. The stability within theelevated inversion strongly depended on the minimum eddy diffusivity Kmin. A simple ad hocparameterization seems applicable, where Kmin is calculated as 0.005 timesthe neutral eddy diffusivity. Although the longwave radiative cooling was largest within the ABL, theapplication of a radiation scheme was less important there than above the ABL. This was related to theinteraction of the turbulent and radiative fluxes. To reproduce the strong inversion, it wasnecessary to use vertical and horizontal resolutions higher than those applied in most regional andlarge-scale atmospheric models.

A new parameterization of surface drag in the marginal sea ice zone

A parameterization of subgridscale surface fluxes over the marginal sea ice zone which has beenused earlier in several studies is modified and applied to a nonhydrostatic mesoscale model.The new scheme accounts for the form drag of ice floes and is combined with a so-called fluxaveraging method for the determination of surface fluxes over inhomogeneous terrain. Individualfluxes over ice and water are calculated as a function of the blending height. It is shown bycomparison with observations that the drag coefficients calculated with the new parameterizationagree well with data. The original scheme strongly overestimates the form drag effect.An improvement is mainly obtained by an inclusion of stratification and by use of a moreadequate coefficient of resistance for individual ice floes. The mesoscale model is applied to officeflows over the polar marginal sea ice zone. The model results show that under certainmeteorological conditions the form drag can have a strong influence on the near-surface windvelocity and on the turbulent fluxes of momentum. Four case studies are carried out. Themaximum influence of form drag occurs in the case with strong unstable stratification and withwind oblique to the ice edge. Under these conditions the wind stress on sea ice is modified byat least 100% for ice concentrations less than 50% if form drag is taken into account.

Atmospheric drag coefficients over sea ice — validation of a parameterisation concept

The concept of drag partitioning to parameterise the surface roughness of sea ice is validatedusing topography data of regions with high sea ice concentrations. The parameterised drag iscompared to measurements obtained by aircraft and ship. The form drag can well be expressedas a function of mean ridge heights and spacings averaged over flight legs of 12 km, if animproved approximation for the coefficient of resistance of a single ridge is used. We find agood agreement between the parameterised and observed drag coefficients. The highest sea iceroughness was encountered close to coastal regions and the lowest in the central Arctic.

Influence of a sea ice ridge on low‐level airflow

The influence of a single pressure ridge of 4.5 m height on the structure of the atmospheric surface layer is studied. The field of the mean wind velocity is governed by typical features of a Bernoulli effect with a speedup over the crest and a shadowing effect downwind of the ridge. It is found that the turbulence generated by the ridge compensates for the deformation of the flow field by mixing momentum downward. Both mean and turbulent fields are restored to their upwind values at a distance of ∼300 m downwind of the ridge, which is equivalent to an aspect ratio of ∼0.015. The level of maximum turbulence generated by the ridge is characterized by a linear relationship. A formulation for the determination of the form drag of a single ridge is proposed and generalized toward an ensemble of ridges. We estimate that the form drag contributes <50% to the total drag exerted by a typically ice covered sea surface on the atmospheric flow.

Variability of Arctic sea‐ice topography and its impact on the atmospheric surface drag

Over the polar oceans, near-surface atmospheric transport of momentum is strongly influenced by sea-ice surface topography. The latter is analyzed on the basis of laser altimeter data obtained during airborne campaigns between 1995 and 2011 over more than 10,000 km of flight distance in different regions of the Arctic Ocean. Spectra of height and spacing between topographic features averaged over 10 km flight sections show that typical values are 0.45 m for the mean height and about 20 m for the mean spacing. Nevertheless, the variability is high and the spatial variability is stronger than the temporal one. The total topography spectrum is divided into a range with small obstacles (between 0.2 m and 0.8 m height) and large obstacles (≥0.8 m). Results show that large pressure ridges represent the dominant topographic feature only along the coast of Greenland. In the Central Arctic, the concentration of large ridges decreased over the years, accompanied by an increase of small obstacles concentration and this might be related to decreasing multiyear ice. The application of a topography-dependent parameterization of neutral atmospheric drag coefficients reflects the large variability in the sea-ice topography and reveals characteristic differences between the regions. Based on the analysis of the two spectral ranges, we find that the consideration of only large pressure ridges is not enough to characterize the roughness degree of an ice field, and the values of drag coefficients are in most regions strongly influenced by small obstacles.

