Determination of characteristic turbulence length scales from large-eddy simulation of the convective planetary boundary layer

Turbulente Austauschprozesse in der atmosphärischen Grenzschicht spielen eine Schlüsselrolle beim vertikalen Impuls-, Energie- und Stofftransport in der Erdatmosphäre. In meso- und globalskaligen Atmosphärenmodellen sind turbulente Austauschprozesse jedoch subskalig und müssen unter Verwendung geeigneter Schliessungsansätze parametrisiert werden. Hierbei spielt die Spezifikation der charakteristischen Turbulenzlängenskala in Abhängigkeit vom Stabilitätszustand der Atmosphäre eine entscheidende Rolle. Gegenwärtig verwendete Ansätze, die auf der Verwendung der turbulenten Mischungslänge für neutrale Schichtung sowie dimensionsloser Stabilitätsfunktionen basieren, zeigen vor allem Defizite im oberen Bereich der konvektiven Grenzschicht sowie in der Entrainmentzone, wo starke vertikale Gradienten auftreten. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden hochaufgelöste dreidimensionale Grobstruktursimulationen der trockenen und feuchten Grenzschicht für ein weites Spektrum von Labilitätsbedingungen durchgeführt. Erste und zweite Momente atmosphärischer Strömungsvariablen wurden aus den simulierten hydro- und thermodynamischen Feldern berechnet und diskutiert. Die Spektraleigenschaften turbulenter Fluktuationen der Strömungsvariablen, das raumzeitliche Verhalten kohärenter Strukturen sowie charakteristische Turbulenzlängenskalen wurden abgeleitet. Eine Verifizierung der charakteristischen Turbulenzlängenskalen erfolgte durch Vergleich mit Ergebnissen früherer numerischer Simulationen, mit Turbulenzmessungen in der atmosphärischen Grenzschicht sowie mit Laborexperimenten. Mit Hilfe der nichtlinearen Datenmodellierung wurden leicht verwendbare Approximationen der charakteristischen Turbulenzlängenskalen abgeleitet und deren statistische Signifikanz diskutiert. Unter Verwendung dieser Approximationen wurde ein existierendes Parametrisierungsmodell revidiert und mit Hilfe von Grobstruktursimulationen verifiziert. Desweiteren wurde der Einfluß der turbulenten Mischungslänge auf die Prognose mesokaliger Felder untersucht. Hierzu wurde mit dem Lokal-Modell des Deutschen Wetterdienstes eine entsprechende Sensitivitätsstudie durchgeführt. Anhand von Satellitendaten und Analysedaten aus der 4D-Datenassimilation wurden die Simulationsergebnisse verifiziert

Air-sea interaction over ocean fronts and eddies

Air-sea interaction at ocean fronts and eddies exhibits positive correlation between sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed, and heat fluxes out of the ocean, indicating that the ocean is forcing the atmosphere. This contrasts with larger scale climate modes where the negative correlations suggest that the atmosphere is driving the system. This paper examines the physical processes that lie behind the interaction of sharp SST gradients and the overlying marine atmospheric boundary layer and deeper atmosphere, using high resolution satellite data, field data and numerical models. The importance of different physical mechanisms of atmospheric response to SST gradients, such as the effect of surface stability variations on momentum transfer, pressure gradients, secondary circulations and cloud cover will be assessed. The atmospheric response is known to create small-scale wind stress curl and divergence anomalies, and a discussion of the feedback of these features onto the ocean will also be presented. These processes will be compared and contrasted for different regions such as the Equatorial Front in the Eastern Pacific, and oceanic fronts in mid-latitudes such as the Gulf Stream, Kuroshio, and Agulhas Return Current.Keywords: Agulhas current, Boundary layers, Air-sea interaction, Fronts, Eddies, Gulf stream, Meteorology, Kuroshio, Oceanograph

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2011

Topics covered include: Wind and Temperature Spectrometry of the Upper Atmosphere in Low-Earth Orbit; Health Monitor for Multitasking, Safety-Critical, Real-Time Software; Stereo Imaging Miniature Endoscope; Early Oscillation Detection Technique for Hybrid DC/DC Converters; Parallel Wavefront Analysis for a 4D Interferometer; Schottky Heterodyne Receivers With Full Waveguide Bandwidth; Carbon Nanofiber-Based, High-Frequency, High-Q, Miniaturized Mechanical Resonators; Ultracapacitor-Based Uninterrupted Power Supply System; Coaxial Cables for Martian Extreme Temperature Environments; Using Spare Logic Resources To Create Dynamic Test Points; Autonomous Coordination of Science Observations Using Multiple Spacecraft; Autonomous Phase Retrieval Calibration; EOS MLS Level 1B Data Processing Software, Version 3; Cassini Tour Atlas Automated Generation; Software Development Standard Processes (SDSP); Graphite Composite Panel Polishing Fixture; Material Gradients in Oxygen System Components Improve Safety; Ridge Waveguide Structures in Magnesium-Doped Lithium Niobate; Modifying Matrix Materials to Increase Wetting and Adhesion; Lightweight Magnetic Cooler With a Reversible Circulator; The Invasive Species Forecasting System; Method for Cleanly and Precisely Breaking Off a Rock Core Using a Radial Compressive Force; Praying Mantis Bending Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Scoring Dawg Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Rolling-Tooth Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System for Spacecraft Exercise Treadmill Devices; Microgravity-Enhanced Stem Cell Selection; Diagnosis and Treatment of Neurological Disorders by Millimeter-Wave Stimulation; Passive Vaporizing Heat Sink; Remote Sensing and Quantization of Analog Sensors; Phase Retrieval for Radio Telescope and Antenna Control; Helium-Cooled Black Shroud for Subscale Cryogenic Testing; Receive Mode Analysis and Design of Microstrip Reflectarrays; and Chance-Constrained Guidance With Non-Convex Constraints

