Robert E. Eskridge

Improved Magnus form approximation of saturation vapor pressure

Algorithms, based on Magnuss form equations, are described that minimize the difference between several relationships between temperature and water vapor pressure at saturation that are commonly used in archiving data. The work was initiated in connection with the development of a unified upper-air dataset that will use measurements gathered from the late 1930s to the present and archived in several data centers. The conversion of field measurements to archived humidity values within the databases that are being used have not been consistent and in some cases are unknown. A goal of this work was to develop a uniform and accurate method to convert these data to various humidity variables without regard to the equations used in archiving the original data. Archived temperature values are recorded to 0.1°C. This precision creates a temperature dependent range in uncertainty in saturation vapor pressure. A procedure was developed to take this into account when the error minimizing equations were derived.

Highway Modeling. Part I: Prediction of Velocity and Turbulence Fields in the Wake of Vehicles

Abstract A theory for the velocity deficit in the wake of a moving vehicle in still air is derived from a perturbation analysis of the equations of motion. By suitable assumptions, expressions are found for the turbulent energy fluctuations in the wake. This theory is then applied to predict the velocity deficit and turbulent energy fluctuations on a difference net in the x-z plane across the roadway for the case of the wind speed being much less than the vehicle speed (i.e., the GM experiment). The predictions are then compared to data from the General Motors Sulfate Dispersion Experiment. Comparison of observations to predictions show that the theory predicts the velocity deficit and turbulent fluctuations accurately.

CREATING CLIMATE REFERENCE DATASETS CARDS Workshop on Adjusting Radiosonde Temperature Data for Climate Monitoring

Homogeneous upper-air temperature time series are necessary for climate change detection and attribution. About 20 participants met at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina on 11–12 October 2000 to discuss methods of adjusting radiosonde data for inhomogeneities arising from instrument and other changes. Representatives of several research groups described their methods for identifying change points and adjusting temperature time series and compared the results of applying these methods to data from 12 radiosonde stations. The limited agreement among these results and the potential impact of these adjustments on upper-air trends estimates indicate a need for further work in this area and for greater attention to homogeneity issues in planning future changes in radiosonde observations.

Trends in Low and High Cloud Boundaries and Errors in Height Determination of Cloud Boundaries

Abstract Clouds are important to climate and climate trends. To determine trends in cloud–base heights and cloud–top heights, the Comprehensive Aerological Reference Data Set (CARDS) and the method of Chernykh and Eskridge are used to diagnose cloud base, top, and amount. Trends in time series of cloud bases and tops at 795 radiosonde stations from 1964 to 1998 are presented. It was found that trends in cloud–base height and cloud–top height are seasonally dependent and a function of cloud cover amount. There was a small increase in multilayer cloudiness in all seasons. Geographical distributions of decadal changes of cloud bases and tops were spatially nonuniform and depended upon the season. To estimate the errors made in calculating the heights of cloud boundaries, an analysis was made of the response of the thermistors and hygristors. Thermistors and hygristors are linear sensors of the first order. From this it is shown that the distance between calculated inflection points (cloud boundaries) of obse...

Measurement and Prediction of Traffic-Induced Turbulence and Velocity Fields Near Roadways

Abstract The primary objectives of this investigation are to determine the temporal and spacial resolution needed to adequately measure vehicle wake turbulence and the characteristics of turbulence near roadways using the knowledge gained in the General Motors (GM) Sulfate Dispersion Experiment, the Long Island (LI) Expressway Diffusion Experiments and wind tunnel experiments. Observed wind velocity fluctuations at a fixed point near a roadway are due to three distinct causes: wake turbulence, ambient turbulence and the time variation in the wind velocity as a vehicles wake passes the observation point, hereafter referred to as wake-passing effect. The wake-passing effect can be separated in the data from the ambient and vehicle wake turbulence because of the special spacing and timing of vehicles used in the GM experiment. The measured wake-passing effect is then compared with vehicle wake model predictions. The wake-passing effect, which is shown to constitute a significant portion of the measurable ve...

