Horizontal structure of convergent wind shear associated with sporadic E layers over East Asia

At present,the main detection instruments for observing sporadic E(Es)layers are ground-based radars,dense networks of ground-based global navigation satellite system(GNSS)receivers,and GNSS radio occultation,but they cannot capture the whole picture of the horizontal structure of Es layers.This study employs the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere and ionosphere eXtension model(WACCM-X 2.1)to derive the horizontal structure of the ion convergence region(HSICR)to explore the shapes of the large-scale Es layers over East Asia for the period from June 1 to August 31,2008.The simulation produced the various shapes of the HSICRs elongated in the northwest-southeast,northeast-southwest,or composed of individual small patches.The close connection between Es layer critical frequency(foEs)and vertical ion convergence indicates that the HSICR is a good candidate for revealing and explaining the horizontal structure of the large-scale Es layers.

Influence of Wind Turbine Structural Parameters on Wind Shear and Tower Shadow Effect

To overcome the problems of natural decreases in power quality,and to eliminate wind speed fluctuation due to wind shear and tower shadow effect arising from wind turbine structural parameters,an improved prediction model accounting for the dual effect of wind shear and tower shadow is,in this paper,built.Compared to the conventional prediction model,the proposed model contains a new constraint condition,which makes the disturbance term caused by the tower shadow effect always negative so that the prediction result is closer to the actual situation.Furthermore,wind turbine structural parameters such as hub height,rotor diameter,the diameter of the tower top,and rotor overhang on wind shear and tower shadow effect are also explored in detail.The results show that the wind shear effect became weaker with the increase in hub height.The hub height is independent of the tower shadow effect.The rotor diameter is positively correlated with the wind shear and tower shadow effect.The tower shadow effect is positively correlated with the diameter of the tower top and negatively correlated with the rotor overhang.

Characteristics for wind energy and wind turbines by considering vertical wind shear

The probability distributions of wind speeds and the availability of wind turbines were investigated by considering the vertical wind shear. Based on the wind speed data at the standard height observed at a wind farm, the power-law process was used to simulate the wind speeds at a hub height of 60 m. The Weibull and Rayleigh distributions were chosen to express the wind speeds at two different heights. The parameters in the model were estimated via the least square(LS) method and the maximum likelihood estimation(MLE) method, respectively. An adjusted MLE approach was also presented for parameter estimation. The main indices of wind energy characteristics were calculated based on observational wind speed data. A case study based on the data of Hexi area, Gansu Province of China was given. The results show that MLE method generally outperforms LS method for parameter estimation, and Weibull distribution is more appropriate to describe the wind speed at the hub height.

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear on Intensity and Rainfall Asymmetries of Strong Tropical Storm Bilis (2006)

The effects of environmental vertical wind shear （VWS） on the intensity and rainfall asymmetries in Tropical Storm （TS） Bilis （2006） have been analyzed based on TRMM/TMI-estimated surface rainfall data, QuikSCAT wind fields, 850- and 200-hPa winds of the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, precipitation data at 5-min intervals from automatic weather stations over China's Mainland, and the best track data of TS Bilis （2006）. The results show that the simultaneous and 6-hour-lagged correlation coefficients between VWS and storm intensity （the minimum central sea level pressure） are 0.59145 and 0.57438 （P 〈0.01）, respectively. The averaged VWS was found to be about 11 m s-1 and thus suppressed the intensification of Bilis （2006）. Distribution of precipitation in Bilis （2006） was highly asymmetric. The azimuthally-averaged rainfall rate in the partial eyewall, however, was smaller than that in a major outer rainband. As the storm intensified, the major rainband showed an unusual outward propagation. The VWS had a great impact on the asymmetric distribution of precipitation. Consistent with previous modeling studies, heavy rainfall generally occurred downshear to downshear-left of the VWS vector both near and outside the eyewall, showing a strong wavenumber-one asymmetry, which was amplified as the VWS increased.

