Search results for "Planetary boundary layer"
showing 10 items of 50 documents
The making of the New European Wind Atlas - Part 1: Model sensitivity
2020
This is the first of two papers that document the creation of the New European Wind Atlas (NEWA). It describes the sensitivity analysis and evaluation procedures that formed the basis for choosing the final setup of the mesoscale model simulations of the wind atlas. The suitable combination of model setup and parameterizations, bound by practical constraints, was found for simulating the climatology of the wind field at turbine-relevant heights with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Initial WRF model sensitivity experiments compared the wind climate generated by using two commonly used planetary boundary layer schemes and were carried out over several regions in Europe. They…
On the occurrence of strong vertical wind shear in the tropopause region: a 10-year ERA5 northern hemispheric study
2021
A climatology of the occurrence of strong wind shear in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) is presented, which gives rise to defining a tropopause shear layer (TSL). Strong wind shear in the tropopause region is of interest because it can generate turbulence, which can lead to cross-tropopause mixing. The analysis is based on 10 years of daily northern hemispheric ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data. The vertical extent of the region analyzed is limited to the altitudes from 1.5 km above the surface up to 25 km, to exclude the planetary boundary layer as well as strong wind shear in higher atmospheric layers like the mesosphere–lower thermosphere. A threshold value of St2=4×10-4s-2 of t…
Estimation of evapotranspiration using SVAT models and surface IR temperature
1995
Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) models have been implemented to estimate energy and mass fluxes between soil, vegetation and atmosphere of various ecosystems. They can also simulate remote sensing data and in particular thermal infrared surface temperature. Usually, these models are simple, but they use realistic descriptions of radiative, turbulent and water transfers. These include description of stomatal control of transpiration fluxes. Some studies have shown that such models may be used to derive evapotranspiration from surface temperature, using inversion procedures. In this study, inversion of two different SVAT models are compared.
Aerosol Lidar Intercomparison in the Framework of SPALINET—The Spanish Lidar Network: Methodology and Results
2009
Abstract—A group of eight Spanish lidars was formed in order to extend the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network–Advanced Sustainable Observation System (EARLINET-ASOS)project. This study presents intercomparisons at the hardware and software levels. Results of the system intercomparisons are based on range-square-corrected signals in cases where the lidars viewed the same atmospheres. Comparisons were also made for aeros backscatter coefficients at 1064 nm (2 systems) and 532 nm (all systems), and for extinction coefficients at 532 nm (2 systems). In total, three field campaigns were carried out between 2006 and 2007. Comparisons were limited to the highest layer found before the free tr…
Interaction of radiation fog with tall vegetation
1999
Abstract A one-dimensional radiation fog model is presented. It is coupled with a second model to include the effects of tall vegetation. The fog model describes in detail the dynamics, thermodynamics, and microphysical structure of a fog, as well as the interactions with the atmospheric radiative transfer. A two-dimensional joint size distribution for the aerosol particles and activated fog droplets is used, the activation of aerosol particles is explicitly modeled. The implications of the presence of tall vegetation on the state of the atmosphere and on the evolution of radiation fog are stated. It is shown that the existence of tall vegetation impedes the evolution of radiation fog. The …
A one-dimensional simulation of the interaction between land surface processes and the atmosphere
1992
A one-dimensional soil-vegetation model is developed for future incorporation into a mesoscale model. The interaction of land surface processes with the overlying atmosphere is treated in terms of three coupled balance equations describing the energy and moisture transfer at the ground and the energy state of the vegetation layer. For a complete description of the interaction, the coupled processes of heat and moisture transport within the soil are included as a multilayer soil model. As model verification, successful reproductions of the observed energy fluxes over vegetated surfaces from the HAPEX-MOBILHY experiment in southwestern France and from the LOTREX-10E/HIBE88 field experiment in…
Advances in understanding mineral dust and boundary layer processes over the Sahara from Fennec aircraft observations
2015
Abstract. The Fennec climate programme aims to improve understanding of the Saharan climate system through a synergy of observations and modelling. We present a description of the Fennec airborne observations during 2011 and 2012 over the remote Sahara (Mauritania and Mali) and the advances in the understanding of mineral dust and boundary layer processes they have provided. Aircraft instrumentation aboard the UK FAAM BAe146 and French SAFIRE (Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement) Falcon 20 is described, with specific focus on instrumentation specially developed for and relevant to Saharan meteorology and dust. Flight locations, aims and associated met…
The June 2007 Saharan dust event in the central Mediterranean: Observations and radiative effects in marine, urban, and sub-urban environments
2011
Abstract A desert dust episode in June 2007 and its radiative effects on the energy budget have been studied at three Italian stations (Rome, Lecce and Lampedusa) with the aim of investigating the interactions with different conditions and aerosol types over the Mediterranean. The three sites are representative for urban (Rome), sub-urban/rural (Lecce), and marine (Lampedusa) environment, respectively in the central Mediterranean region. Measured ground-based column-averaged aerosol optical properties and aerosol extinction profiles were used to initialize the MODTRAN4 radiative transfer model. The radiative transfer model was used to estimate the shortwave aerosol radiative forcing ( ARF )…
Aerosol columnar properties retrieved from CIMEL radiometers during VELETA 2002
2008
During the 2002 summer, the VELETA 2002 field campaign has been carried out at the Sierra Nevada Massif, close to Granada in South-Eastern Spain. During the campaign, CIMEL CE-318 robotic radiometer has been one of the key instruments in the characterization of the atmospheric aerosol columnar properties. This kind of radiometers have been operated at Motril, a coastal location at sea level, Pitres (1200 m a.s.l.), located in the South slope of Sierra Nevada Massif, Las Sabinas (2200m a.s.l.), located on the north slope of the mountain range, and Armilla (680m a.s.l.), located in the valley. The principal feature of the locations is that they provide a strong altitudinal gradient. This work…
Numerical simulation of internal boundary-layer development and comparison with atmospheric data
2006
A finite-volume numerical model is employed to investigate the adaptation of the atmospheric boundary layer to a change in the underlying surface roughness, such as that existing in the transition from land to the free surface of a water body. Numerical results are validated by comparison with neutral stratification atmospheric data and compared with the internal boundary-layer (IBL) heights computed using a number of existing empirical formulae. The numerical analysis allows an extension of the fetch range in which the existing formulae, calibrated only by comparison with short fetch data, may be applied. An argument is offered that the spatial variability of the water surface roughness sh…