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Wind characteristics at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory

A preliminary report

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Abstract

Wind speeds at the 300 m tower at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory have been analyzed. This tower is located in slightly rolling farmland. The following conclusions have been reached:

  1. (1)

    For west winds, the terrain is sufficiently uniform for simple surface-layer theory to be adequate without modification even though the air has moved up a small slope to reach the tower. For south and southeast winds, ‘effective’ roughness lengths must be introduced, which are significantly larger than the ‘true’ roughness length.

  2. (2)

    Useful wind estimates up to 150 m can be made from winds at 10 m and stability information, provided the ‘effective’ roughness length is known.

  3. (3)

    The observations are consistent with a von Kármán constant of 0.35.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University, 16802, University Park, PA, USA

    Steven Schotz & Hans A. Panofsky

Authors
  1. Steven Schotz
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  2. Hans A. Panofsky
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Schotz, S., Panofsky, H.A. Wind characteristics at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 19, 155–164 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117217

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00117217

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