skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Characteristics of Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Boundary Layers During the Wet and Dry Seasons Over Darwin

Abstract

This study explores water vapor turbulence in the convective boundary layer (CBL) using the Raman lidar observations the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site located at Darwin, Australia. These observations have temporal and vertical resolutions of 10 s and 37.5 m, respectively. An autocovariance technique has been used to separate out the random instrument error from the atmospheric variability during time periods when the CBL is cloud-free, quasi-stationary and well mixed. We identified 62 cases, comprising of 13 monsoon and 49 non-monsoon events, over the 5-year data record period. The seasonal variations of the vertical profiles of integral scale, variance, coefficient of the structure function, and skewness were analyzed and compared with similar observations from the Raman lidar at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The monsoon shows larger median variance profiles than the non-monsoon. The median profile of the variance from the non-monsoon and the SGP site are found to have similar magnitudes between 0.3-0.75 zi, while the median variance profile from the monsoon and the SGP are approximately the same between 0.9-1.1 zi. The variance and coefficient of the structure function are linearly related by height, with larger slopes in the monsoon season suggesting larger dissipation rates inmore » that season relative to the non-monsoon. The median value in the skewness is mostly positive below 0.6 zi and above this it becomes negative until it crosses zero just below 1.0 zi. Its smallest value is seen at around 0.95 zi and it remains positive above 1.0 zi.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  2. NOAA
  3. Cleveland State University
  4. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1509847
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-125855
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 10
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Osman, Mohammed K., Turner, D D., Heus, Thijs, and Newsom, Rob K. Characteristics of Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Boundary Layers During the Wet and Dry Seasons Over Darwin. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1029/2017JD028060.
Osman, Mohammed K., Turner, D D., Heus, Thijs, & Newsom, Rob K. Characteristics of Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Boundary Layers During the Wet and Dry Seasons Over Darwin. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028060
Osman, Mohammed K., Turner, D D., Heus, Thijs, and Newsom, Rob K. 2018. "Characteristics of Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Boundary Layers During the Wet and Dry Seasons Over Darwin". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028060.
@article{osti_1509847,
title = {Characteristics of Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Boundary Layers During the Wet and Dry Seasons Over Darwin},
author = {Osman, Mohammed K. and Turner, D D. and Heus, Thijs and Newsom, Rob K.},
abstractNote = {This study explores water vapor turbulence in the convective boundary layer (CBL) using the Raman lidar observations the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site located at Darwin, Australia. These observations have temporal and vertical resolutions of 10 s and 37.5 m, respectively. An autocovariance technique has been used to separate out the random instrument error from the atmospheric variability during time periods when the CBL is cloud-free, quasi-stationary and well mixed. We identified 62 cases, comprising of 13 monsoon and 49 non-monsoon events, over the 5-year data record period. The seasonal variations of the vertical profiles of integral scale, variance, coefficient of the structure function, and skewness were analyzed and compared with similar observations from the Raman lidar at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The monsoon shows larger median variance profiles than the non-monsoon. The median profile of the variance from the non-monsoon and the SGP site are found to have similar magnitudes between 0.3-0.75 zi, while the median variance profile from the monsoon and the SGP are approximately the same between 0.9-1.1 zi. The variance and coefficient of the structure function are linearly related by height, with larger slopes in the monsoon season suggesting larger dissipation rates in that season relative to the non-monsoon. The median value in the skewness is mostly positive below 0.6 zi and above this it becomes negative until it crosses zero just below 1.0 zi. Its smallest value is seen at around 0.95 zi and it remains positive above 1.0 zi.},
doi = {10.1029/2017JD028060},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1509847}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 10,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Sun May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Works referenced in this record:

Implementation of Noah land surface model advances in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction operational mesoscale Eta model
journal, November 2003


Three-dimensional numerical study of turbulence in an entraining mixed layer
journal, October 1974


Identification and analysis of atmospheric states and associated cloud properties for Darwin, Australia: DYNAMIC STATES AND CLOUDS AT DARWIN
journal, March 2012


The Three-Dimensional Structure of Convection in the Atmospheric Surface Layer
journal, November 1980


Biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropics
journal, February 2010


Can Water Vapour Raman Lidar Resolve Profiles of Turbulent Variables in the Convective Boundary Layer?
journal, May 2010


Measuring Second- through Fourth-Order Moments in Noisy Data
journal, October 2000


Towards retrieving critical relative humidity from ground-based remote-sensing observations: Diagnosing Critical Relative Humidity
journal, August 2016

  • Van Weverberg, Kwinten; Boutle, Ian A.; Morcrette, Cyril J.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 142, Issue 700
  • https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2874

Can one detect small-scale turbulence from standard meteorological radiosondes?
journal, January 2011


The Daily Cycle of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Heights over Pasture Site in Amazonia
journal, February 2015


Observation of convection initiation processes with a suite of state-of-the-art research instruments during COPS IOP 8b
journal, January 2011


Turn-key Raman lidar for profiling atmospheric water vapor, clouds, and aerosols
journal, January 1998


Processes driving deep convection over complex terrain: a multi-scale analysis of observations from COPS IOP 9c
journal, January 2011


An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology
book, January 1988


The Boulder Atmospheric Observatory
journal, May 1983


The composite shape and structure of coherent eddies in the convective boundary layer
journal, November 1992


