Julia M. Rees

STABLE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY-LAYER EXPERIMENT IN SPAIN (SABLES 98): A REPORT

This paper describes the Stable AtmosphericBoundary Layer Experiment in Spain (SABLES 98),which took place over the northern Spanish plateaucomprising relatively flat grassland,in September 1998. The main objectives of the campaign were to study the properties of themid-latitude stable boundary layer (SBL).Instrumentation deployed on two meteorologicalmasts (of heights 10 m and 100 m)included five sonic anemometers, 15 thermocouples,five cup anemometers and three propeller anemometers,humidity sensors and radiometers.A Sensitron mini-sodar and a tetheredballoon were also operated continuously. Atriangular array of cup anemometers wasinstalled to allow the detection ofwave events. Two nocturnal periods analysedon 14–15 and 20–21 September are used toillustrate the wide-ranging characteristics of the SBL.

A Climatological Study of Internal Gravity Waves in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Overlying the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Internal gravity waves are frequently observed in stably stratified regions of the atmospheric boundary layer. In order to determine the statistical influence of such waves on the dynamics of the boundary layer it is necessary to compile information concerning properties of the waves such as frequency of occurrence, propagation, and spectral characteristics. Gravity wave climatologies have been compiled from relatively few locations. In this paper a climatological study of gravity waves, in the period range 1‐20 min, propagating in the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer overlying an Antarctic ice shelf is presented. An extensive set of boundary layer measurements were compiled throughout 1991. Surface pressure fluctuations were recorded from a spatial array of six sensitive microbarographs. Wind and temperature records from an instrumented mast were also available. A beam-steering technique has been used to determine wave parameters from the surface pressure data. The microbarographs detected the presence of internal gravity waves throughout the observational campaign. Rootmean-square pressure values were typically in the region 16‐40 mb, but a significant number of isolated events with amplitudes of up to 180 mb were also found. Wave properties have been studied in conjunction with the mean wind and temperature profiles in the boundary layer. It was found that most of the wave activity did not originate locally, but from shear layers aloft, or, more commonly, from the katabatic flow regime where the ice shelf joins the Antarctic continent.

On the characteristics of eddies in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

A discussion of the cross-spectral properties of eddies in the lowest 40 m of the nocturnal boundary layer is presented. The study involves the analysis of meteorological data collected by the British Antarctic Survey at Halley Station, Antarctica, during the austral winter of 1986. Cross-spectral analysis is used to determine whether the nature of the observed eddies is primarily turbulent or whether their structure is characteristic of coherent internal gravity waves. It is found that the cross-spectral phases indicate the presence of turbulent eddies only when the local gradient Richardson number (Ri) is less than the critical value of 1/4. Trapped modes were only observed when an off-shore wind prevailed, indicating that topographic effects are responsible for their generation. The relative phases of velocity and temperature were often observed to change with height. This can be explained by examining the underlying meteorological conditions. On several occasions, regions of counter-gradient fluxes were detected. A physical explanation of this phenomenon is proposed.

Analysis of solitary disturbances over an Antarctic Ice Shelf

Large amplitude, propagating, solitary disturbances have been observed in the atmospheric boundary layer over a gently sloping Antarctic Ice Shelf. The waves are usually trapped within the lowest 40 m and are observed only when the surface layer is strongly stably stratified and prevailing wind speeds are low. It is shown that the waves are trapped due to the combined effects of velocity curvature and stratification. The observed wavelengths can be bounded using simple heuristic arguments based on the Scorer parameter. Properties of the waves are compared with results from the weakly nonlinear numerical model of Rottman and Einaudi (1993).

Case study of a wave event in the stable atmospheric boundary layer overlying an Antarctic Ice Shelf using the orthogonal wavelet transform

This paper describes a spectacular gravity wave event which was detected by meteorological instruments deployed in the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer overlying the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Varying levels of turbulence activity were also observed. Wind and temperature records from sonic anemometers deployed on a 32 m mast have been studied using cross-spectral analysis and the orthogonal wavelet transform. Wavelet-based variance characteristics and derived parameters are used to identify self-similar processes, noise and coherent structures within a signal, thus providing useful information on the distribution of energy. Local maxima in the wavelet variance characteristics at lower wavelet levels were linked with a propagating internal wave.

