Jeremy A. Gibbs

Evaluating weather research and forecasting (WRF) model predictions of turbulent flow parameters in a dry convective boundary layer

Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model predictions using different boundary layer schemes and horizontal grid spacings were compared with observational and numerical large-eddy simulation data for conditions corresponding to a dry atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL) over the southern Great Plains (SGP). The first studied case exhibited a dryline passage during the simulation window, and the second studied case was used to examine the CBL in a post-cold-frontal environment. The model runs were conducted with three boundary layer parameterization schemes (Yonsei University, Mellor-Yamada-Janjic, and asymmetrical convective) commonly employed within the WRF model environment to represent effects of small-scale turbulent transport. A study domain was centered over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program SGP site in Lamont, Oklahoma. Results show that near-surface flow and turbulence parameters are predicted reasonably well with all tested horizontal grid spacings (1, 2, and 4 km) and that value added through refining grid spacing was minimal at best for conditions considered in this study. In accord with this result, it was suggested that the 16-fold increase in computing overhead associated with changing from4- to 1-km grid spacing was not justified. Therefore, only differences among schemes at 4-km spacing were presented in detail. WRF model predictions generally overestimated the contribution to turbulence generation by mechanical forcing over buoyancy forcing in both studied CBL cases. Nonlocal parameterization schemes were found to match observational datamore closely than did the local scheme, although differences among the predictions with all three schemes were relatively small.

Comparison of Convective Boundary Layer Velocity Spectra Retrieved from Large- Eddy-Simulation and Weather Research and Forecasting Model Data

As computing capabilities expand, operational and research environments are moving toward the use of finescale atmospheric numerical models. These models are attractive for users who seek an accurate description of small-scale turbulent motions. One such numerical tool is the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which has been extensively used in synoptic-scale and mesoscale studies. As finer-resolution simulations become more desirable, it remains a question whether the model features originally designed for the simulation of larger-scale atmospheric flows will translate to adequate reproductions of small-scale motions. In this study, turbulent flow in the dry atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL) is simulated using a conventional large-eddy-simulation (LES) code and the WRF model applied in an LES mode. The two simulation conf igurations use almost identical numerical grids and are initialized with the same idealized vertical profiles of wind velocity, temperature, and moisture. TherespectiveCBL forcingsareseteq ualandheldco nstant. The effects of the CBL wind shear and of the varying grid spacings are investigated. Horizontal slices of velocity fields are analyzed to enable a comparison of CBL flow patterns obtained with each simulation method. Two-dimensional velocity spectra are used to characterize the planar turbulence structure. One-dimensional velocity spectra are also calculated. Results show that the WRF model tends to attribute slightly more energy to larger-scale flow structures as compared with the CBL structures reproduced by the conventional LES. Consequently, the WRF model reproduces relatively less spatial variability of the velocity fields. Spectra from the WRF model also feature narrower inertial spectral subranges and indicate enhanced damping of turbulence on small scales.

Revisiting Surface Heat-Flux and Temperature Boundary Conditions in Models of Stably Stratified Boundary-Layer Flows

Two formulations of the surface thermal boundary condition commonly employed in numerical modelling of atmospheric stably stratified surface-layer flows are evaluated using analytical considerations and observational data from the Cabauw site in the Netherlands. The first condition is stated in terms of the surface heat flux and the second is stated in terms of the vertical potential temperature difference. The similarity relationships used to relate the flux and the difference are based on conventional log-linear expressions for vertical profiles of wind velocity and potential temperature. The heat-flux formulation results in two physically meaningful values for the friction velocity with no obvious criteria available to choose between solutions. Both solutions can be obtained numerically, which casts doubt on discarding one of the solutions as was previously suggested based on stability arguments. This solution ambiguity problem is identified as the key issue of the heat-flux condition formulation. In addition, the agreement between the temperature difference evaluated from similarity solutions and their measurement-derived counterparts from the Cabauw dataset appears to be very poor. Extra caution should be paid to the iterative procedures used in the model algorithms realizing the heat-flux condition as they could often provide only partial solutions for the friction velocity and associated temperature difference. Using temperature difference as the lower boundary condition bypasses the ambiguity problem and provides physically meaningful values of heat flux for a broader range of stability condition in terms of the flux Richardson number. However, the agreement between solutions and observations of the heat flux is again rather poor. In general, there is a great need for practicable similarity relationships capable of treating the vertical turbulent transport of momentum and heat under conditions of strong stratification in the surface layer.

Methods for Evaluating the Temperature Structure-Function Parameter Using Unmanned Aerial Systems and Large-Eddy Simulation

Small-scale turbulent fluctuations of temperature are known to affect the propagation of both electromagnetic and acoustic waves. Within the inertial-subrange scale, where the turbulence is locally homogeneous and isotropic, these temperature perturbations can be described, in a statistical sense, using the structure-function parameter for temperature,

Measurements of the Temperature Structure-Function Parameters with a Small Unmanned Aerial System Compared with a Sodar

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Effects of Temporal Discretization on Turbulence Statistics and Spectra in Numerically Simulated Convective Boundary Layers

CT2. Here we investigate different methods of evaluating

Comparison of Direct and Spectral Methods for Evaluation of the Temperature Structure Parameter in Numerically Simulated Convective Boundary Layer Flows

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