Methods for determining the height of the atmospheric boundary layer
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
The Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) is an operational emergency response program which provides real-time dose assessments of airborne pollutant releases. This report reviews methodologies for determining the height of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), which were investigated for use in the next generation of ARAC diagnostic and dispersion models. The ABL height, hABL, is an essential parameter in atmospheric dispersion modeling, controlling the extent of the vertical mixing of pollutants near the surface. Although eventually instrumentation (radiosonde, lidar, sodar, etc.) may provide accurate means for determining hABL, at present the availability of such data is too limited to provide a general capability for ARAC. The current operational ARAC diagnostic models use a fixed value of hABL for any given time. ARAC's new models support a horizontally-varying atmospheric boundary layer height, which is used to generate meteorological (mean wind, temperature, etc.) and turbulence fields. The purpose of the present work is to develop methods to derive the ABL height for all atmospheric stability regimes. One of our key requirements is to provide approaches which are applicable to routinely available data, which may be of limited temporal and spatial resolution. The final objective is to generate a consistent set of meteorological and turbulence or eddy diffusivity fields to drive the new ARAC dispersion model. A number of alternative definitions of the atmospheric boundary layer exist, leading to different approaches to deriving hABL. The definitions are based on either the turbulence characteristics of the atmosphere or the vertical structure of one or more meteorological variables. Most diagnostic analyses determine hABL from profiles of temperature or occasionally wind. A class of methods of considerable current interest are based on Richardson number criteria. Prognostic methods calculate the time evolution of the top of the ABL from a rate equation. A number of commonly used methods of both types are reviewed along with considerations on their applicability to various types of meteorological data and atmospheric conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 8191
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-ID-133200; ON: DE00008191
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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