Convective Systems of the North Australian Monsoon
journal, October 2008


Boundary Layer Experiment 1996 (BLX96)
journal, June 1997


Water-vapour variability within a convective boundary-layer assessed by large-eddy simulations and IHOP_2002 observations
journal, October 2005


Structure of the atmosphere in an urban planetary boundary layer from lidar and radiosonde observations
journal, January 1994


Water Vapor Flux Measurements from Ground-Based Vertically Pointed Water Vapor Differential Absorption and Doppler Lidars
journal, February 1999


How Long Is Long Enough When Measuring Fluxes and Other Turbulence Statistics?
journal, June 1994


The community Noah land surface model with multiparameterization options (Noah-MP): 1. Model description and evaluation with local-scale measurements
journal, January 2011


The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system
journal, April 2011


Intercomparison of Planetary Boundary-Layer Parametrizations in the WRF Model for a Single Day from CASES-99
journal, January 2011


Variance scaling in shallow-cumulus-topped mixed layers
journal, October 2007

  • Neggers, R. A. J.; Stevens, B.; Neelin, J. D.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 133, Issue 628
  • https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.105

In situ aerosol profiles over the Southern Great Plains cloud and radiation test bed site: 1. Aerosol optical properties: IN SITU AEROSOL PROFILES, 1
journal, March 2004


Moisture Vertical Structure, Column Water Vapor, and Tropical Deep Convection
journal, June 2009


The Turbulent Structure and Diurnal Growth of the Saharan Atmospheric Boundary Layer
journal, February 2015


Aircraft Evaluation of Ground-Based Raman Lidar Water Vapor Turbulence Profiles in Convective Mixed Layers
journal, May 2014


Racoro Extended-Term Aircraft Observations of Boundary Layer Clouds
journal, June 2012


Long-Term Evaluation of Temperature Profiles Measured by an Operational Raman Lidar
journal, August 2013


Estimation of boundary layer humidity fluxes and statistics from airborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL)
journal, December 1997


Radar Observations of Humidity Variability in and above the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer
journal, October 1991


The Colorado Wind-Profiling Network
journal, March 1984


Improvement of vertical velocity statistics measured by a Doppler lidar through comparison with sonic anemometer observations
journal, January 2016


The Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment—ASTEX
journal, June 1995


Evaluation of a climate simulation in Europe based on the WRF–NOAH model system: precipitation in Germany
journal, March 2013


Comparisons between multiple in-situ aircraft turbulence measurements and radar in the troposphere
journal, October 2014


Atmospheric boundary layer research at Cabauw
journal, February 1996


Year-Long Vertical Velocity Statistics Derived from Doppler Lidar Data for the Continental Convective Boundary Layer
journal, September 2017


Remote Sensing of Vertical Velocity Variance and Surface Heat Flux in a Convective Boundary Layer
journal, August 1994


Flux-Profile Relationships in the Atmospheric Surface Layer
journal, March 1971


Simultaneous analog and photon counting detection for Raman lidar
journal, January 2009


Turbulent Humidity Fluctuations in the Convective Boundary Layer: Case Studies Using Water Vapour Differential Absorption Lidar Measurements
journal, September 2015


Raman Lidar Measurements during the International H 2 O Project. Part I: Instrumentation and Analysis Techniques
journal, February 2006


A UHF Wind Profiler for the Boundary Layer: Brief Description and Initial Results
journal, June 1988


A Simple Parameterization Coupling the Convective Daytime Boundary Layer and Fair-Weather Cumuli
journal, June 2005


Comments on “A Definitive Approach to Turbulence Statistical Studies in Planetary Boundary Layers”
journal, September 1995


Moisture statistics in free convective boundary layers growing into linearly stratified atmospheres: Moisture Statistics in Free Convection
journal, July 2017

  • Mellado, Juan Pedro; Puche, Marc; van Heerwaarden, Chiel C.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 143, Issue 707
  • https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3095

The seasonal cycle of planetary boundary layer depth determined using COSMIC radio occultation data: SEASONAL CYCLE OF PBL DEPTH
journal, November 2013


The ARM Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Sites
journal, April 2016


Global seasonal variations of midday planetary boundary layer depth from CALIPSO space-borne LIDAR: VARIATIONS OF PBL DEPTH FROM CALIPSO
journal, February 2013


Characterizing the convective boundary layer turbulence with a High Spectral Resolution Lidar: HSRL Turbulence Observations
journal, November 2014


Investigation of PBL schemes combining the WRF model simulations with scanning water vapor differential absorption lidar measurements: WRF Sensitivity to PBL Schemes and LSMs
journal, January 2016


The ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) Site
journal, April 2016


Development and Applications of the ARM Raman Lidar
journal, April 2016


Water vapor turbulence profiles in stationary continental convective mixed layers: WATER VAPOR TURBULENCE PROFILES
journal, October 2014


Boundary Layer Experiment 1996 (BLX96).
text, January 1997


How long is long enough when measuring fluxes and other turbulence statistics?
text, January 1993


Works referencing / citing this record:

Validating the Water Vapor Variance Similarity Relationship in the Interfacial Layer Using Observations and Large‐Eddy Simulations
journal, October 2019