High-resolution LES studies of the turbulent structure of the lower atmospheric boundary layer over heterogeneous terrain and implications for the interpretation of scintillometer data
Responsible: Björn Maronga?
Project type: DFG research project with DWD (German Weather Service), Wageningen University and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Duration: 01/07/2010-31/05/2012 (phase one), 01/12/2012-28/02/2014 (phase two)
The turbulent exchange of heat and water vapour are essential land surface - atmosphere interaction processes in the local, regional and global energy and water cycles. Scintillometry can be considered as the only technique presently available for the quasi-operational experimental determination of area-averaged turbulent fluxes needed to validate the fluxes simulated by regional atmospheric models ord derived from satellite images at a horizontal scale of a few kilometers. The scintillometer principle is based on the quantitative evaluation of intensity fluctuations of electromagnetic radiation propagating across the turbulent atmosphere over distances up to several kilometres.
This research project will study some fundamental issues related to the applicability of scintillometry. Special emphasis will be put on the determination of the spatial and temporal variability of structure parameters over heterogeneous terrain. The project essentially relies on a coupling of field measurements (eddy-covariance technique, scintillometry and airborne measurements) and modelling using the large-eddy simulation (LES) model PALM. With this combination the proposed project represents the worldwide first attempt both to measure the statistics of the turbulent temperature and humidity field along a scintillometer path by airborne techniques, and to simulate the pattern of structure parameters along this path by LES.
Simulations of the turbulent structure of the lower boundary layer for different forcing simulations under well-controlled conditions will be performed in order to study the behavior of structure parameters over a heterogeneous land surface. Setup of the model simulations and interpretation of the results will be performed in close cooperation with the other project partners.
Project-related Publications
- Maronga, B., 2013: Monin-Obukhov similarity functions for the structure parameters of temperature and humidity in the unstable surface layer: results from high-resolution large-eddy simulations. J. Atmos. Sci., DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-13-0135.1 (Early Online Release, Open Access)..
- Maronga, B., A. F. Moene, D. van Dinther, S. Raasch, F. Bosveld and B. Gioli, 2013: Derivation of structure parameters of temperature and humidity in the convective boundary layer from large-eddy simulations and implications for the interpretation of scintillometer observations. Boundary-Layer Meteorol., doi: 10.1007/s10546-013-9801-6.
- Beyrich, F., J. Bange, O. Hartogensis, S. Raasch, M. Braam, D. van Dinter, D. Gräf, B. van Kesteren, A. van den Kroonenberg, B. Maronga, S. Martin and A. F. Moene, 2012: Towards a validation of scintillometer measurements: The LITFASS-2009 experiment. Boundary-Layer Meteorol., 144, 83-112, doi: 10.1007/s10546-012-9715-8.
- van den Kroonenberg, A. C., S. Martin, F. Beyrich and J. Bange, 2012: Spatially-Averaged Temperature Structure Parameter Over a Heterogeneous Surface Measured by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Boundary-Layer Meteorol., 142, 55-77, doi: 10.1007/s10546-011-9662-9.
- Braam, M., F. C. Bosveld and A. F. Moene, 2012: On Monin-Obukhov Scaling in and Above the Atmospheric Surface Layer: The Complexities of Elevated Scintillometer Measurements. Boundary-Layer Meteorol., 10.1007/s10546-012-9716-7.
- Martin, S., J. Bange and F. Beyrich, 2010: Profiling the lower troposphere using the research UAV M²AV Carolo. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 705-716.
Related Animations
| First & second sequence: Structure parameters in the counvective boundary layer (2010) | |||||||||||||||||||
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