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Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain

Journal Article · · Boundary-Layer Meteorology
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
High resolution numerical simulation can provide insight into important physical processes that occur within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The present work employs large eddy simulation (LES) nested within the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) framework to simulate real conditions in the convective PBL over an area of complex terrain. A multiple nesting approach has been used to downsize the grid spacing size from 12.15 km (mesoscale) to 0.03 km (LES). To minimize artifacts in theWRF-LES solutions resulting from using an inappropriate grid spacing on the WRF-Meso domain, a careful selection of grid spacing has been conducted. The WRF-LES results have been evaluated with in situ and remote sensing observations collected during the US Department of Energy supported Columbia BasinWind Energy Study (CBWES). The comparison for the first and second order moments, turbulence spectrum, and probability density function (pdf) of wind speed show good agreement between the simulation and data. Furthermore, the WRF-LES variables show a great deal of variability in space and time caused by the complex topography in the LES domain. The WRF-LES results show that the flow structures, such as roll vortices and convective cells, over the domain vary depending on both the spatial location and time of the day. In addition to basic studies related to boundary-layer meteorology, results from these simulations can be used in other applications, such as studying the wind energy resources.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1524291
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1346287
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--774259; 964842
Journal Information:
Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Journal Name: Boundary-Layer Meteorology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 163; ISSN 0006-8314
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (10)

Coupled mesoscale‐ LES modeling of a diurnal cycle during the CWEX ‐13 field campaign: From weather to boundary‐layer eddies journal July 2017
A method to determine the characteristic time‐scales of quasi‐isotropic surface‐layer turbulence over complex terrain: A case‐study in the Adige Valley (Italian Alps)
  • Falocchi, Marco; Giovannini, Lorenzo; de Franceschi, Massimiliano
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 145, Issue 719 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3444
journal January 2019
Toward Low‐Level Turbulence Forecasting at Eddy‐Resolving Scales journal August 2018
The Impact of Surface Heterogeneities and Land‐Atmosphere Interactions on Shallow Clouds Over ARM SGP Site journal June 2018
Random Force Perturbations: A New Extension of the Cell Perturbation Method for Turbulence Generation in Multiscale Atmospheric Boundary Layer Simulations journal July 2019
The Impact of Variable Land‐Atmosphere Coupling on Convective Cloud Populations Observed During the 2016 HI‐SCALE Field Campaign journal August 2019
The Importance of Snow Sublimation on a Himalayan Glacier journal August 2018
Development of a High-Resolution Wind Forecast System Based on the WRF Model and a Hybrid Kalman-Bayesian Filter journal August 2019
Large-Eddy Simulation Sensitivities to Variations of Configuration and Forcing Parameters in Canonical Boundary-Layer Flows for Wind Energy Applications journal August 2017
Large-eddy simulation sensitivities to variations of configuration and forcing parameters in canonical boundary-layer flows for wind energy applications journal January 2018

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