Overview of the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment/Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing on the Mediterranean Climate (ChArMEx/ADRIMED) summer 2013 campaign

The Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx; http://charmex.lsce.ipsl.fr) is a collaborative research program federating international activities to investigate Mediterranean regional chemistry-climate interactions. A special observing period (SOP-1a) including intensive airborne measurements was performed in the framework of the Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region (ADRIMED) project during the Mediterranean dry season over the western and central Mediterranean basins, with a focus on aerosol-radiation measurements and their modeling. The SOP-1a took place from 11 June to 5 July 2013. Airborne measurements were made by both the ATR-42 and F-20 French research aircraft operated from Sardinia (Italy) and instrumented for in situ and remote-sensing measurements, respectively, and by sounding and drifting balloons, launched in Minorca. The experimental setup also involved several ground-based measurement sites on islands including two ground-based reference stations in Corsica and Lampedusa and secondary monitoring sites in Minorca and Sicily. Additional measurements including lidar profiling were also performed on alert during aircraft operations at EARLINET/ACTRIS stations at Granada and Barcelona in Spain, and in southern Italy. Remote-sensing aerosol products from satellites (MSG/SEVIRI, MODIS) and from the AERONET/PHOTONS network were also used. Dedicated meso-scale and regional modeling experiments were performed in relation to this observational effort. We provide here an overview of the different surface and aircraft observations deployed during the ChArMEx/ADRIMED period and of associated modeling studies together with an analysis of the synoptic conditions that determined the aerosol emission and transport. Meteorological conditions observed during this campaign (moderate temperatures and southern flows) were not favorable to producing high levels of atmospheric pollutants or intense biomass burning events in the region. However, numerous mineral dust plumes were observed during the campaign, with the main sources located in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, leading to aerosol optical depth (AOD) values ranging between 0.2 and 0.6 (at 440 nm) over the western and central Mediterranean basins. One important point of this experiment concerns the direct observations of aerosol extinction onboard the ATR-42, using the CAPS system, showing local maxima reaching up to 150Mm(-1) within the dust plume. Non-negligible aerosol extinction (about 50Mm(-1)) has also been observed within the marine boundary layer (MBL). By combining the ATR- 42 extinction coefficient observations with absorption and scattering measurements, we performed a complete optical closure revealing excellent agreement with estimated optical properties. This additional information on extinction properties has allowed calculation of the dust single scattering albedo (SSA) with a high level of confidence over the western Mediterranean. Our results show a moderate variability from 0.90 to 1.00 (at 530 nm) for all flights studied compared to that reported in the literature on this optical parameter. Our results underline also a relatively low difference in SSA with values derived near dust sources. In parallel, active remote-sensing observations from the surface and onboard the F-20 aircraft suggest a complex vertical structure of particles and distinct aerosol layers with sea spray and pollution located within the MBL, and mineral dust and/or aged North American smoke particles located above (up to 6–7 km in altitude). Aircraft and balloon-borne observations allow one to investigate the vertical structure of the aerosol size distribution showing particles characterized by a large size (> 10 μm in diameter) within dust plumes. In most of cases, a coarse mode characterized by an effective diameter ranging between 5 and 10 μm, has been detected above the MBL. In terms of shortwave (SW) direct forcing, in situ surface and aircraft observations have been merged and used as inputs in 1-D radiative transfer codes for calculating the aerosol direct radiative forcing (DRF). Results show significant surface SW instantaneous forcing (up to (-90)Wm(-2) at noon). Aircraft observations provide also original estimates of the vertical structure of SW and LW radiative heating revealing significant instantaneous values of about 5 K per day in the solar spectrum (for a solar angle of 30 ) within the dust layer. Associated 3-D modeling studies from regional climate (RCM) and chemistry transport (CTM) models indicate a relatively good agreement for simulated AOD compared with observations from the AERONET/PHOTONS network and satellite data, especially for long-range dust transport. Calculations of the 3-D SW (clear-sky) surface DRF indicate an average of about -10 to -20Wm(-2) (for the whole period) over the Mediterranean Sea together with maxima (-50Wm(-2)) over northern Africa. The top of the atmosphere (TOA) DRF is shown to be highly variable within the domain, due to moderate absorbing properties of dust and changes in the surface albedo. Indeed, 3-D simulations indicate negative forcing over the Mediterranean Sea and Europe and positive forcing over northern Africa. Finally, a multiyear simulation, performed for the 2003 to 2009 period and including an ocean–atmosphere (O–A) coupling, underlines the impact of the aerosol direct radiative forcing on the sea surface temperature, O–A fluxes and the hydrological cycle over the Mediterranean.French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-11-BS56-0006ADEMEFrench Atomic Energy CommissionCNRS-INSU and Meteo-France through the multidisciplinary programme MISTRALS (Mediterranean Integrated Studies aT Regional And Local Scales)CORSiCA project - Collectivite Territoriale de Corse through Fonds Europeen de Developpement Regional of the European Operational ProgramContrat de Plan Etat-RegionEuropean Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program 654169Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity TEC2012-34575Science and Innovation UNPC10-4E-442European Union (EU)Department of Economy and Knowledge of the Catalan Autonomous Government SGR 583Andalusian Regional Government P12-RNM-2409Spanish Government CGL2013-45410-R 26225

