Boundary-Layer Meteorology

, Volume 55, Issue 1–2, pp 1–23 | Cite as

A bulk similarity approach in the atmospheric boundary layer using radiometric skin temperature to determine regional surface fluxes

  • Wilfried Brutsaert
  • Michiaki Sugita
Article
Received:

Abstract

Profiles of wind velocity and temperature in the outer region of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) were used together with surface temperature measurements, to determine regional shear stress and sensible heat flux by means of transfer parameterizations on the basis of bulk similarity. The profiles were measured by means of radiosondes and the surface temperatures by infrared radiation thermometry over hilly prairie terrain in northeastern Kansas during the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE). In the analysis, the needed similarity functions were determined and tested; the main scaling variables used for the ABL were h i , the height of the convectively mixed layer, and V a and θa, the wind speed and potential temperature averaged over the mixed layer. Good agreement (r = 0.80) was obtained between values of friction velocity u * determined by this ABL bulk similarity approach and those obtained by Monin-Obukhov similarity in the surface sublayer. Similarly, values of surface flux of sensible heat H determined by this method compared well (r = 0.90) with the regional means measured at six ground stations. The corresponding regional evaporation values, determined with the energy budget equation, also compared favorably (r = 0.94).

Keywords

Heat Flux Mixed Layer Skin Temperature Atmospheric Boundary Layer Friction Velocity 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. André, J.-C., Lacarrère, P., and Mahrt, L. J.: 1979, ‘Sur la Distribution de l'Humidité dans une Couche Limite Convective’, J. Rech. Atmos. 13, 135–146.Google Scholar
  2. Arya, S. P. S.: 1977, ‘Suggested Revisions to Certain Boundary Layer Parameterization Schemes in Atmospheric Circulation Models’, Mon. Weath. Rev. 105, 215–227.Google Scholar
  3. Arya, S. P. S.: 1978, ‘Comparative Effects of Stability, Baroclinity, and the Scale-Height Ratio on Drag Laws for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 35, 40–46.Google Scholar
  4. Arya, S. P. S. and Wyngaard, J. C.: 1975, ‘Effect of Barcolinicity on Wind Profiles and the Geostrophic Drag Law for the Convective Planetary Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 32, 767–778.Google Scholar
  5. Brutsaert, W.: 1987, ‘Nearly Steady Convection and the Boundary-Layer Budgets of Water Vapor and Sensible Heat’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 39, 283–300.Google Scholar
  6. Brutsaert, W.: 1988, ‘The Parameterization of Regional Evaporation — Some Directions and Strategies’, J. Hydrol. 102, 409–426.Google Scholar
  7. Brutsaert, W. and Chan, F. K.-F.: 1978, ‘Similarity Functions D for Water Vapor in the Unstable Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 14, 441–456.Google Scholar
  8. Brutsaert, W. and Mawdsley, J. A.: 1976, ‘The Applicability of Planetary Boundary Layer Theory to Calculate Regional Evapotranspiration’, Water Resour. Res. 12, 852–858.Google Scholar
  9. Brutsaert, W. and Sugita, M.: 1990, ‘The Extent of the Unstable Monin-Obukhov Layer for Temperature and Humidity above Complex Hilly Grassland’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 51, 383–400.Google Scholar
  10. Brutsaert, W., Sugita, M., and Fritschen, L. J.: 1990, ‘Inner Region Humidity Characteristics of the Neutral Boundary Layer over Prairie Terrain’, Water Resour. Res. (in press).Google Scholar
  11. Clarke, R. H.: 1970, ‘Observational Studies in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 96, 91–114.Google Scholar
  12. Clarke, R. H.: 1972, ‘Discussion of “Observational Studies in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer”’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 98, 233–235.Google Scholar
  13. Clarke, R. H. and Hess, G. D.: 1974, ‘Geostrophic Departure and the Functions A and B of Rossby-Number Similarity Theory’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 7, 267–287.Google Scholar
  14. Deardorff, J. W.: 1972a, ‘Numerical Investigation of Neutral and Unstable Planetary Boundary Layers’, J. Atmos. Sci. 29, 91–115.Google Scholar
  15. Deardorff, J. W.: 1972b, ‘Parameterization of the Planetary Boundary Layer for Use in General Circulation Models’, Mon. Weath. Rev. 100, 93–106.Google Scholar
