A thermal energy budget for nocturnal drainage flow in a simple valley

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6126789

Horst, T W; Allwine, K J; Whiteman, C D

In September 1984 the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) program made extensive measurements of the nocturnal wind and temperature fields in the Brush Creek valley of western Colorado. These data are being used to directly evaluate the nocturnal thermal energy budget of this simple valley, with the purpose of examining the relative importance of the various mechanisms that generate and maintain the valley inversion and thus also the nocturnal drainage flow. This paper presents a preliminary description of this analysis. Measurements included an array of nine tethered balloons and four Doppler sodars deployed within the main valley to measure vertical profiles of wind, temperature, and moisture; a Doppler lidar to measure the along-valley wind component throughout much of the valley; several laser anemometers to measure path-averaged valley, tributary, and slope winds; and several surface sites to measure surface fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum and near-surface profiles of wind and temperature. Meteorological data was also collected at higher elevations with periodic releases of sondes from the valley CSU site and rawinsondes at the corners of a 70-km square centered on Brush Creek. 11 refs., 4 figs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6126789
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-14979; CONF-870864-11; ON: DE88000103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500400* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Thermal Effluents Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADVECTION
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLORADO
DIFFUSION
DRAINAGE
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY BALANCE
ENERGY BUDGETS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EQUATIONS
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FLUIDS
GASES
MASS TRANSFER
METEOROLOGY
NOCTURNAL VARIATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
PROBES
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
THERMAL DIFFUSION
TOPOGRAPHY
USA
VALLEYS
VAPORS
VARIATIONS
WATER VAPOR
WIND