EFFECTS OF VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ON INTENSITY AND STRUCTURE OF TROPICAL CYCLONE

In this study,the effect of vertical wind shear(VWS)on the intensification of tropical cyclone(TC)is investigated via the numerical simulations.Results indicate that weak shear tends to facilitate the development of TC while strong shear appears to inhibit the intensification of TC.As the VWS is imposed on the TC,the vortex of the cyclone tends to tilt vertically and significantly in the upper troposphere.Consequently,the upward motion is considerably enhanced in the downshear side of the storm center and correspondingly,the low-to mid-level potential temperature decreases under the effect of adiabatic cooling,which leads to the increase of the low-to mid-level static instability and relative humidity and then facilitates the burst of convection.In the case of weak shear,the vertical tilting of the vortex is weak and the increase of ascent,static instability and relative humidity occur in the area close to the TC center.Therefore,active convection happens in the TC center region and facilitates the enhancement of vorticity in the inner core region and then the intensification of TC.In contrast,due to strong VWS,the increase of the ascent,static instability and relative humidity induced by the vertical tilting mainly appear in the outer region of TC in the case with stronger shear,and the convection in the inner-core area of TC is rather weak and convective activity mainly happens in the outer-region of the TC.Therefore,the development of a warm core is inhibited and then the intensification of TC is delayed.Different from previous numerical results obtained by imposing VWS suddenly to a strong TC,the simulation performed in this work shows that,even when the VWS is as strong as 12 m s-1,the tropical storm can still experience rapid intensification and finally develop into a strong tropical cyclone after a relatively long period of adjustment.It is found that the convection plays an important role in the adjusting period.On one hand,the convection leads to the horizontal convergence of the low-level vorticity flux and therefore leads to the enhancement of the low-level vorticity in the inner-core area of the cyclone.On the other hand,the active ascent accompanying the convection tends to transport the low-level vorticity to the middle levels.The enhanced vorticity in the lower to middle troposphere strengths the interaction between the low-and mid-level cyclonical circulation and the upper-level circulation deviated from the storm center under the effect of VWS.As a result,the vertical tilting of the vortex is considerably decreased,and then the cyclone starts to develop rapidly.

EFFECTS OF VERTICAL WIND SHEAR ON TROPICAL CYCLONE INTENSITY CHANGE

The effects of vertical wind shear on tropical cyclone(TC) intensity change are examined based on the TC data from the China Meteorological Administration and the NCEP reanalysis daily data from 2001 to 2006.First,the influence of wind shear between different vertical levels and averages in different horizontal areas are compared.The results indicate that the effect of wind shear between 200 and 850 hPa averaged within a 200-800 km annulus on TC intensity change is larger than any other calculated vertical wind shear.High-latitude and intense TCs tend to be less sensitive to the effects of VWS than low-latitude and weak TCs.TCs experience time lags between the imposition of the shear and the weakening in TC intensity.A vertical shear of 8-9 m/s(9-10 m/s) would weaken TC intensity within 60 h(48 h).A vertical shear greater than 10 m/s would weaken TC intensity within 6 h.Finally,a statistical TC intensity prediction scheme is developed by using partial least squares regression,which produces skillful intensity forecasts when potential predictors include factors related to the vertical wind shear.Analysis of the standardized regression coefficients further confirms the obtained statistical results.

Efects of Vertical Wind Shear, Radiation and Ice Microphysics on Precipitation Efciency during a Torrential Rainfall Event in China

The effects of vertical wind shear, radiation and ice microphysics on precipitation efficiency （PE） were investigated through analysis of modeling data of a torrential rainfall event over Jinan, China during July 2007. Vertical wind shear affected PE by changing the kinetic energy conversion between the mean and perturbation circulations. Clou^radiation interaction impacted upon PE, but the relationship related to cloud radiative effects on PE was not statistically significant. The reduction in deposition processes as- sociated with the removal of ice microphysics suppressed efficiency. The relationships related to effects of vertical wind shear, radiation and ice clouds on PEs defined in cloud and surface rainfall budgets were more statistically significant than that defined in the rain microphysical budget.

Directional Filtering Due to Mesospheric Wind Shear on the Propagation of Acoustic-gravity Waves

Gravity waves with periods close to the Brunt-V(a|¨)is(a|¨)l(a|¨) period of the upper troposphere are often observed at mesopause altitudes as short period,quasi-monochromatic waves.The assumption that these short period waves originate in the troposphere may be problematic because their upward propagation to the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region could be significantly impeded due to an extended region of strong evanescence above the stratopause.To reconcile this apparent paradox,an alternative explanation is proposed in this paper.The inclusion of mean winds and their vertical shears is sufficient to allow certain short period waves to remain internal above the stratopause and to propagate efficiently to higher altitudes.A time-dependent numerical model is used to demonstrate the feasibility of this and to determine the circumstances under which the mesospheric wind shears play a role in the removal and directional filtering of short period gravity waves. Finally this paper concludes that the combination of the height-dependent mean winds and the mean temperature structure probably explains the existence of short period,quasi-monochromatic structures observed in airglow images of mesopause region.