Observations of solitary waves in the stable atmospheric boundary layer

Large amplitude, isolated, wave-like phenomena have been observed in the lowest 40 m of the strongly stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer overlying a coastal Antarctic ice shelf. The waves only occur when prevailing wind speeds are low. They always propagate from over the land, with phase speeds exceeding the local mean wind speed. They have wavelengths of the order of 200 m. Several examples are described and a summary of the statistical properties of these waves events is presented.

On slip velocity boundary conditions for electroosmotic flow near sharp corners

The Helmholtz–Smoluchowski (HS) slip velocity boundary condition is often used in computational models of microchannel flows because it allows the motion of the electric double layer (EDL) to be approximated without resolving the charge density profiles close to the walls while dramatically reducing the computational effort required to solve the flow model. The approximation works well for straight channel flows but breaks down in areas of high wall curvature such as sharp corners, where large nonphysical velocities are generated. Many microfluidic applications such as the on-chip focusing and separation of biomolecules rely on the interaction of electroosmosis and electrophoresis in complex channel geometries. In order for these effects to be properly treated using the slip velocity boundary condition, the errors introduced into the solution at corners must be understood. In this article, a complete model for the ion concentrations, electric field, and fluid flow in complex microchannel geometries is pre...

Analysis of Wind Fluctuations Using the Orthogonal Wavelet Transform

This paper presents a study of velocity fluctuations occurring in the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer over an Antarctic ice shelf. The approach is based on wavelet analysis which has advantages over conventional Fourier analysis. Two case studies are presented, comprising: ‘pure’ turbulent flow and a large amplitude solitary wave.

Rollover instability due to double diffusion in a stably stratified cylindrical tank

Double diffusion of a viscous fluid is simulated for heat leakage driven by buoyant convection under cryogenic storage conditions in a cylindrical tank with laminar flow. If the tank is stably stratified, there is a potential instability due to the inability of the fluid in the lower layer to release heat to the top vapor space, whereas the upper liquid layer can exchange heat and mass through sensible heat transfer and evaporation with the vapor space. Eventually, the lower layer becomes less dense due to thermal expansion and is no longer constrained in the stratification. The rapid rise and overturning of the fluid is termed rollover, and can be accompanied by a potentially explosive release of vapor. In this paper, hydrodynamics and heat and mass transport are used to study the stability characteristics of rollover. The transient state is used as a base state for a linear stability analysis which shows the transition from a “corner eddy” mode spinning down to spinning up is the driver for the rollover instability. Four different vapor-liquid interfacial boundary conditions are tested, with similar results for the time to rollover. Surprisingly, the long time prerollover state is dominated in the laminar flow regime by heat conduction and diffusion, as the expected double roll structure is suppressed and advection plays a small roll in the majority of the prerollover period. Scalings are suggested for controlling dimensionless groups on this prerollover basis that can be used as a guideline to determine the regime of double diffusion—a single roll or a double roll stratification, as well as the severity of the eventual rollover event. An energy analysis demonstrates the switch from practically advection free to free convection regimes.

An inverse method for rheometry of power-law fluids

This paper is concerned with the determination of the constitutive viscous parameters of dilute solutions of xanthan gum by means of an inverse method used in conjunction with finite element modeling of the governing system of partial differential equations. At low concentrations xanthan gum behaves as a shear-thinning, power-law non-Newtonian fluid. Finite element modeling is used to simulate the pressure-driven flow of xanthan gum solutions in a microchannel T-junction. As the flow is forced to turn the corner of the T-junction a range of shear rates, and hence viscosities, is produced. It is shown that the statistical properties of the velocity field are sensitive to the constitutive parameters of the power-law model. The inverse method is shown to be stable and accurate, with measurement error in the velocity field translating to small errors in the rheological parameter estimation. Due to the particular structure of the inverse map, the error propagation is substantially less than the estimate from the Hadamard criterion.