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An ensemble of dynamically identical thermals and vertical profiles of turbulent moments in the convective surface layer of atmosphere

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Abstract

An ensemble of convective thermals is distinguished from the surface layer of penetrative turbulent convection over a heated horizontally uniform surface. For an isolated convective element, an integral model of a quasi-stationary spontaneous jet is proposed which admits an exact analytical solution. A simple statistical model is constructed for an ensemble of dynamically identical thermals. In this model, convective thermals ascend in a static environment, their dynamic parameters are described by the equations of an isolated quasi-stationary jet, and their diameters are stochastic. It is shown that the ensemble of thermals rising in a horizontally homogeneous environment forms surface-layer turbulent moments. The analytical relationships for higher turbulent moments of vertical velocity and temperature are compared with experimental data from the second to the forth order inclusive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oil and Gas Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Gubkina 3, Moscow, 119333, Russia

    A. N. Vulfson & O. O. Borodin

Authors
  1. A. N. Vulfson
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  2. O. O. Borodin
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Original Russian Text © A.N. Vulfson, O.O. Borodin, 2009, published in Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya, 2009, No. 8, pp. 15–26.

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Vulfson, A.N., Borodin, O.O. An ensemble of dynamically identical thermals and vertical profiles of turbulent moments in the convective surface layer of atmosphere. Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol. 34, 491–500 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373909080020

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373909080020

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