  16. Driedonks, A. G. M.: 1982, ‘Models and Observations of the Growth of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 23, 283–306.Google Scholar
  17. Driedonks, A. G. M. and Tennekes, H.: 1984, ‘Entrainment Effects in the Well-Mixed Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 30, 75–105.Google Scholar
  18. Garratt, J. R. and Francey, R. J.: 1978, ‘Bulk Characteristics of Heat Transfer in the Unstable, Baroclinic Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 15, 399–421.Google Scholar
  19. Garratt, J. R., Wyngaard, J. C., and Francey, R. J.: 1982, ‘Winds in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer — Prediction and Observation’, J. Atmos. Sci. 39, 1307–1316.Google Scholar
  20. Hall, F. G., Sellers, P. J., McPherson, I., Kelly, R. D., Verma, S., Markham, B., Blad, B., Wang, J., and Strebel, D. E.: 1989, ‘FIFE: Analysis and Results — A Review’, Adv. Space Res. 9, 275–293.Google Scholar
  21. Joffre, S.: 1985, ‘Effects of Local Accelerations and Baroclinity on the Mean Structure of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Sea’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 32, 237–255.Google Scholar
  22. Kazanski, A. B. and Monin, A. S.: 1961, ‘On the Dynamic Interaction between the Atmosphere and the Earth's Surface’, Bull. Acad. Sci. USSR, Geophys. Ser., Eng. Transl., no. 5, 514–515.Google Scholar
  23. Kustas, W. P. and Brutsaert, W.: 1987a, ‘Budgets of Water Vapor in the Unstable Boundary Layer over Rugged Terrain’, J. Climate Appl. Meteorol. 26, 607–620.Google Scholar
  24. Kustas, W. P. and Brutsaert, W.: 1987b, ‘Virtual Heat Entrainment in the Mixed Layer over Very Rough Terrain’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 38, 141–157.Google Scholar
  25. Mawdsley, J. A. and Brutsaert, W.: 1977, ‘Determination of Regional Evapotranspiration from Upper Air Meteorological Data’, Water Resour. Res. 13, 539–548.Google Scholar
  26. Rossby, C. G.: 1932, ‘A Generalization of the Theory of the Mixing Length with Applications to Atmospheric and Oceanic Turbulence’, MIT, Meteor. Papers 1(4), 36.Google Scholar
  27. Rossby, C. G. and Montgomery, R. B.: 1935, ‘The Layers of Frictional Influence in Wind and Ocean Currents’, MIT, Woods Hole, Pap. Phys. Ocanog. Meteor. 3(3), 101.Google Scholar
  28. Sellers, P. J., Hall, F. G., Asrar, G., Strebel, D. E., and Murphy, R. E.: 1988, ‘The First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE)’, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 69, 22–27.Google Scholar
  29. Sugita, M. and Brutsaert, W.: 1990a, ‘Wind Velocity Measurements in the Neutral Boundary Layer above Hilly Prairie’, J. Geophys. Res. (Atmos.) 95(D6), 7617–7624.Google Scholar
  30. Sugita, M. and Brutsaert, W.: 1990b, ‘Regional Surface Fluxes from Remotely Sensed Skin Temperature and Lower Boundary Layer Measurements’, Water Resour. Res., in press.Google Scholar
  31. Tennekes, H.: 1970, ‘Free Convection in the Turbulent Ekman Layer of the Atmosphere’, J. Atmos. Sci. 27, 1027–1034.Google Scholar
  32. Tennekes, H.: 1973, ‘A Model for the Dynamics of the Inversion above a Convective Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 30, 558–567.Google Scholar
  33. Wyngaard, J. C. and Brost, R. A.: 1984, ‘Top-Down and Bottom-Up Diffusion of a Scalar in the Convective Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 41, 102–112.Google Scholar
  34. Wyngaard, J. C., Arya, S. P. S., and Coté, O. R.: 1974, ‘Some Aspects of the Structure of Convective Planetary Boundary Layers’, J. Atmos. Sci. 31, 747–754.Google Scholar
  35. Yamada, T.: 1976, ‘On the Similarity Functions A, B and C of the Planetary Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 33, 781–793.Google Scholar
  36. Zilitinkevich, S. S.: 1969, ‘On the Comparison of the Basic Parameters of the Interaction Between the Atmosphere and the Ocean’, Tellus 21, 17–24.Google Scholar
  37. Zilitinkevich, S. S. and Deardorff, J. W.: 1974, ‘Similarity Theory for the Planetary Boundary Layer of Time-Dependent Height’, J. Atmos. Sci. 31, 1449–1452.Google Scholar
  38. Zilitinkevich, S. S., Laikhtman, D. L., and Monin, A. S.: 1967, ‘Dynamics of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Izv. Acad. Sci. USSR, Atmos. Oceanic Phys. 3, 297–333 (Engl. Edn. AGU, 170–191).Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 1991

Authors and Affiliations

  • Wilfried Brutsaert
    • 1
  • Michiaki Sugita
    • 1
  1. 1.School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hollister Hall, Cornell UniversityIthacaUSA

Personalised recommendations