WIND SHEAR IDENTIFICATION WITH THE RETRIEVED WIND OF DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR

Wind shear reflects that the wind field is not uniform, which is one of the primary factors which make the retrieval of the wind field difficult. Based on volume velocity process(VVP) wind field retrieval technique, the intensity of wind shear is identified in this paper. After analyzing the traditional techniques that rely on the difference of radial velocity to identify wind shear, a fixed difference among radial velocities that may cause false identification in a uniform wind field was found. Because of the non-uniformity in wind shear areas, the difference of retrieved results between surrounding analysis volumes can be used as a measurement to show how strong the wind shear is. According to the analysis of a severe convective weather process that occurred in Guangzhou, it can be found that the areas of wind shear appeared with the strength significantly larger than in other regions and the magnitude generally larger than4.5 m/(s·km). Besides, by comparing the variation of wind shear strength during the convection, it can be found that new cells will be more likely to generate when the strength is above 3.0 m/(s·km). Therefore, the analysis of strong wind shear's movement and development is helpful to forecasting severe convections.

Revisiting the response of western North Pacific tropical cyclone intensity change to vertical wind shear in different directions

The effect of vertical wind shear(VWS)directions on the change in western North Pacific tropical cyclone(TC)intensity is revisited in this study.Results show that the differences in the correlations between VWS in different orientations and the change in TC nondimensional intensity highly diminish,although slight differences are still present.The subtle differences in the correlations are likely associated with different synoptic-scale patterns at upper and lower levels.This result suggests that,in addition to thermodynamic effects,dynamic roles of the synoptic-scale patterns associated with the VWS should also be taken into account when the authors examine how VWS in different directions affects TC intensity change.

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear on the Pre-Summer Heavy Rainfall Budget:A Cloud-Resolving Modeling Study

This study investigates the effects of vertical wind shear on the torrential rainfall response to the large-scale forcing using a rainfall separation analysis of a pair of two-dimensional cloud-resolving model sensitivity experiments for a pre-summer heavy rainfall event over southern China from 3-8 June 2008 coupled with National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)/Global Data Assimilation System(GDAS) data.The rainfall partitioning analysis based on the surface rainfall budget indicates that the exclusion of vertical wind shear decreases the contribution to total rainfall from the largest contributor,which is the rainfall associated with local atmospheric drying,water vapor divergence,and hydrometeor loss/convergence,through the reduction of the rainfall area and reduced rainfall during the rainfall event.The removal of vertical wind shear increases the contribution to total rainfall from the rainfall associated with local atmospheric drying,water vapor convergence,and hydrometeor loss/convergence through the expansion of the rainfall area and enhanced rainfall.The elimination of vertical wind shear enhances heavy rainfall and expands its area,whereas it reduces moderate rainfall and its area.

Wind Shear Investigation for Site-Specific Wind Turbine Performance Assessment

The wind energy assessment studies are generally performed referring to neutral stability conditions for the atmosphere; this is considered a good hypothesis because neutral conditions characterize the high wind situations. However the increasing size of modem multi megawatt wind turbines allows to produce energy even in low wind regimes and non-neutral conditions can involve significant production period. In such situations the variations of the vertical wind shear can affect the energy production in a sensible way and it could be fundamental to investigate how atmospheric stability and orography can affect the wind profile and the power conversion. In this paper meso-scale numerical data, CFD modeling and remote sensed wind data were used in order to analyze such behavior and to understand how wind shear influences the energy content and the discussion about how to adjust the power curve to the site specific conditions.

A nonlinear wake model of a wind turbine considering the yaw wake steering

Duo to fluctuations in atmospheric turbulence and yaw control strategies,wind turbines are often in a yaw state.To predict the far wake velocity field of wind turbines quickly and accurately,a wake velocity model was derived based on the method of momentum conservation considering the wake steering of the wind turbine under yaw conditions.To consider the shear effect of the vertical incoming wind direction,a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution function was introduced to model the velocity loss at different axial positions in the far wake region based on the assumption of nonlinear wake expansion.This work also developed a“prediction-correction”method to solve the wake velocity field,and the accuracy of the model results was verified in wake experiments on the Garrad Hassan wind turbine.Moreover,a 33-kW two-blade horizontal axis wind turbine was simulated using this method,and the results were compared with the classical wake model under the same parameters and the computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation results.The results show that the nonlinear wake model well reflected the influence of incoming flow shear and yaw wake steering in the wake velocity field.Finally,computation of the wake flow for the Horns Rev offshore wind farm with 80 wind turbines showed an error within 8%compared to the experimental values.The established wake model is less computationally intensive than other methods,has a faster calculation speed,and can be used for engineering calculations of the wake velocity in the far wakefield of wind turbines.