Wintertime Dispersion in a Mountainous Basin at Roanoke, Virginia: Tracer Study

Abstract During January 1989, five nighttime SF6 tracer experiments were conducted in Roanoke, Virginia. The experiments were designed to help identify and understand the dispersion characteristics of a basin atmosphere during winter stagnation conditions. The basin studied was the Roanoke basin located on the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. This paper documents this tracer study and gives results from the experiment conducted on the night of 16–17 January 1989. A cold-air pool formed in the basin beginning after the evening transition period and filled to near the elevation of the lowest mountain barrier. A simple model of the ascent rate of the top of this cold-air pool is proposed. A sharp potential temperature jump was present at the top of this fully developed cold-air pool. Vertical measurements of tracer showed the initial ground-level plume to become elevated and ride over the top of the cold-air pool. Horizontal plume spread was enhanced over that expected from turbulent diffusion al...

Highway Modeling. Part II: Advection and Diffusion of SF6 Tracer Gas

Abstract A finite-difference highway model is presented which uses surface layer similarity theory and a vehicle wake theory to determine the atmospheric structure along a roadway. Surface similarity is used to determine the wind profile and eddy diffusion profiles in the ambient atmosphere. The ambient atmosphere is treated as a basic-state atmosphere on which the disturbances due to vehicle wakes are added. A conservation of species equation is then solved using an upstream-flux corrected technique which insures positive concentrations. Simulation results from the highway model are compared with 58 half-hour periods of data (meteorological and SF6 tracer) taken by General Motors. The results show that the predictions of this model are closer to the observations than those of the Gaussian-formulated EPA highway model (HIWAY).

Unexplained Discontinuity in the U.S. Radiosonde Temperature Data. Part I: Troposphere

Inhomogeneities in U.S. radiosonde data that used the VIZ and Vaisala RS80 cannot be explained by radiation errors, which can be removed by the heat balance models. WMO intercomparision data, modeling results, temperature time series, and 1200 minus 0000 UTC temperature differences are examined to show that there appears to be an error in the U.S. RS80/RSN93 temperature correction software. Radiosonde soundings taken at U.S. stations that launch Vaisala RS80 radiosondes, which are integrated within the National Weather Service (NWS) Microcomputer Automatic Radio-Theodolite (Micro-ART) system, should not be used in climate studies since there is a large systematic error of unknown origin in the temperature data. This paper is the first of two and is primarily concerned with the midtroposphere. The second paper discusses the large unexplained 0000 and 1200 UTC differences in the stratosphere.

Effect of a Precipitation-Driven Downdraft on a Rotating Wind Field: A Possible Trigger Mechanism for Tornadoes?

Abstract The Physical and dynamical effects of simulated precipitation in a rotating wind field are examined by numerical experiments. The physical-dynamical model consists of the three equations of motion, a thermodynamic equation, a conservation equation for precipitation, a diagnostic pressure equation, and appropriate boundary conditions, that are solved numerically by use of central space and time differences in a 1.84 km by 1.82 km grid. While no moisture and latent-heat exchanges are included in this model, the effect of rain and hail is simulated through differing terminal velocities. The results of two experiments show that vorticity is concentrated by the precipitation-induced, accelerating downdraft which, descending dry adiabatically, becomes warmer than the air outside of the downdraft because the lapse rate of potential temperature in the environmental air is assumed close to moist adiabatic. Near the surface, the air in the downdraft attains sufficient positive buoyancy to overcome the nega...

TURBULENT DIFFUSION BEHIND VEHICLES: EFFECT OF TRAFFIC SPEED ON POLLUTANT CONCENTRATIONS

Recent theoretical and experimental investigations Indicate that turbulent diffusion behind moving vehicles Is Influenced by the speed of the vehicle. Vertical wake induced turbulent diffusion, explicitly treated in the numerical ROADWAY model, is proportional to the square of the wind speed relative to the moving vehicle. Hence, the model predictions of turbulent mixing and pollutant concentrations on and downwind of a roadway are dependent upon the traffic speed. It Is expected from theoretical considerations that the effect of vehicle speed on pollutant concentrations will be more significant during stable atmospheric conditions, because in neutral and unstable conditions the vehicle-wake turbulence is quickly masked by the ambient turbulence. In this study, experimental data are utilized to evaluate the theoretical predictions of the effects of traffic speed on the ambient pollutant concentrations. The effects of vehicle speed upon ambient concentrations are investigated through wind tunnel experiment...