Abstract
Longitudinal velocity and temperature measurements above a uniform dry lakebed were used to investigate sources of eddy-motion anisotropy within the inertial subrange. Rather than simply test the adequacy of locally isotropic relations, we investigated directly the sources of anisotropy. These sources, in a daytime desert-like climate, include: (1) direct interaction between the large-scale and small-scale eddy motion, and (2) thermal effects on the small-scale eddy motion. In order to explore these two anisotropy sources, we developed statistical measures that are sensitive to such interactions. It was found that the large-scale/small-scale interaction was significant in the inertial subrange up to 3 decades below the production scale, thus reducing the validity of the local isotropy assumption. The anisotropy generated by thermal effects was also significant and comparable in magnitude to the former anisotropy source. However, this thermal anisotropy was opposite in sign and tended to counteract the anisotropy generated by the large-scale/smallscale interaction. The thermal anisotropy was attributed to organized ramp-like patterns in the temperature measurements. The impact of this anisotropy cancellation on the dynamics of inertial subrange eddy motion was also considered. For that purpose, the Kolmogorov-Obukhov structure function equation, as derived from the Navier-Stokes equations for locally isotropic turbulence, was employed. The Kolmogorov-Obukhov structure function equation in conjunction with Obukhov's constant skewness closure hypothesis reproduced the measured second- and third-order structure functions. Obukhov's constant skewness closure scheme, which is also based on the local isotropy assumption, was verified and was found to be in good agreement with the measurements. The accepted 0.4 constant skewness value derived from grid turbulence experiments overestimated our measurements. A suggested 0.26 constant skewness value, which we derived from Kolmogorov's constant, was found to be adequate.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonia, R. A. and Chambers, A. J.: 1980, ‘On the Correlation between Turbulent Velocity and Temperature Derivatives in the Atmospheric Surface Layer’Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 18, 399–410.
Antonia, R. A. and Van Atta, C. W.: 1975, ‘On the Correlation between Temperature and Velocity Dissipation Fields in a Heated Turbulent Jet’,J. Fluid Mech. 67, 273–288.
Antonia, R. A. and Raupach, M. R.: 1993, ‘Spectral Scaling in a High Reynolds Number Laboratory Boundary Layer’,Boundary-Layer Meteerol. 65, 289–306.
Bradley, E. F., Antonia, R. A., and Chambers, A.J.: 1981, ‘Turbulence Reynolds Number and the Turbulent Kinetic Energy Balance in the Atmospheric Surface Layer’Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 21, 183–197.
Frisch, U., Sulem, P., and Nelkin, M.: 1978, ‘A Simple Dynamical Model of Intermittent Fully Developed Turbulence’,J. Fluid Mech. 87, 719–736.
Friehe, C. A.: 1986, ‘Fine-Scale Measurements of Velocity, Temperature, and Humidity in Atmospheric Surface Layer’, in Lenschow, D. (ed.),Probing the Atmospheric Boundary Layer, American Meteorological Society, 269 pp.
Garratt, J. R.: 1992,The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Cambridge University Press, 316 pp.
Kaimal, J. C., Wyngaard, J. C., Izumi, Y., Coté, O. R.: 1972, ‘Spectral Characteristics of Surface Layer Turbulence’,Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 98, 563–589.
Kaimal, J. C. and Finnigan, J. J.: 1994,Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flows: Their Structure and Measurements, Oxford University Press, 289 pp.
Katul, G. G., Parlange, M. B., and Chu, C. R.: 1994a, ‘Intermittency, Local Isotropy, and non-Gaussian Statistics in Atmospheric Surface Layer Turbulence’,Physics of Fluids,6, 2480–2492.
Katul, G. G.: 1994, ‘A Model for Sensible Heat Flux Probability Density Function for Near-Neutral and Slightly-Stable Atmospheric Flows’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol., in press.
Katul, G. G., Albertson, J. D., Chu, C. R., and Parlange, M. B.: 1994b, ‘Intermittency in Atmospheric Surface Layer Turbulence: The Orthonormal Wavelet Representation’, in E. Foufoula-Georgiou and P. Kumar (eds.),Wavelets in Geophysics, Academic Press, 365 pp.
Kerr, R. M.: 1990, ‘Velocity, Scalar, and Transfer Spectra in Numerical Turbulence’,J. Fluid Mech. 211, 309–332.
Kim, J. and Antonia R. A.: 1993, ‘Isotropy of the Small Scales of Turbulence at Low Reynolds Number’,J. Fluid Mech. 251, 219–238.
Kolmogorov, A. N.: 1941, ‘The Local Structure of Turbulence in Incompressible Viscous Fluid for Very Large Reynolds Number’,Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 30, 301–303.
