Abstract
Interaction between wind and temperature fields in the planetary boundary layer for a spatially heterogeneous surface heat flux has been investigated using large-eddy simulation. It is shown that a substantial difference exists in the wind and temperature fields, depending on whether the directions of the background wind and the surface heat flux variation are parallel or perpendicular. When they are parallel to each other, two-dimensional plumes induced by the heterogeneous surface heat flux are easily destroyed by the background wind, and the velocity field is strongly modified by convective eddies compared to the case when they are perpendicular to to each other. This leads to a substantial difference in the profiles of turbulent kinetic energy and its flux. It also results in a difference between the two cases in the bulk properties of the planetary boundary layer, such as the entrainment at the top of the planetary boundary layer and the drag at the bottom, which have important implications for boundary-layer modelling. The difference between the two cases exists even when the background wind speed is as large as 15.0 m s-1. Meanwhile, the contrast between two cases is weakened by the Coriolis force.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 225-246 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Boundary-Layer Meteorology |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 May |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study has been supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology through National Research Laboratory Program, Cooperative Research under the Korean-German Science Program, and the Climate Environment System Research Center sponsored by the SRC program of KOSEF. We would especially like to thank Marcus Oliver Letzel from IMUK for his kind and critical comments.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Atmospheric Science