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Frequency spectra of atmospheric turbulenceS α (f) in the inertial subrange are considered in the free convection regime over the sea surface in a case of motionless instrument measurements (Eulerian frequency spectra). The frequency spectra formulaef * S α(f)/σ α 2 =c α(f */f)5/3 for wind velocity (α=1–3), temperature (α=t) and humidity (α=e) fluctuations are derived on the basis of similarity theory and the “−5/3 law”. These relations also can be derived from a consideration of convective large-scale advection of small eddies. The frequency scalef * = (N 1 β 2/∈)1/2 ≈ (βH/z 2)1/3 is the lower bound of the inertial subrange and it is of order 10−2 Hz. The spectra formulae are compared with direct measurements of atmospheric turbulence from the fixed research tower in the coastal zone of the Black Sea in calm weather. It is shown that these formulae are realized at least over two to three decades of the frequency range (approximately from 10−2 to 10 Hz) and values of the numerical coefficients are found. The derived formulae can be used for calculations of sensible and latent heat fluxes by measuring the high-frequency range of spectra at a fixed point at low wind speeds when the conventional inertial dissipation method is not applicable.

We investigate the evolution of an artificially thick turbulent boundary layer generated by two families of small obstacles (divided into uniform and non-uniform wall normal distributions of blockage). One- and two-point velocity measurements using constant temperature anemometry show that the canonical behaviour of a boundary layer is recovered after an adaptation region downstream of the trips presenting $$150~\%$$ higher momentum thickness (or equivalently, Reynolds number) than the natural case for the same downstream distance ( $$x\approx 3\,$$ m). The effect of the degree of immersion of the trips for $$h/\delta \gtrsim 1$$ is shown to play a secondary role. The one-point diagnostic quantities used to assess the degree of recovery of the canonical properties are the friction coefficient (representative of the inner motions), the shape factor and wake parameter (representative of the wake regions); they provide a severe test to be applied to artificially generated boundary layers. Simultaneous two-point velocity measurements of both spanwise and wall-normal correlations and the modulation of inner velocity by the outer structures show that there are two different formation mechanisms for the boundary layer. The trips with high aspect ratio and uniform distributed blockage leave the inner motions of the boundary layer relatively undisturbed, which subsequently drive the mixing of the obstacles’ wake with the wall-bounded flow (wall-driven). In contrast, the low aspect-ratio trips with non-uniform blockage destroy the inner structures, which are then re-formed further downstream under the influence of the wake of the trips (wake-driven).

Recent measurements of turbulent fluxes by Desjardins and Lemon (1973) probably involve underestimates in these fluxes of 40 % or more, because of poor sensor response to ‘high frequency’ fluctuations. Indications are that use of the Gill propeller anemometer as a sensor of vertical velocity fluctuations should be confined to heights greater than 5 m over land, and greater than 10 m over the sea.

Variation exists in the maximum mixing height (MMH) across the coastal zone because of major differences in heat capacity between land and sea. By assuming that synoptic and microscale effects are all small as compared to the contribution from mesoscale temperature differences, a model is proposed to explain this variation. The model states that the variation of the MMH across the coastal zone is due primarily and is linearly proportional to the difference in maximum temperature between land and sea. Since the MMH is one of the most important parameters in the computation of distribution and concentration of aerosols, water vapor, and pollutants, a simple equation is also provided for the operational forecasting of the MMH or the mixing height over the sea. All inputs into the equation are routinely available. The model has been verified by available data and a relevant field experiment.

As urbanization progresses, more realistic methods are required to analyze the urban microclimate. However, given the complexity and computational cost of numerical models, the effects of realistic representations should be evaluated to identify the level of detail required for an accurate analysis. We consider the realistic representation of surface heating in an idealized three-dimensional urban configuration, and evaluate the spatial variability of flow statistics (mean flow and turbulent fluxes) in urban streets. Large-eddy simulations coupled with an urban energy balance model are employed, and the heating distribution of urban surfaces is parametrized using sets of horizontal and vertical Richardson numbers, characterizing thermal stratification and heating orientation with respect to the wind direction. For all studied conditions, the thermal field is strongly affected by the orientation of heating with respect to the airflow. The modification of airflow by the horizontal heating is also pronounced for strongly unstable conditions. The formation of the canyon vortices is affected by the three-dimensional heating distribution in both spanwise and streamwise street canyons, such that the secondary vortex is seen adjacent to the windward wall. For the dispersion field, however, the overall heating of urban surfaces, and more importantly, the vertical temperature gradient, dominate the distribution of concentration and the removal of pollutants from the building canyon. Accordingly, the spatial variability of concentration is not significantly affected by the detailed heating distribution. The analysis is extended to assess the effects of three-dimensional surface heating on turbulent transfer. Quadrant analysis reveals that the differential heating also affects the dominance of ejection and sweep events and the efficiency of turbulent transfer (exuberance) within the street canyon and at the roof level, while the vertical variation of these parameters is less dependent on the detailed heating of urban facets.

