Abstract
Dual-Doppler lidar observations are used to investigate the structure and evolution of surface-layer flow over a suburban area. The observations were made during the Joint Urban 2003 (JU2003) field experiment in Oklahoma City, U.S.A. in the summer of 2003. This study focuses specifically on a 10-h sequence of scan data beginning shortly after noon local time on 7 July 2003. During this period two coherent Doppler lidars performed overlapping low elevation angle sector scans upwind and south of Oklahoma City’s central business district. Radial velocity data from the two lidars are processed to reveal the structure and evolution of the horizontal velocity field in the surface layer throughout the afternoon and during the evening transition period. The retrieved velocity fields clearly show a tendency for turbulence structures to be elongated in the direction of the mean flow throughout the entire 10-h study period. In order to quantify the observed anisotropy and its dependence on stability, integral length scales are estimated directly from the spatially resolved velocity retrievals. As the flow became more stably stratified the characteristic cross-stream dimension of the linear structures decreased. The streamwise component was consistently more anisotropic than the cross-stream component, and both velocity components exhibited maximum anisotropy under neutral conditions. The ratio of the streamwise to cross-stream length scale was estimated to be about eight for the streamwise component, and four for the cross-stream component under neutral conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allwine KJ, Leach MJ, Stockham LW, Shinn JS, Hosker RP, Bowers JF, Pace JC (2004) Overview of Joint Urban 2003 – An atmospheric dispersion study in Oklahoma City. Preprint, Symp. Planning Nowcasting and Forecasting in the Urban Zone, Seattle, WA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., CD-ROM, J7.1
Allwine KJ, Flaherty JE (2006) Joint Urban 2003: study overview and instrument locations. PNNL-15967, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
Banta RM, Newsom RK, Lundquist JK, Pichugina YL, Coulter RL, Mahrt LD (2002) Nocturnal low-level jet characteristics over Kansas during CASES-99. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 105: 221–252
Burian SJ, Han WS, Brown MJ (2003) Morphologiclal analyses using 3D Building Databases: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. LA-UR-05–1821, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
Calhoun R, Waskowsky R, Heap R, Phelan P, Princevac M, Newsom RK, Fernando H, Ligon D (2006) Virtual towers using coherent doppler lidar during JU2003. J Appl Meteorol Clim 45: 1116–1126
Cionco RM, Ellefsen R (1998) High resolution urban morphology data for urban wind flow modeling. Atmos Environ 32: 7–17
Deardorff JW (1972) Numerical investigation of neutral and unstable planetary boundary layers. J Atmos Sci 29: 91–115
De Wekker SFJ, Berg LK, Allwine BKJ, Doran JC, Shaw WJ (2004) Boundary-layer structure upwind and downwind of Oklahoma City during the Joint Urban 2003 field study. AMS 5th Conf. on Urban Environment. Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 23–27 August 2004
Drobinski P, Brown RA, Flamant PH, Pelon J (1998) Evidence of organized large eddies by ground-based Doppler lidar, sonic anemometer and sodar. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 88: 343–361
Drobinski P, Foster RC (2003) On the origin of near-surface streaks in the neutrally-stratified planetary boundary layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 108: 247–256
Drobinski P, Carlotti P, Newsom R, Banta R, Foster R, Redelsperger J (2004) The structure of the near-neutral atmospheric surface layer. J Atmos Sci 61: 699–714
Fast JD, Newsom RK, Allwine KJ, Xu Q, Zhang P, Copeland J, Sun J (2007) An evaluation of two NEXRAD wind retrieval methodolgies and their use in atmospheric dispersion models. J Appl Meteorol Clim (submitted)
Grimmond S, Oke T (1999) Aerodynamic properties of urban area derived from analysis of surface form. J Appl Meteorol 38: 1262–1292
