Winter estimation of surface roughness length over eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Based on the Monin-Obulchov similarity theory, a scheme was developed to calculate surface roughness length. Surface roughness length over the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the winter season was then estimated using the scheme and eddy covariance measurement data. Comparisons of estimated and measured wind speeds show that the scheme is feasible to calculate surface roughness length. The estimated roughness lengths at the measurement site during unfrozen, frozen and melted periods are 3.23x10(-3), 2.27x10(-3) and 1.92x10(-3) m, respectively. Surface roughness length demonstrates a deceasing trend with time during the winter season. Thereby, setting the roughness length to be a constant value in numerical models could lead to certain degree of simulation errors. The variation of surface roughness length may be caused by the change in land surface characteristic.

The impact of heterogeneity of land surface roughness length on estimation of turbulent flux in model

Based on preliminary theoretical analysis and numerical experiment, it is found that land surface heterogeneity plays an important role in the models turbulent flux calculation. In nearly neutral atmosphere conditions, variation coefficient of sub-scale roughness length, cell-average roughness, and reference height are main factors affecting the calculation of grid turbulent fluxes. The first factor has a determinant role on calculation deviation. The relative error generated by roughness heterogeneity could be more than 40% in some cases in certain areas （e.g., in vegetation-climate transition belt）. Selecting a specific reference height may improve the calculation of turbulent flux. In stable or unstable atmosphere conditions, with sensible heat flux as an example, analysis shows that the discrepancy is correlated to the sub-grid distributions of mean wind velocity, potential temperature gradient between land surface and reference levels, and atmosphere stability near surface layer caused by the heterogeneity of land surface roughness. The calculation of turbulent flux is the most sensitive to stability in the above three factors. The above analysis shows that it is necessary to make a further consideration for the calculation deviation of the turbulent fluxes brought from land surface heterogeneity in the present numerical models.

Surface roughness length dynamic over several different surfaces and its effects on modeling fluxes

Roughness length and zero-plane displacement over three typical surfaces were calculated iteratively by least-square method, which are Yucheng Experimental Station for agriculture surfaces, Qianyanzhou Experimental Station for complex and undulant surfaces, and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station for forest surfaces. On the basis of roughness length dynamic, the effects of roughness length dynamic on fluxes were analyzed with SEBS model. The results indicate that, aerodynamic roughness length changes with vegetation conditions (such as vegetation height, LAI), wind speed, friction velocity and some other factors. In Yucheng and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station, aerodynamic roughness length over the fetch of flux tower changes with vegetation height and LAI obviously, that is, with the increase of LAI, roughness length increases to the peak value firstly, and then decreases. In Qianyanzhou Experimental Station, LAI changes slightly, so the relationship between roughness length and LAI is not obvious. The aerodynamic roughness length of Yucheng and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station changes slightly with wind direction, while aerodynamic roughness length of Qianyanzhou Experimental Station changes obviously with wind direction. The reason for that is the terrain in Yucheng and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station is relatively flat, while in Qianyanzhou Experimental Station the terrain is very undulant and heterogeneous. With the increase of wind speed, aerodynamic roughness length of Yucheng Experimental Station changes slightly, while it decreases obviously in Qianyanzhou Experimental Station and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station. Roughness length dynamic takes great effects on fluxes calculation, and the effects are analyzed by SEBS model. By comparing 1 day averaged roughness length in Yucheng Experimental Station and 5 day averaged roughness length of Qianyanzhou and Changbai Mountains Experimental Station with roughness length parameter chosen by the model, the effects of roughness length dynamic on flux calculation is analyzed. The maximum effect of roughness length dynamic on sensible heat flux is 2.726%, 33.802% and 18.105%, in Yucheng, Qianyanzhou, and Changbai Mountains experimental stations, respectively.

Seasonal and inter-annual variation of surface roughness length and bulk transfer coefficients in a semiarid area

Here we report a multiyear study on the surface roughness length and bulk transfer coefficients over the degraded grassland and cropland surfaces in a semiarid area of China. Eddy covariance measurement and the meteorological profile observation data were used to analyze characteristics of these parameters on the diurnal, seasonal, and annual scales. Significant seasonal and annual variations of the aerodynamic roughness length are observed over the two surfaces. A large variation of kB-1 is measured during the day. Both kB-1 and the bulk transfer coefficients exhibit significant seasonal and annual variations. During the growing season (May to October), average Cd and Ch are 3.1×10-3 and 2.5×10-3 over the degrade grassland surface, and 4.7×10-3 and 3.1×10-3 over the cropland surface respectively. During the non-growing season, average Cd and Ch are 2.3×10-3 and 2.0×10-3 over the degrade grassland surface, and 2.9×10-3 and 2.2×10-3 over the cropland surface respectively.

