Microbarometer measurements to probe turbulent kinetic energy in the atmospheric boundary layer

Abstract

Microbarometer networks are typically in place for the detection of atmospheric infrasound waves. The monitoring of such waves can be of interest for source characterization, which include a wide array of geophysical and man-made sources, as well as atmospheric infrasound propagation studies. In such studies, the presence of turbulence and other wind-induced effects are considered a nuisance. For this reason, wind noise filters are typically in place for suppression. As Cuxart et al. [BLM (2013)] pointed out, microbarometer measurements indeed have a value for detection of local and remote turbulence and measurements can be used to estimate turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). In this study, we compare microbarometer observations at the Cabauw atmospheric research site to co-located in-situ TKE measurements. Moreover, we compare turbulence timeseries to predictions from the high-resolution HARMONIE weather model in which this quantity is parameterized. This approach has two foreseen applications: (1) modeled TKE fields could possibly help in identifying regions that are most appropriate for infrasound monitoring due to low TKE values and (2) microbarometer observations could possibly be of use in the further refining of the modeled TKE parameter.