The signature of mesoscale eddies on sea surface temperature and its associated heat transport

This thesis aims at analysing the impact of oceanic turbulence and air-sea interactions on the sea surface temperature (SST) of the extra-tropical oceans on spatial scales of a few hundred kilometres (the so-called "mesoscale"). Using satellite-based measurements of SST and sea level, as well as surface tracks of mesoscale oceanic cyclones and anticyclones, it is shown that turbulence does not transport heat through systematic motions of cold cyclones and warm anticyclones, as was previously thought in regions of strong mean flows like the Gulf Stream. Rather, it is suggested that heat is transported as a result of the slight phase shift between temperature and pressure fluctuations developing on the mean flow. In addition, tentative estimates of the rate at which air-sea heat fluxes damp the SST signatures of cyclones and anticyclones are provided. The weak values obtained ( 20 W/m2K) contrast sharply with theoretical expectations, but are in agreement with the observed long-lived thermal heat content anomalies associated with the cyclones and anticyclones. These observations provide important benchmarks for high-resolution ocean models and may moreover guide the parametrization of subgrid-scale heat transport in climate models

A History of Materials and Technologies Development

The purpose of the book is to provide the students with the text that presents an introductory knowledge about the development of materials and technologies and includes the most commonly available information on human development. The idea of the publication has been generated referring to the materials taken from the organic and non-organic evolution of nature. The suggested texts might be found a purposeful tool for the University students proceeding with studying engineering due to the fact that all subjects in this particular field more or less have to cover the history and development of the studied object. It is expected that studying different materials and technologies will help the students with a better understanding of driving forces, positive and negative consequences of technological development, etc

Summary of Research 1994

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.This report contains 359 summaries of research projects which were carried out under funding of the Naval Postgraduate School Research Program. A list of recent publications is also included which consists of conference presentations and publications, books, contributions to books, published journal papers, and technical reports. The research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Meteorology, National Security Affairs, Oceanography, Operations Research, Physics, and Systems Management. This also includes research by the Command, Control and Communications (C3) Academic Group, Electronic Warfare Academic Group, Space Systems Academic Group, and the Undersea Warfare Academic Group

A Study of Frontal-Scale Air-Sea Interaction in Midlatitude Western Boundary Current Regimes

Frontal-scale air-sea interactions during boreal winter season in midlatitude western boundary current (WBC) regimes, including the Kuroshio Extension Region (KER) and Gulf Stream Region (GSR), are investigated using both observational (reanalysis) data and regional climate model simulations. The focus of the study is on the KER in the North Pacific. Extreme flux events associated with cold air outbreaks (CAOs) in boreal winter in the KER of the Northwestern Pacific and the GSR of the Northwestern Atlantic are analyzed and compared based on different reanalysis datasets. A close relationship between extreme flux events over the KER/GSR and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)/East Atlantic Pattern (EAP) is found with more frequent occurrence of extreme flux events during a positive PDO/EAP phase. Furthermore, the PDO/EAP may be explained as the rectified effects of the synoptic winter storms accompanied with the extreme flux events. A lag-composite analysis shows that event-day storms tend to have a preferred southeastward propagation path, potentially contributing to the southward shift of the storm track over the eastern North Pacific/Atlantic basin during positive PDO/EAP phase. Using an atmosphere-only model (Weather Research Forecasting, WRF) at 27 km, two ensembles of simulations were conducted for boreal winter season in the North Pacific to study the possible local and remote influence of meso-scale oceanic eddies in the KER on the atmosphere. Filtering out meso-scale oceanic eddies results in a deep tropospheric response along and downstream of the KER, including a significant decrease (increase) in winter season mean rainfall along the KER (west coast of US), a reduction of storm growth rate in the KER, and a southward shift of the jet stream and North Pacific storm track in the eastern North Pacific. A mechanism invoking moist baroclinic instability is proposed to link meso-scale oceanic eddies in the KER to largescale atmospheric circulations and weather patterns in the North Pacific. Using a high-resolution (9 km) coupled regional climate model (CRCM), three sets of experiment were performed to investigate potential feedbacks of ocean-eddy induced atmospheric response to the ocean. Filtering out meso-scale oceanic eddies during coupling causes a surface warming and a weak Kuroshio strength