A Statistical Analysis on the Effect of Vertical Wind Shear on Tropical Cyclone Development

Using tropical cyclone （TC） best track and intensity of the western North Pacific data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center （JTWC） of the United States and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for the period of 1992-2002, the effects of vertical wind shear on TC intensity are examined. The samples were limited to the westward or northwestward moving TCs between 5°N and 20°N in order to minimize thermodynamic effects. It is found that the effect of vertical wind shear between 200 and 500 hPa on TC intensity change is larger than that of the shear between 500 and 850 hPa, while similar to that of the shear between 200 and 850 hPa. Vertical wind shear may have a threshold value, which tends to decrease as TC intensifies. As the intensifying rate of TC weakens, the average shear increases. The large shear has the obvious trend of inhibiting TC development. The average shear of TC which can develop into typhoon （tropical depression or tropical storm） is below 7 m s^-1 （above 8 m s^-1）.

Low-Level Wind Shear Characteristics and Lidar-Based Alerting at Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport,China

Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport[International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO)code ZLLL]is located in a wind shear prone area in China,where most low-level wind shear events occur in dry weather conditions.We analyzed temporal distribution and synoptic circulation background for 18 dry wind shear events reported by pilots at ZLLL by using the NCEP final(FNL)operational global analysis data,and then proposed a lidar-based regional divergence algorithm(RDA)to determine wind shear intensity and location.Low-level wind shear at ZLLL usually occurs in the afternoon and evening in dry conditions.Most wind shear events occur in an unstable atmosphere over ZLLL,with changes in wind speed or direction generally found at 700 hPa and 10-m height.Based on synoptic circulations at 700 hPa,wind shear events could be classified as strong northerly,convergence,southerly,and weak wind types.The proposed RDA successfully identified low-level wind shear except one southerly case,achieving94%alerting rate compared with 82%for the operational system at ZLLL and 88%for the ramp detection algorithm(widely used in some operational alert systems)based on the same dataset.The RDA-unidentified southerly case occurred in a near neutral atmosphere,and wind speed change could not be captured by the Doppler lidar.

Lightning Activity and Its Relationship with Typhoon Intensity and Vertical Wind Shear for Super Typhoon Haiyan (1330)

Super Typhoon Halyan （1330）, which occurred in 2013, is the most powerful typhoon during landfall in the meteorological record. In this study, the temporal and spatial distributions of lightning activity of Haiyan were analyzed by using the lightning data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network, typhoon intensity and position data from the China Meteorological Administration, and horizontal wind data from the ECMWF. Three distinct regions were identified in the spatial distribution of daily average lightning density, with the maxima in the inner core and the minima in the inner rainband. The lightning density in the intensifying stage of Haiyan was greater than that in its weakening stage. During the time when the typhoon intensity measured with maximum sustained wind speed was between 32.7 and 41.4 m s-1, the storm had the largest lightning density in the inner core, compared with other intensity stages. In contrast to earlier typhoon studies, the eyewall lightning burst out three times. The first two eyewall lightning outbreaks occurred during the period of rapid intensification and before the maximum intensity of the storm, suggesting that the eyewall lightning activity could be used to identify the change in tropical cyclone intensity. The flashes frequently occurred in the inner core, and in the outer rainbands with the black body temperature below 220 K. Combined with the ECMWF wind data, the influences of vertical wind shear （VWS） on the azimuthal distribution of flashes were also analyzed, showing that strong VWS produced downshear left asymmetry of lightning activity in the inner core and downshear right asymmetry in the ralnbands.

