HR: 0830h
AN: A31C-0037    [PDF]
TI: Statistical Characterization of Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence
AU: Foufoula-Georgiou, E
EM: efi@umn.edu
AF: St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Mississippi River at 3rd Ave SE, Minneaplis, MN 55414 United States
AU: * Basu, S
EM: basus@msi.umn.edu
AF: St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Mississippi River at 3rd Ave SE, Minneaplis, MN 55414 United States
AU: Port\'{e}-Agel, F
EM: fporte@umn.edu
AF: St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Mississippi River at 3rd Ave SE, Minneaplis, MN 55414 United States
AB: In comparison with convective and neutral boundary layers, stable boundary layer (SBL) turbulence has not received much attention despite its scientifically intriguing nature and practical significance (e.g., numerical weather prediction and pollutant transport). This might be attributed to the lack of adequate field or laboratory measurements, to the inevitable difficulties - arising from small scales of motion due to stratification - in numerical simulations and to the intrinsic complexity of its dynamics (e.g., intermittency). Fortunately, the contemporary literature is witnessing a brisk surge in the SBL research. Field campaigns like SABLES 98, CASES-99 and high-quality wind-tunnel experiments geared towards comprehensive investigation of SBL are being carried out. In the case of numerical modeling, a handful of partially successful Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) and a few Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) were also attempted. Despite all these synergistic efforts in understanding the SBL, several outstanding issues still remain. It is the purpose of this paper to address some of these (seemingly controversial) issues, such as the validity of Monin-Obukhov similarity under very stable stratified condition, existence of local scaling in non-traditional top-down boundary layers and the characteristics of probability density functions of turbulence in SBL. This is accomplished through extensive analysis of turbulence data from several field experiments. Wherever possible, support of our claims is provided by further analysis of wind-tunnel data and also by comparison with reported LES and DNS results.
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3379 Turbulence
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting