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Turbulence Characteristics Of The Stable Boundary Layer Over A Mid-Latitude Glacier. Part Ii: Pure Katabatic Forcing Conditions

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Abstract

Observations obtained over a glacier surface in a predominantlykatabatic flow and with a distinctwind maximum below 13-m height are presented. The data werecollected using a 13-m high profilemast and two sonic anemometers (at about 2.5-m and 10-m heights).The spectra at frequencies belowthat of the turbulence range appear to deviate considerably fromthe curves obtained by Kaimal andco-workers during the 1968 Kansas experiment. The characteristicsof these deviations are compared tothe observations of others in surface-layers disturbed by anykind of large-scale outer-layer (orinactive) turbulence. In our case the disturbances arelikely to be induced by the highmountain ridges that surround the glacier. Moreover, the deviationsobserved in the cospectra seemto result from an, as yet, unspecified interaction between theinactive outer-layer turbulenceand the local surface-layer turbulence. Near the distinctwind maximum turbulence production ceasedwhile turbulence itself did not, probably the result ofturbulence transport from other levels. Consequently, we studied thelocal similarity relations using σw instead of u* as an alternative velocity scale. Wellbelow the wind maximum, and for relatively low stability(0< Rig <0.2), the flow behaves accordingto well established local-scaling similarity relationshipsin the stable boundary layer. For higherstability (Rig > 0.2), and near or above the wind maximum, the boundary-layer structure conforms tothat of z-less stratification suggesting that the eddy sizeis restricted by the local stability ofthe flow. In line with this we observed that the sensibleheat fluxes relate remarkably well to thelocal flow parameters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    C. J. P. P. Smeets & H. F. Vugts

  2. Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University Utrecht, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    P. G. Duynkerke

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  1. C. J. P. P. Smeets
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  2. P. G. Duynkerke
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  3. H. F. Vugts
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Smeets, C.J.P.P., Duynkerke, P.G. & Vugts, H.F. Turbulence Characteristics Of The Stable Boundary Layer Over A Mid-Latitude Glacier. Part Ii: Pure Katabatic Forcing Conditions. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 97, 73–107 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1002738407295

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