The turbulence in a laboratory convective mixed layer is probed more extensively than in the preliminary study of Willis and Deardorff (1974), and results presented. Turbulence intensities, spectra and probability distributions using mixed-layer scaling compare favorably with similarly scaled field measurements not available or plentiful in 1974. However, the velocity spectra in the convection tank exhibit only a short inertial subrange due to the close proximity of the dissipation subrange to the energy-containing range. The turbulence budget suggests that the convergence of the vertical transport of pressure fluctuations is a rather important term. Results on the entrainment rate are also presented, using both mixed-layer scaling and local interfacial scaling.

Air temperature time series within and above canopies reveal ramp patternsassociated with coherent eddies that are responsible for most of thevertical transport of sensible heat. Van Atta used a simple step-changeramp model to analyse the coherent part of air temperature structurefunctions. However, his ocean data, and our own measurements for aDouglas-fir forest, straw mulch, and bare soil, reveal that even withoutlinearization his model cannot account for the observed decrease of thecubic structure function for small time lag. We found that a ramp model inwhich the rapid change at the end of the ramp occurs in a finite microfronttime can describe this decrease very well, and predict at least relativemagnitudes of microfront times between different surfaces. Averagerecurrence time for ramps, determined by analysis of the cubic structurefunction with the new ramp model, agreed well with values determined usingthe Mexican Hat wavelet transform, except at lower levels within theforest. Ramp frequency above the forest and mulch scaled very well withwind speed at the canopy top divided by canopy height. Within the forest,ramp frequency did not vary systematically with height. This is inaccordance with the idea that large-scale canopy turbulence is mostlygenerated by instability of the mean canopy wind profile, similar to aplane mixing layer. The straw mulch and bare soil experiments uniquelyextend measurements of temperature structure functions and ramp frequencyto the smallest scales possible in the field.

Turbulent data from three sites are utilized to analyze the characteristic features of the Eulerian autocorrelation function (EAF) of horizontal (longitudinal and lateral) wind components and temperature under different regimes of wind speed and near-surface atmospheric stability. It is shown that classical formulations do not adequately describe the observed EAF behaviour and are unable to capture the peak of the significant negative observed lobe. These formulations are modified by introducing a phase angle $$\alpha$$ to make them consistent with the observations. The modified formulations are shown to better characterize the behaviour of the EAF curve and its absolute value of significant negative lobe ( $$\left|{R}_{Min}\right|$$ ) for both low and moderate wind conditions for all three datasets. Further, a new parametrization for the meandering parameter m is proposed in terms of the observed value of $$\left|{R}_{Min}\right|$$ without using any formulations for the EAF. It is found that the majority of low and moderate wind data belong to the significant meandering range, although the extent of meandering is found to be relatively more pronounced at low wind speeds as compared to moderate wind speeds. The occurrence of meandering (low-frequency horizontal wind oscillations) is found to be independent of stability, topography, and geographical location.

A land-surface model (LSM) is coupled with a large-eddy simulation (LES) model to investigate the vegetation-atmosphere exchange of heat, water vapour, and carbon dioxide (CO2) in heterogeneous landscapes. The dissimilarity of scalar transport in the lower convective boundary layer is quantified in several ways: eddy diffusivity, spatial structure of the scalar fields, and spatial and temporal variations in the surface fluxes of these scalars. The results show that eddy diffusivities differ among the three scalars, by up to 10–12%, in the surface layer; the difference is partly attributed to the influence of top-down diffusion. The turbulence-organized structures of CO2 bear more resemblance to those of water vapour than those of the potential temperature. The surface fluxes when coupled with the flow aloft show large spatial variations even with perfectly homogeneous surface conditions and constant solar radiation forcing across the horizontal simulation domain. In general, the surface sensible heat flux shows the greatest spatial and temporal variations, and the CO2 flux the least. Furthermore, our results show that the one-dimensional land-surface model scheme underestimates the surface heat flux by 3–8% and overestimates the water vapour and CO2 fluxes by 2–8% and 1–9%, respectively, as compared to the flux simulated with the coupled LES-LSM.