Turbulence Structure In Unstable Conditions Over Various Surfaces

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the turbulent structure of the atmospheric boundary layer in unstable conditions has been carried out using turbulence data obtained from the Gobi desert, grassland, suburban and urban sites based on the same instrumentation, data acquisition and data processing systems. The normalized standard deviations of u and v over the suburban and urban sites are systematically smaller than those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. However, the normalized standard deviations of w, temperature θ and humidity q over the suburban and urban sites are quite close to those over the Gobi desert and grassland sites. The normalized humidity standard deviations are quite similar to those of temperature over the grassland and suburban sites. The temperature and humidity spectra are found to be independentof atmospheric stability in all frequency ranges, but spectra obtained from the Gobi desert and grassland sites reveal flatter peaks than those of the suburban and urban sites in the lower frequency range. The normalized spectral curves of temperature and humidity are independent of atmospheric stability both at high and low frequencies. The spectral characteristics of humidity over the grassland and suburban sites aresimilar to those of temperature, but the humidity spectra over the Gobi desert site are quite different from temperature spectra due to evaporation and/or large eddies in the boundary layer.