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Atmospheric Disturbances that Generate Intermittent Turbulence in Nocturnal Boundary Layers

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Abstract

Using the unprecedented observational facilities deployed duringthe 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99),we found three distinct turbulent events on the night of 18October 1999. These events resulted from a density current,solitary wave, and internal gravity wave, respectively. Our studyfocuses on the turbulence intermittency generated by the solitarywave and internal gravity wave, and intermittent turbulenceepisodes associated with pressure change and wind direction shiftsadjacent to the ground. Both the solitary and internal gravitywaves propagated horizontally and downward. During the passage ofboth the solitary and internal gravity waves, local thermal andshear instabilities were generated as cold air was pushed abovewarm air and wind gusts reached to the ground. These thermal andshear instabilities triggered turbulent mixing events. Inaddition, strong vertical acceleration associated with thesolitary wave led to large non-hydrostatic pressure perturbationsthat were positively correlated with temperature. The directionaldifference between the propagation of the internal gravity waveand the ambient flow led to lateral rolls. These episodic studiesdemonstrate that non-local disturbances are responsible for localthermal and shear instabilities, leading to intermittentturbulence in nocturnal boundary layers. The origin of thesenon-local disturbances needs to be understood to improve mesoscalenumerical model performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, U.S.A

    Jielun Sun, Donald H. Lenschow & Sean P. Burns

  2. NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, CO, U.S.A

    Robert M. Banta

  3. Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Fort Collins, CO, U.S.A

    Rob K. Newsom

  4. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, U.S.A

    Richard Coulter

  5. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, U.S.A

    Stephen Frasier & Turker Ince

  6. Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, Oak Ridge, TN, U.S.A

    Carmen Nappo

  7. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, U.S.A

    Ben B. Balsley & Michael Jensen

  8. College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, U.S.A

    Larry Mahrt

  9. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, U.S.A

    David Miller & Brian Skelly

Authors
  1. Jielun Sun
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  2. Donald H. Lenschow
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  3. Sean P. Burns
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  4. Robert M. Banta
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  5. Rob K. Newsom
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  6. Richard Coulter
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  7. Stephen Frasier
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  8. Turker Ince
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  9. Carmen Nappo
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  10. Ben B. Balsley
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  11. Michael Jensen
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  12. Larry Mahrt
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  13. David Miller
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  14. Brian Skelly
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Sun, J., Lenschow, D.H., Burns, S.P. et al. Atmospheric Disturbances that Generate Intermittent Turbulence in Nocturnal Boundary Layers. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 110, 255–279 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026097926169

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