Surface Roughness Around a 325-m Meteorological Tower and Its Effect on Urban Turbulence

Based on slow- and fast-response measurements under neutral stratification conditions from a 325-m meteorological tower located in a built-up area of north-central Beijing as well as a descriptive survey of surface roughness elements (i.e., buildings and trees) around the tower site, urban roughness lengths, zo, with zero-plane displacement height are estimated using logarithmic wind profile and morphometric methods in eight 45° directional sectors. When comparing their results with each other, the slow-response method tends to give smaller zo values. At a given location, considerable directional variations in values are observed. The effect of surface roughness on urban turbulence characteristics in terms of non-dimensional standard deviations of three-component velocity, σi/u*1 (where i = u, v, w and u*1 is local friction velocity), is investigated.

Characteristics of Momentum and Heat Transfer over Semiarid Grasslands with Different Grazing Intensities in Inner Mongolia,China

The drag coefficient （Ca） and heat transfer coefficient （Ch） with the bulk transfer scheme are usually used to calculate the momentum and heat fluxes in meteorological models. The aerodynamic roughness length （z0m） and thermal roughness length （z0h） are two crucial parameters for bulk transfer equations. To improve the meteorological models, the seasonal and interannual variations of Z0m, Z0h, coefficient kB-1, Cd, and Ch were investigated based on eddy covariance data over different grazed semiarid grasslands of Inner Mongolia during the growing seasons （May to September） from 2005 to 2008. For an ungrazed Leymus chinensis grassland （ungrazed since 1979）, Z0m and z0h had significant seasonal and in- terannual variations. Zorn was affected by the amount and distribution of rainfall, kB 1 exhibited a relatively negative variation compared with z0h, which indicates that the seasonal variation of z0h cannot be described by kB 1. To parameterize Zorn and z0h, the linear regressions between ln（z0m）, ln（z0h）, and the leaf area index （LAI） were performed with R2=0.71 and 0.83. The monthly average kB-1 was found to decrease linearly with LAI. The four-year averaged values of Ca and Ch were 4.5 × 10^-3 and 3.9× 10^-3, respectively. The monthly average Cd only varied by 8% while the variation of Ch was 18%, which reflects the dif- ferent impacts of dead vegetation on momentum and heat transfer at this natural grassland. Moreover, with the removal of vegetation cover, grazing intensities reduced Z0m, Z0h, Cd, and Ch.

Characterization of turbulent flux transfer over a Gobi surface with quality-controlled observations

This study evaluates the spatial distributions in the quality of momentum and sensible heat fluxes,and determines the turbulent transfer characteristics with quality-controlled observations.The research is based on raw turbulence data collected over a Gobi surface in the Dunhuang area in June 2004.The results indicate that part of the momentum fluxes are of poor quality in the daytime and nighttime.The poor quality of the momentum fluxes in the daytime is mainly attributed to the development of turbulence.The footprint reveals that,in general,the momentum fluxes and sensible heat fluxes can be measured well in the east and west upwind sectors under unstable conditions.The relationship between the non-dimensional standard deviation of the wind components and atmospheric stability follow the "1/3 power law",which supports the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory.Moreover,this study identifies a clear disturbance in the measurements surrounding the Gobi surface.The momentum roughness length of z0m=0.59 mm is determined after excluding such disturbance,and the additional resistance during the daytime is proposed to be an average of 3.1,although its actual value is highly scattered.This study discusses the applicability of several thermodynamic parameterization schemes for the Gobi surface.The results show that the scheme κB-1=3.1 can represent well the summer diurnal turbulent heat transfer.

