Rob K. Newsom

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...

Nocturnal Low-Level Jet Characteristics Over Kansas During Cases-99

Characteristics and evolution of the low-level jet (LLJ)over southeastern Kansas were investigated during the 1999 Cooperative Surface-AtmosphereExchange Study (CASES–99) field campaign with an instrument complement consisting of ahigh-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL), a 60 m instrumented tower, and a triangle of Dopplermini-sodar/profiler combinations. Using this collection of instrumentation we determined thespeed UX, height ZX and direction DX of the LLJ. We investigate here the frequencyof occurrence, the spatial distribution, and the evolution through the night, of these LLJcharacteristics. The jet of interest in this study was that which generates the shear and turbulencebelow the jet and near the surface. This was represented by the lowest wind maximum.We found that this wind maximum, which was most often between 7 and 10 m s‐1,was often at or just below 100 m above ground level as measured by HRDL at the CASEScentral site. Over the 60 km profiler–sodararray, the topography varied by ∼100 m. The wind speed anddirection were relatively constant over this distance (with some tendency for strongerwinds at the highest site), but ZX was more variable. ZX was occasionally about equal at allthree sites, indicating that the jet was following the terrain, but more often it seemed to berelatively level, i.e., at about the same height above sea level. ZX was also more variable thanUX in the behaviour of the LLJ with time through the night, and on some nights

Atmospheric disturbances that generate intermittent turbulence in nocturnal boundary layers

UX wasremarkably steady. Examples of two nights with strong turbulence below jet level were furtherinvestigated using the 60 m tower at the main CASES–99 site. Evidence of TKE increasing withheight and downward turbulent transport of TKE indicates that turbulence was primarilygenerated aloft and mixed downward, supporting the upside–down boundary layer notion in thestable boundary layer.

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

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.

Relationship between low-level jet properties and turbulence kinetic energy in the nocturnal 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.

Shear-Flow Instability in the Stable Nocturnal Boundary Layer as Observed by Doppler Lidar during CASES-99

Abstract In the nighttime stable boundary layer (SBL), shear and turbulence are generated in the layer between the maximum of the low-level jet (LLJ) and the earths surface. Here, it is investigated whether gross properties of the LLJ—its height and speed—could be used to diagnose turbulence intensities in this subjet layer. Data on the height and speed of the LLJ maximum were available at high vertical and temporal resolution using the high-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL). These data were used to estimate a subjet layer shear, which was computed as the ratio of the speed to the height of the jet maximum, and a jet Richardson number RiJ, averaged at 15-min intervals for 10 nights when HRDL LLJ data were available for this study. The shear and RiJ values were compared with turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) values measured near the top of the 60-m tower at the Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study-1999 (CASES-99) main site. TKE values were small for RiJ greater than 0.4, but as RiJ decreased to less ...

The Structure of the Near-Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer

Abstract This study investigates a shear-flow instability observed in the stably stratified nighttime boundary layer on 6 October 1999 during the Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99) in south-central Kansas. A scanning Doppler lidar captured the spatial structure and evolution of the instability, and high-rate in situ sensors mounted on a nearby 60-m tower provided stability and turbulence data with excellent vertical resolution. Data from these instruments are analyzed and linear stability analysis (LSA) is employed to carefully characterize the wave field, its interaction with the mean flow, and its role in turbulence generation. The event persisted for about 30 min and was confined within the shear zone between the surface and a low-level jet (LLJ) maximum. Eigenvalues corresponding to the fastest growing mode of the LSA showed good agreement with the basic wave parameters determined from the lidar data. Good qualitative agreement was also obtained between the eigenfunction of the f...

Simultaneous analog and photon counting detection for Raman lidar

Abstract Recent observational data (turbulence variables by sonic anemometers and three-dimensional flow pattern by Doppler lidar), obtained during the Cooperative Atmosphere Surface Exchange Study field campaign in October 1999 (CASES-99), show evidence of a layered structure of the near-neutral surface layer: (i) the eddy surface layer (ESL), which is the lower sublayer where blocking of impinging eddies is the dominating mechanism; and (ii) the shear surface layer (SSL), which is an intermediate sublayer, where shear affects the isotropy of turbulence. The origin of the eddies impinging from aloft (probably from the SSL) down to the ESL is preliminarily addressed in this study, since the Doppler lidar data show evidence of linearly organized eddies embedded in the surface layer (i.e., about 100-m vertical extent) and horizontally spaced by about 300 m. This is consistent with theories predicting that the primary mechanism of eddy motion in high Reynolds number wall layers is “top-down.” The layered str...

Virtual Towers Using Coherent Doppler Lidar during the Joint Urban 2003 Dispersion Experiment

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program Raman lidar was upgraded in 2004 with a new data system that provides simultaneous measurements of both the photomultiplier analog output voltage and photon counts. We describe recent improvements to the algorithm used to merge these two signals into a single signal with improved dynamic range. The effect of modifications to the algorithm are evaluated by comparing profiles of water vapor mixing ratio from the lidar with radiosonde measurements over a six month period. The modifications that were implemented resulted in a reduction of the mean bias in the daytime water vapor mixing ratio from a 3% dry bias to well within 1%. This improvement was obtained by ignoring the temporal variation of the glue coefficients and using only the nighttime average glue coefficients throughout the entire diurnal cycle.

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

Abstract During the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) atmospheric field experiment in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, of July 2003, lidar teams from Arizona State University and the Army Research Laboratory collaborated to perform intersecting range–height indicator scans. Because a single lidar measures radial winds, that is, the dot product of the wind vector with a unit vector pointing along the lidar beam, the data from two lidars viewing from different directions can be combined to produce horizontal velocity vectors. Analysis programs were written to retrieve horizontal velocity vectors for a series of eight vertical profiles to the southwest (approximately upwind) of the downtown urban core. This technique has the following unique characteristics that make it well suited for urban meteorology studies: 1) continuous vertical profiles from far above the building heights to down into the street canyons can be measured and 2) the profiles can extend to very near the ground without a loss of accuracy (assuming clear l...