Clemens Drüe

Spatiotemporal relations between water budget components and soil water content in a forested tributary catchment

We examined 3 years of measured daily values of all major water budget components (precipitation P, potential evapotranspiration PET, actual evapotranspiration ET, and runoff R) and volumetric soil water content θ of a small, forested catchment located in the west of Germany. The spatial distribution of θ was determined from a wireless sensor network of 109 points with 3 measurement depths each; ET was calculated from eddy-covariance tower measurements. The water budget was dominantly energy limited, with ET amounting to approximately 90% of PET, and a runoff ratio R/P of 56%. P, ET, and R closed the long-term water budget with a residual of 2% of precipitation. On the daily time scale, the residual of the water budget was larger than on the annual time scale, and explained to a moderate extent by θ (R2 = 0.40). Wavelet analysis revealed subweekly time scales, presumably dominated by unaccounted fast-turnover storage terms such as interception, as a major source of uncertainty in water balance closure. At weekly resolution, soil water content explained more than half (R2 = 0.62) of the residual. By means of combined empirical orthogonal function and cluster analysis, two slightly different spatial patterns of θ could be identified that were associated with mean θ values below and above 0.35 cm3/cm3, respectively. The timing of these patterns as well as the varying coherence between PET, ET, and soil water content responded to changes in water availability, including a moderate response to the European drought in spring 2011.

Airborne Investigation Of Arctic Boundary-Layer Fronts Over The Marginal Ice Zone Of The Davis Strait

Three aircraft-based studies of boundary-layer fronts (BLFs) werecarried out during the experiment KABEG in April 1997near the sea-ice edge over the Davis Strait. The zone of strongestcross-front horizontal gradients showed a typical length scaleof 20 km, while the along-front scale was observed to beseveral hundreds of kilometres.The observed BLFs were stronger than the few previously reportedcases. Horizontal gradients of potential temperature and specifichumidity ranged up to 3 K or 0.25 g kg-1over 20 km, respectively.Low-level winds were around 15 m s-1 parallel to the ice edge.The capping inversion sloped from between250 and 400 m over sea ice to between 400 and 700 m over ocean.For two BLF cases turbulent fluxes and energy budgets are calculated.Turbulent energy fluxes show a factor 2 to 3 contrast acrossthe ice edge and range from 15 to 50 W m-2 over sea iceand from 50 to 100 W m-1 over open ocean.The mean boundary-layer energy budgets are dominated bycold, dry horizontal advection, which is exceededby vertical heat flux convergence.The momentum budgets are dominated by pressure gradient force,Coriolis force and momentum flux divergence.

A Review and Practical Guide to In-Flight Calibration for Aircraft Turbulence Sensors

AbstractA large number of quantities have to be measured and processed to determine the atmospheric-state variables, which are the actual measurands, from aircraft-based measurements. A great part of the dependencies between these quantities depends on the aerodynamic state of the aircraft. Aircraft-based meteorological measurements, hence, require in-flight calibration. Most operators of research aircraft perform some kind of calibration, but the schemes used and the degree they are documented greatly vary. The flight maneuvers and calculation methods required, however, are published in a number of partly overlapping and partly contradictory publications. Some methods are only presented as a minor issue in publications mainly focused on atmospheric processes and are therefore hard to find. For an aircraft user, it is hence challenging to either perform or verify a calibration because of missing comprehensive guidance. This lack was stated on occasion of the in-flight calibration of the German research ai...

Turbulence Structures Over The Marginal Ice Zone Under Flow Parallel To The Ice Edge: Measurements And Parameterizations

Three aircraft-based studies of boundary-layer fronts (BLFs) werecarried out during the experiment KABEG in April 1997 near thesea-ice edge over the Davis Strait. The boundary-layer flow wasparallel to the ice edge and hence two independent turbulent regimescould develop in an identical synoptic framework, separated by thefrontal zone along the ice edge. The zone of strongest crosswindhorizontal gradients was typically 20 km wide, while the downstreamscale of the BLF was observed to be several hundreds of kilometres.For two of the three cases the investigation of turbulence structureswas possible and the results are given herein.Horizontal and vertical profiles of turbulent fluxes and other turbulentquantities are presented. A spectral analysis reveals the coexistence ofsmall-scale turbulence with roll motions. These roll motions can behidden or can be visible as cloud streets. The associated transportmechanisms are highly relevant for the choice of suitable averagingintervals for turbulent flux calculations and model validation.Parameterizations for the vertical velocity variance, countergradienttransport, sea surface roughness and eddy diffusivity are evaluatedand compared for this baroclinic strong-wind convective boundary-layerenvironment. Analogously, drag coefficients and bulk transfer coefficientsare derived from measurements.

Reconstruction of Aircraft Trajectories from AMDAR Weather Reports

It is well known that aircraft-based meteorological measurements exhibit systematic errors depending on various flight dynamic parameters. It is also widely assumed that operational Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) weather reports by commercial aircraft are affected in a similar way. However, so far, it is not possible to study such systematic errors, because datasets that contain both AMDAR reports and flight dynamic variables are not available. To overcome this deficiency, a method was developed to reconstruct the flight trajectories of aircraft using just the aircraft type and operational AMDAR reports. Because AMDAR reports do not contain information on the flight plan, origin, destination, or the motion vector of the airplane, it is not possible to employ a trajectory solver as used by air traffic control. Instead, the method uses groups of trajectory templates that are fitted to AMDAR data taken during approach or departure. This algorithm allows estimation of the heading, true airspeed, aircraft mass, roll state, pitch angle, and angle of attack of the reporting aircraft for each AMDAR report. For verification, the algorithm was applied to navigation data gathered from two Airbus-manufactured aircraft, of which one is in commercial service and one is used for aviation research. From a total of 48 profiles, a very good agreement of reconstructed and measured values was found.