Kolmogorov, A. N.: 1962, ‘A Refinement of Previous Hypothesis Concerning the Local Structure of Turbulence in a Viscous Incompressible Fluid at High Reynolds Number’,J. Fluid Mech. 13, 82–85.
Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M.: 1986,Fluid Mechanics, Pergamon Press, 539 pp.
Lesieur, M.: 1987,Turbulence in Fluids, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 286 pp.
Lumley, J. and Panofsky, H.: 1964,The Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence, John Wiley and Sons, 229 pp.
Lumley, J.: 1965, ‘Interpretation of Time Spectra Measured in High Intensity Shear Flows’,Phys. Fluids 6, 1056–1062.
Mahrt, L.: 1989, ‘Intermittency of Atmospheric Turbulence’,J. Atmos. Sci. 46, 79–95.
McComb, W. D.: 1990,The Physics of Fluid Turbulence, Oxford Science Publications, 572 pp.
Mestayer, P.: 1982, ‘Local Isotropy and Anisotropy in a High Reynolds Number Turbulent Boundary Layer’,J. Fluid Mech. 125, 475–503.
Monin, A. S. and Yaglom, A. M.: 1975,Statistical Fluid Mechanics, MIT Press, 875 pp.
Obukhov, A. M.: 1949, ‘Local Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence’,Dokl. Akad. Nauk. SSSR,67, 643–646.
Panofsky, H. and Dutton, J.: 1984,Atmospheric Turbulence: Models and Methods for Engineering Applications, John Wiley and Sons, 397 pp.
Praskovsky, A. A.: 1992, ‘Experimental Verification of the Kolmogorov Refined Similarity Hypothesis’,Phys. Fluids A 4, 2589–2591.
Praskovsky, A. A., Gledzer, E. B., Karyakin, M. Y., and Zhou, Y.: 1993, ‘The Sweeping Decorrelation Hypothesis and Energy-Inertial Scale Interaction in High Reynolds Number Flows’,J. Fluid Mech. 248, 493–511.
Sirivat, A. and Warhaft, Z.: 1983, ‘The Effect of a Passive Cross-Stream Temperature Gradient on the Evolution of Temperature Variance and Heat Flux in Grid Turbulence’,J. Fluid Mech. 128, 323–346.
Suomi, V. E. and Businger, J. A.: 1959, ‘Sonic Anemometer-Thermometer’,Geophys. Res. Papers 59, 1–13.
Sreenivasan, K. R., Antonia, R. A., and Britz, D.: 1979, ‘Local Isotropy and Large Structures in a Heated Turbulent Jet’,J. Fluid Mech. 94, 745–775.
Sreenivasan, K. R.: 1991, ‘On Local Isotropy of Passive Scalars in Turbulent Shear Flows’, in J. C. R. Hunt, O. M. Phillips, and D. Williams (eds.),Turbulence and Stochastic Processes: Kolmogorov's Ideas 50 Years On, Roy. Soc., 240 pp.
Stull, R.: 1988,An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology, Kluwer Academic Press, 666 pp.
Taylor, G. I.: 1938, ‘The Spectrum of Turbulence’,Proc. Roy. Soc., A CLXIV, 476–490.
Tennekes, H. and Lumley, J. L.: 1972,A First Course in Turbulence, MIT Press, 300 pp.
Townsend, A. A.: 1976,The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow, Cambridge University Press, 429 pp.
Van Atta, C. W. and Chen, W. Y.: 1970, ‘Structure Functions of Turbulence in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Ocean’,J. Fluid Mech. 44, 145–159.
Van Atta, C.: 1991, ‘Local Isotropy of the Smallest Scales of Turbulent Scalar and Velocity Fields’, in J. C. R. Hunt, O. M. Phillips, and D. Williams (eds.),Turbulence and Stochastic Processes: Kolmogorov's Ideas 50 Years On, Roy. Soc., 240 pp.
Wyngaard, J. C.: 1981, ‘Cup, Propeller, Vane, and Sonic Anemometer in Turbulence Research’,Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 13, 922–929.
Yakhot, V., She, Z. S., and Orzag, S. A.: 1989, ‘Deviations from the Classical Kolmogorov Theory of the Inertial Subrange of Homogeneous Turbulence’,Phys. Fluids 2, 289–293.
Yamada, M. and Ohkitani, K.: 1991, ‘Orthonormal Wavelet Analysis of Turbulence’,Fluid Dynamics Res. 8, 101–115.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Katul, G.G., Parlange, M.B., Albertson, J.D. et al. Local isotropy and anisotropy in the sheared and heated atmospheric surface layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 72, 123–148 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00712392
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00712392