On the effects of the RSL parameterization in ISBA-MEB: OFFLINE vs ONLINE coupling

Presentación realizada en: 2nd ACCORD ASW celebrado del 4 al 8 de abril de 2022 en Ljubljana, Eslovenia

Ozone exchange within and above an irrigated Californian orchard

In this study, the canopy effects on the vertical ozone exchange within and above Californian orchard are investigated. We examined the comprehensive dataset obtained from the Canopy Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (CHATS). CHATS typifies a rural central Californian site, with O3 mixing ratios of less than 60 ppb and moderate NOx mixing ratios. The CHATS campaign covered a complete irrigation cycle, with our analysis including periods before and after irrigation. Lower O3 mixing ratios were found following irrigation, together with increased wind speeds, decreased air temperatures and increased specific humidity. Friction velocity, sensible heat and gas fluxes above the canopy were estimated using variations on the flux-gradient method, including a method which accounts for the roughness sublayer (RSL). These methods were compared to fluxes derived from observed eddy diffusivities of heat and friction velocity. We found that the use of the RSL parameterization, which accounts for the canopy-induced turbulent mixing above the canopy, resulted in a stronger momentum, heat, and ozone exchange fluxes above this orchard, compared to the method which omits the RSL. This was quantified by the increased friction velocity, heat flux and ozone deposition flux of up to 12, 29, and 35% at 2.5 m above the canopy, respectively. Within the canopy, vertical fluxes, as derived from local gradients and eddy diffusivity of heat, were compared to fluxes calculated using the Lagrangian inverse theory. Both methods showed a presence of vertical flux divergence of friction velocity, heat and ozone, suggesting that turbulent mixing was inefficient in homogenizing the effects driven by local sources and sinks on vertical exchange of those quantities. This weak mixing within the canopy was also corroborated in the eddy diffusivities of friction velocity and heat, which were calculated directly from the observations. Finally, the influence of water stress on the O3 budget was examined by comparing the results prior and after the irrigation. Although the analysis is limited to the local conditions, our in situ measurements indicated differences in the O3 mixing ratio prior and after irrigation during CHATS. We attribute these O3 mixing ratio changes to enhanced biological emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), driven by water stress

Influence of canopy seasonal changes on turbulence parameterization within the roughness sublayer over an orchard canopy

In this observational study, the role of tree phenology on the atmospheric turbulence parameterization over 10-m-tall and relatively sparse deciduous vegetation is quantified. Observations from the Canopy Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (CHATS) field experiment are analyzed to establish the dependence of the turbulent exchange of momentum, heat, and moisture, as well as kinetic energy on canopy phenological evolution through widely used parameterization models based on 1) dimensionless gradients or 2) turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the roughness sublayer. Observed vertical turbulent fluxes and gradients of mean wind, temperature, and humidity, as well as velocity variances, are used in combination with empirical dimensionless functions to calculate the turbulent exchange coefficient. The analysis shows that changes in canopy phenology influence the turbulent exchange of all quantities analyzed in this study. The turbulent exchange coefficients of those quantities are twice as large near the canopy top for a leafless canopy than for a full-leaf canopy under unstable and near-neutral conditions. This turbulent exchange coefficient difference is related to the differing penetration depths of the turbulent eddies organized at the canopy top, which increase for a canopy without leaves. The TKE and dissipation analysis under near-neutral atmospheric conditions additionally shows that TKE exchange increases for a leafless canopy because of reduced TKE dissipation efficiency relative to that when the canopy is in full-leaf stage. The study closes with discussion surrounding the implications of these findings for parameterizations used in large-scale models

Integrating canopy and large-scale atmospheric effects in the convective boundary-layer dynamics and chemistry during the CHATS experiment

By characterizing the dynamics of a convective boundary layer above a relatively sparse and uniform orchard canopy, we investigated the impact of the roughness-sublayer (RSL) representation on the predicted diurnal variability of surface fluxes and state variables. Our approach combined numerical experiments, using an atmospheric mixed-layer model including a land-surface-vegetation representation, and measurements from the Canopy Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (CHATS) field experiment near Dixon, California. The RSL is parameterized using an additional factor in the standard Monin–Obukhov similarity theory flux-profile relationships that takes into account the canopy influence on the atmospheric flow. We selected a representative case characterized by southerly wind conditions to ensure well-developed RSL over the orchard canopy. We then investigated the sensitivity of the diurnal variability of the boundary-layer dynamics to the changes in the RSL key scales, the canopy adjustment length scale, Lc, and the β = u*/|U| ratio at the top of the canopy due to their stability and dependence on canopy structure. We found that the inclusion of the RSL parameterization resulted in improved prediction of the diurnal evolution of the near-surface mean quantities (e.g. up to 50 % for the wind velocity) and transfer (drag) coefficients. We found relatively insignificant effects on the modelled surface fluxes (e.g. up to 5 % for the friction velocity, while 3 % for the sensible and latent heat), which is due to the compensating effect between the mean gradients and the drag coefficients, both of which are largely affected by the RSL parameterization. When varying Lc (from 10 to 20 m) and β (from 0.25 to 0.4 m), based on observational evidence, the predicted friction velocity is found to vary by up to 25 % and the modelled surface-energy fluxes (sensible heat, SH, and latent heat of evaporation, LE) vary up to 2 and 9 %. Consequently, the boundary-layer height varies up to 6 %. Furthermore, our analysis indicated that to interpret the CHATS measurements above the canopy, the contributions of non-local effects such as entrainment, subsidence and the advection of heat and moisture over the CHATS site need to be taken into account

The added value of large-eddy and storm-resolving models for simulating clouds and precipitation

This study investigates, if atmospheric models with horizontal resolutions of 100 m to 2 km are able to better simulate key features, like clouds and precipitation, of the climate system than currently used models employing much coarser resolution and parameterized convection. Precipitation characteristics are much more realistic in the simulations with explicitly convection, already at kilometer resolutions. Increasing resolution to hectometer scales improves the simulation of precipitation only modestly, but substantially improves the simulation of clouds. The results suggest that new climate models, which explicitly resolve convection and the interaction with its environment, offer exciting opportunities to learn about the climate system