Estimation of key surface parameters in semi-arid region and their impacts on improvement of surface fluxes simulation

Uncertainties in some key parameters in land surface models severely restrict the improvement of model capacity for successful simulation of surface-atmosphere interaction. These key parameters are related to soil moisture and heat transfer and phy- sical processes in the vegetation canopy as well as other important aerodynamic processes. In the present study, measurements of surface-atmosphere interaction at two observation stations that are located in the typical semi-arid region of China, Tongyu Station in Jilin Province and Yuzhong Station in Gansu Province, are combined with the planetary boundary layer theory to estimate the value of two key aerodynamic parameters, i.e., surface roughness length zorn and excess resistance κB-1. Multiple parameterization schemes have been used in the study to obtain values for surface roughness length and excess resistance κB-1 at the two stations. Results indicate that Zorn has distinct seasonal and inter-annual variability. For the type of surface with low-height vegetation, there is a large difference between the default value of Zorn in the land surface model and that obtained from this study, κB-1 demonstrates a significant diurnal variation and seasonal variability. Using the modified scheme for the estimation of Zom and κB-1 in the land surface model, it is found that simulations of sensible heat flux over the semi-arid region have been greatly improved. These results suggest that it is necessary to further evaluate the default values of various parameters used in land surface models based on field measurements. The approach to combine field measurements with atmospheric boundary layer theory to retrieve realistic values for key parameters in land surface models presents a great potential in the improvement of modeling studies of surface-atmosphere interaction.

Analysis on gust factor of tropical cyclone strong wind over different underlying surfaces

Based on one year gradient wind data and the wind data of a strong typhoon observed by three meteorological towers located on the coast and at the inshore sea,the underlying surfaces of the meteorological towers were classified and the roughness lengths were calculated quantitatively.On the basis of strong wind characteristic representative assessment and sample selection on the wind data of strong typhoon Hagupit,the gust factor variation characteristics of tropical cyclones under different underlying surfaces were analyzed.The observed fact and variation rule were found as follows:1) The roughness lengths under neutral atmospheric condition which were calculated using logarithmic wind profile fitting based on the observation data can describe the slight change of the underlying surface objectively.2) The gust factor of strong typhoon wind didn't have variation trends with wind speed.But the variation amplitude of the gust factor was rather large over rough underlying surface which had pronounced effect on the numerical design of structural engineering.3) The variation of the gust factor with height satisfied power law or logarithmic law.The power law fitting was more suitable for smooth underlying surface while the logarithmic fitting was better over rough underlying surface.4) The observation data also suggested that the relationship between gust factor and roughness length can be described by power or linear equation.5) The gust factor observed in this typhoon case was different from the gust factor recommended by WMO:The gust factor of the offshore wind came from rough underlying surface was higher than the value recommended by WMO while the gust factor of the onshore wind came from smooth underlying surface is less than the WMO recommended value.

Eddy covariance measurements of water vapor and CO_2 fluxes above the Erhai Lake

Measurement of turbulence fluxes were performed over the Erhai Lake using eddy covariance(EC) method.Basic physical parameters in the lake-air interaction processes,such as surface albedo of the lake,aerodynamic roughness length,bulk transfer coefficients,etc.,were investigated using the EC data in 2012.The characteristics of turbulence fluxes over the lake including momentum flux,sensible heat flux,latent heat flux,and CO2 flux,and their controlling factors were analyzed.The total annual evaporation of the lake was also estimated based on the artificial neural network(ANN) gap-filling technique.Results showed that the total annual evaporation in 2012 was 1165 ± 15 mm,which was larger than the annual precipitation(818 mm).Local circulation between the lake and the surrounding land was found to be significant throughout the year due to the land-lake breeze or the mountain-valley breeze in this area.The prevailing winds of southeasterly and northwesterly were observed throughout the year.The sensible heat flux over this plateau lake usually had a few tens of W m-2,and generally became negative in the afternoon,indicating that heat was transferred from the lake to the atmosphere.The sensible heat flux was governed by the lake-air temperature difference and had its maximum in the early morning.The diurnal variation of the latent heat flux was controlled by vapor pressure deficit with a peak in the afternoon.The latent heat flux was dominant in the partition of available energy in daytime over this lake.The lake acted as a weak CO2 source to the atmosphere except for the midday of summer.Seasonal variations of surface albedo over the lake were related to the solar elevation angle and opacity of the water.Furthermore,compared with the observation data,the surface albedo estimated by CLM4-LISSS model was underestimated in winter and overestimated in summer.