A stability‐dependent parametrization of transfer coefficients for momentum and heat over polar sea ice to be used in climate models

The interaction between sea ice and atmosphere depends strongly on the near-surface transfer coefficients for momentum and heat. A parametrization of these coefficients is developed on the basis of an existing parametrization of drag coefficients for neutral stratification that accounts for form drag caused by the edges of ice floes and melt ponds. This scheme is extended to better account for the dependence of surface wind on limiting cases of high and low ice concentration and to include near-surface stability effects over open water and ice on form drag. The stability correction is formulated on the basis of stability functions from Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and also using the Louis concept with stability functions depending on the bulk Richardson numbers. Furthermore, a parametrization is proposed that includes the effect of edge-related turbulence also on heat transfer coefficients. The parametrizations are available in different levels of complexity. The lowest level only needs sea ice concentration and surface temperature as input, while the more complex level needs additional sea ice characteristics. An important property of our parametrization is that form drag caused by ice edges depends on the stability over both ice and water which is in contrast to the skin drag over ice. Results of the parametrization show that stability has a large impact on form drag and, thereby, determines the value of sea ice concentration for which the transfer coefficients reach their maxima. Depending on the stratification, these maxima can occur anywhere between ice concentrations of 20 and 80%.

On the selection of prognostic moments in parametrization schemes for drop sedimentation

Abstract Common parametrizationmodels for cloud microphysical processes use condensate mass density and/or particle number density as prognostic properties. However, other moments of the particle size distribution can likewise be chosen for prediction. This study deals with parametrization models with one and two, respectively, prognostic moments for the sedimentation of drop ensembles. The spectral resolving model defines the reference solution. The evolution of the vertical profiles of liquid water content, drop number density and rain rate strongly depend on the choice of the prognostic moments in the parametrizationmodels. Inmodels with a single prognostic moment, its vertical profile is copied by all other moments. The moment of most physical pertinence is recommended for prediction. In models with two prognostic moments, the vertical profiles of all moments differ. The orders of the prognostic moments should be chosen close to the order of moments of highest relevance. Otherwise large errors occur. For example, comparison of modelled versus observed radar reflectivity (6th moment with respect to diameter) does not tell much about the quality of other properties if reflectivity is diagnosed from for example, number density and mass density. Furthermore, mass conservation is fulfilled only if mass density is forecasted.

Application of remotely piloted aircraft systems in observing the atmospheric boundary layer over Antarctic sea ice in winter

The main aim of this paper is to explore the potential of combining measurements from fixed- and rotary-wing remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) to complement data sets from radio soundings as well as ship and sea-ice-based instrumentation for atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) profiling. This study represents a proof-of-concept of RPAS observations in the Antarctic sea-ice zone. We present first results from the RV Polarstern Antarctic winter expedition in the Weddell Sea in June–August 2013, during which three RPAS were operated to measure temperature, humidity and wind; a fixed-wing small unmanned meteorological observer (SUMO), a fixed-wing meteorological mini-aerial vehicle, and an advanced mission and operation research quadcopter. A total of 86 RPAS flights showed a strongly varying ABL structure ranging from slightly unstable temperature stratification near the surface to conditions with strong surface-based temperature inversions. The RPAS observations supplement the regular upper air soundings and standard meteorological measurements made during the campaign. The SUMO and quadcopter temperature profiles agree very well and, excluding cases with strong temperature inversions, 70% of the variance in the difference between the SUMO and quadcopter temperature profiles can be explained by natural, temporal, temperature fluctuations. Strong temperature inversions cause the largest differences, which are induced by SUMOs high climb rates and slow sensor response. Under such conditions, the quadcopter, with its slower climb rate and faster sensor, is very useful in obtaining accurate temperature profiles in the lowest 100 m above the sea ice.

Evaluation of atmospheric boundary layer–surface process relationships in a regional climate model along an East Antarctic traverse

Some primary physical relationships related to the surface climate and atmospheric boundary layer were examined over East Antarctica and evaluated in the regional climate model HIRHAM for 2005–2008. For stable conditions, the observation-derived relationship between wind-scaled sensible heat flux and air-surface temperature difference distinctively differs between different surface flux parameterizations. Some of them decrease the heat transfer coefficient CH for strongly stable conditions, while others, such as the Louis scheme, do not. However, HIRHAM’s application of the Louis parameterization produces small CH for strongly stable conditions similar to observations and other schemes, likely because a surface roughness much larger than observed is used and the bulk Richardson number differs. For Zhongshan, the observed radiation-cloud, temperature-cloud, and temperature-wind relationships are reproduced in the model, though quantitative differences are evident. An observed longwave warming effect of clouds is larger in the model, while the reduction of downwelling shortwave radiation by clouds is twice as large in the model. The model partially reproduces an observed weak wind regime associated with atmospheric decoupling, but fails to reproduce increasing temperatures with increasing winds. The quantitative differences in the radiation-cloud relationship suggest that errors in cloud characteristics produce a significant deficiency in downwelling net radiation for clear and cloudy conditions. This deficiency is the likely cause of HIRHAM’s strong cold bias in the surface temperature and positive bias in near-surface stability. The sensible heat flux analyses and a sensitivity test suggest that errors in the sensible heat flux relationship are not the primary cause.