Grimmond CSB, Su H-B, Offerle B, Crawford B, Scott S, Zhong S, Clements C (2004) Variability of sensible heat fluxes in a suburban area of Oklahoma City. AMS Symposium on Planning, Nowcasting, and Forecasting in the Urban Zone. Seattle, WA, 12–15 January 2004
Grund CJ, Banta RM, George JL, Howell JN, Post MJ, Richter RA, Weickmann AM (2001) High-resolution Doppler lidar for boundary layer and cloud research. J Atmos Oceanic Technol 18: 376–393
Henderson SW, Hale CP, Magee JR, Kavaya MJ, Huffaker AV (1991) Eye-safe coherent laser radar system at 2.1 mm using TmHo:YAG lasers. Opt Lett 16: 773–775
Henderson SW, Sunni PJM, Hale CP, Hannon SM, Magee JR, Bruns DL, Yuen EH (1993) Coherent laser radar at 2 μm using solid-state lasers. IEEE Trans Geo Remote Sens 31: 4–15
Kaimal JC, Wyngaard JC, Izumi Y, Coté OR (1972) Spectral characteristics of surface-layer turbulence. Quart J Roy Meteor Soc 98: 563–589
Khanna S, Brasseur JG (1998) Three-dimensional buoyancy- and shear-induced local structure of the atmospheric boundary layer. J Atmos Sci 55: 710–743
Kim SW, Park SU (2003) Coherent structures near the surface in a strongly sheared convective boundary layer generated by large-eddy simulation. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 106: 35–60
LeMone MA (1973) The structure and dynamics of horizontal roll vorticies in the planetary boundary layer. J Atmos Sci 30: 1077–1091
Lenschow DH, Stankov BB (1986) Length scales in the convective boundary layer. J Atmos Sci 43: 1189–1209
Lothon M, Lenschow DH, Mayor SH (2006) Coherence and scale of vertical velocity in the convective boundary layer from a Doppler lidar. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 121: 521–536
Lin C-L, McWilliams JC, Moeng C-H, Sullivan PP (1996) Coherent structures and dynamics in a neutrally stratified planetary boundary layer flow. Phys Fluids 8: 2626–2639
Lin C-L, Moeng CH, Sullivan PP, McWilliams JC (1997) The effect of surface roughness on flow structures in a neutrally stratified planetary boundary layer. Phys Fluids 9: 3235–3249
Mayor SD, Tripoli GJ, Eloranta EW (2003) Evaluating large-eddy simulations using volume imaging lidar data. Mon Wea Rev 131: 1428–1452
Moeng C-H, Sullivan PP (1994) A comparison of shear- and buoyancy-driven planetary boundary layer flows. J Atmos Sci 51: 999–1022
Newsom RK, Ligon D, Calhoun R, Heap R, Cregan E, Princevac M (2005) Retrieval of microscale wind and temperature fields from single- and dual-Doppler lidar data. J Appl Meteorol 44: 1324–1345
Poulos GS, Blumen W, Fritts DC, Lundquist JK, Sun J, Burns S, Nappo C, Banta RM, Newsom RK, Cuxart J, Terradellas E, Balsley B, Jensen M (2002) CASES-99: A comprehensive investigation of the stable nocturnal boundary layer. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 83: 555–581
Raupach M, Antonia R, Rajagopalan S (1991) Rough-wall turbulent boundary layers. Appl Mech Rev 44: 1–25
Stull RB (1988) An introduction to boundary layer meteorology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, p 666
Weckwerth TM, Grund CJ, Mayor SD (1997) Linearly organized coherent structures in the surface layer. Preprints, 12th Symp. on Boundary Layers and Turbulence, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Amer Meteor. Soc., 22–23
Wilczak JM, Tillman JE (1980) The three-dimensional structure of convection in the atmospheric surface layer. J Atmos Sci 37: 2424–2443
Wulfmeyer V, Randall M, Brewer WA, Hardesty RM (2000) 2-μm Doppler lidar transmitter with high frequency stability and low chirp. Opt Lett 25: 1228–1230
Xia Q, Lin C-L, Calhoun R, Newsom RK (2007) Retrieval of urban boundary layer structures from Doppler lidar data. Part I: accuracy assessment. J Atmos Sci (in press)
Zhong S, Fast JD, Bian X (1996) A case study of the Great Plains low-level jet using wind profiler network data and a high-resolution mesoscale model. Mon Wea Rev 125: 785–806
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Newsom, R., Calhoun, R., Ligon, D. et al. Linearly Organized Turbulence Structures Observed Over a Suburban Area by Dual-Doppler Lidar. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 127, 111–130 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-007-9243-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-007-9243-0