Insight into the Role of Lower-Layer Vertical Wind Shear in Tropical Cyclone Intensification over the Western North Pacific

Vertical wind shear fundamentally influences changes in tropical cyclone （TC） intensity. The effects of vertical wind shear on tropical cyclogenesis and evolution in the western North Pacific basin are not .well understood. We present a new statistical study of all named TCs in this region during the period 2000- 2006 using a second-generation partial least squares （PLS） regression technique. The results show that the lower-layer （between 850 hPa and 10 m above the sea surface） wind shear is more important than the commonly analyzed deep-layer shear （between 200 and 850 hPa） for changes in TC intensity during the TC intensification period. This relationship is particularly strong for westerly low-level shear. Downdrafts induced by the lower-layer shear bring low θe air into the boundary layer from above, significantly reducing values of θe in the TC inflow layer and weakening the TC. Large values of deep-layer shear over the ocean to the east of the Philippine Islands inhibit TC formation, while large values of lower-layer shear over the central and western North Pacific inhibit TC intensification. The critical value of deep-layer shear for TC formation is approximately 10 m s-1, and the critical value of lower-layer shear for TC intensification is approximately ±1.5 m s-1.

Power fluctuation and power loss of wind turbines due to wind shear and tower shadow

The magnitude and stability of power output are two key indices of wind turbines. This study investigates the effects of wind shear and tower shadow on power output in terms of power fluctuation and power loss to estimate the capacity and quality of the power generated by a wind turbine. First, wind speed models, particularly the wind shear model and the tower shadow model, are described in detail. The widely accepted tower shadow model is modified in view of the cone-shaped towers of modem large-scale wind turbines. Power fluctuation and power loss due to wind shear and tower shadow are analyzed by performing theoretical calculations and case analysis within the framework of a modified version of blade element momentum theory. Results indicate that power fluctuation is mainly caused by tower shadow, whereas power loss is primarily induced by wind shear. Under steady wind conditions, power loss can be divided into wind farm loss and rotor loss. Wind farm loss is constant at 3a（3a- 1）R^2/（8H^2）. By contrast, rotor loss is strongly influenced by the wind turbine control strategies and wind speed. That is, when the wind speed is measured in a region where a variable-speed controller works, the rotor loss stabilizes around zero, but when the wind speed is measured in a region where the blade pitch controller works, the rotor loss increases as the wind speed intensifies. The results of this study can serve as a reference for accurate power estimation and strategy development to mitigate the fluctuations in aerodynamic loads and power output due to wind shear and tower shadow.

Observation of Wind Shear during Evening Transition and an Estimation of Submicron Aerosol Concentrations in Beijing Using a Doppler Wind Lidar

The wind speed and direction measured over six months by a Doppler wind lidar（Windcube-8）were compared with wind cup anemometers mounted on the 325-m Beijing meteorological tower（BMT）.Five mountain–plain wind cases characterized by wind direction shear were selected based on the high-frequency（1.1 s）wind profile of the Windcube-8 and analyzed with 1-h mesoscale surface weather charts.Also analyzed was the relationship between insitu PM_1（aerodynamic diameter≤1μm）concentrations measured at 260 m on BMT and the carrier-to-noise ratio（CNR）of the co-located Windcube-8.The results showed that the 10-min averaged wind speed and direction were highly correlated（R=0.96–0.99）at three matched levels（80,140,and 200 m）.The evening transition duration was1–3 h,with an average wind speed of 1 m s^（–1） at 80 m above the ground.In addition,there was a zero horizontalwind-speed zone along the wind direction shear line,and in one case,the wind speed was characterized by a Kelvin–Helmholtz gravity wave.The variability of the PM_1 concentrations was captured by the CNR of the Windcube-8 in a fair weather period without the long-range transport of dust.

EFFECTS OF WIND SHEAR ON ATMOSPHERIC GRAVITY WAVE SPECTRUM

The effects of constant wind shear on atmospheric gravity wave spectrum are examined.At first a three- dimensional equilibrium spectral model of gravity waves is established in which wind shear rate β is implicit. Based on this model,the expressions for one-dimensional frequency spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves are derived in which β is explicit.Numerical results show that (1) if we assume that mean wind U(z)=βz (z represents the altitude) and the internal gravity wave spectrum at the altitude of U=0 (that is,z=0) is VanZandt one,then the effect of Doppler shifting due to mean wind may be ignored;(2) when Richardson number J(J=N^2/β~2,N is Brunt-V(?)is(?)l(?) frequency,and is equal to 10^(-2)s^(-1) in this paper) satisfies J≥10.0,the effects ofwind shear arealso ignored;(3)for f^2(?)ω~2(?)N^2 (f is the inertia frequency,and f=10^(-4)s^(-1) in this paper,and co is the observed frequency),the wind shear only affects the spectral amplitude,and does not alter the spectral shape;and (4) as wind shear becomes strong,a part of wave potential energy turns into wave kinetic one,and a part of the vertical kinetic energy further turns into the horizontal one.