Three-dimensional Wind Field Research Articles

洋上風観測を利用したカルマンモデルの乱流スケールに関する研究

Accurate prediction of the secondary moment of three-dimensional turbulent wind field is important for structure dynamic analysis, while literatures on turbulence scales for offshore wind field are limited. In this study, an offshore wind field measurement campaign is carried out by an offshore meteorological mast using ultrasonic anemometers at 40, 60 and 80m heights, from which the turbulence integral length scales used in von Karman model are evaluated. It is found that turbulence structure at these heights for offshore wind field can be expressed well by von Karman model. The length scales are evaluated by model fitting for auto-spectrum and spatial coherence. The scales for auto-spectrum showed similar values with the IEC design code for longitudinal, lateral and vertical component. Spatial length scales in vertical direction show similar value with the model provided in ESDU considering surface roughness, but were larger compared to previous measurements in suburban area for longitudinal and lateral components. Spatial length scale in vertical direction for vertical component shows similar value with the previous measurement in lateral direction. Finally, a model for the turbulence length scales of three velocity components in von Karman model is proposed for offshore wind field, based on the measured results and previous studies.

Effect of motion path of downburst on wind-induced conductor swing in transmission line

In recent years, the frequency and duration of supply interruption in electric power transmission system due to flashover increase yearly in China. Flashover is usually associated with inadequate electric clearance and often takes place in extreme weathers, such as downbursts, typhoons and hurricanes. The present study focuses on the wind-induced oscillation of conductor during the process when a downburst is passing by or across a specified transmission line. Based on a revised analytical model recently developed for stationary downburst, transient three-dimensional wind fields of moving downbursts are successfully simulated. In the simulations, the downbursts travel along various motion paths according to the certain initial locations and directions of motion assumed in advance. Then, an eight-span section, extracted from a practical 500 kV ultra-high-voltage transmission line, is chosen. After performing a non-linear transient analysis, the transient displacements of the conductors could be obtained. Also, an extensive study on suspension insulator strings' rotation angles is conducted, and the electric clearances at different strings could be compared directly. The results show that both the variation trends of the transient responses and the corresponding peak values vary seriously with the motion paths of downburst. Accordingly, the location of the specified string, which is in the most disadvantageous situation along the studied line section, is picked out. And a representative motion path is concluded for reference in the calculation of each string's oscillation for the precaution of wind-induced flashover under downburst.

An Ensemble Approach to Investigate Tropical Cyclone Intensification in Sheared Environments. Part II: Ophelia (2011)

Abstract The mechanisms leading to tropical cyclone (TC) intensification amid moderate vertical wind shear can vary from case to case, depending on the vortex structure and the large-scale conditions. To search for similarities between cases, this second part investigates the rapid intensification of Hurricane Ophelia (2011) in an environment characterized by 200–850-hPa westerly shear exceeding 8 m s−1. Similar to Part I, a 96-member ensemble was employed to compare a subset of members that predicted Ophelia would intensify with another subset that predicted Ophelia would weaken. This comparison revealed that the intensification of Ophelia was aided by enhanced convection and midtropospheric moisture in the downshear and left-of-shear quadrants. Enhanced left-of-shear convection was key to the establishment of an anticyclonic divergent outflow that forced a nearby upper-tropospheric trough to wrap around Ophelia. A vorticity budget showed that deep convection also contributed to the enhancement of vorticity within the inner core of Ophelia via vortex stretching and tilting of horizontal vorticity enhanced by the upper-tropospheric trough. These results suggest that TC intensity changes in sheared environments and in the presence of upper-tropospheric troughs highly depend on the interaction between convective-scale processes and the large-scale flow. Given the similarities between Part I and this part, the results suggest that observations from the three-dimensional moisture and wind fields could improve both forecasting and understanding of TC intensification in moderately sheared environments.

Inertia gravity wave activity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere observed by Wuhan MST radar

The troposphere and lower stratosphere (TLS) is a region with active atmospheric fluctuations. The Wuhan Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar is the first MST radar to have become operational in Mainland China. It is dedicated to real-time atmospheric observations. In this paper, two case studies about inertia gravity waves (IGWs) derived from three-dimensional wind field data collected with the Wuhan MST radar are presented. The intrinsic frequencies, vertical wavelengths, horizontal wavelengths, vertical wavenumber spectra, and energy density are calculated and analyzed. In this paper, we also report on multiple waves existing in the lower stratosphere observed by the Wuhan MST radar. Lomb-Scargle spectral analysis and the hodograph method were used to derive the vertical wavenumber and propagation direction. Meanwhile, an identical IGW is observed by Wuhan MST radar both in troposphere and lower stratosphere regions. Combining the observations, the source of the latter IGW detected in the TLS would be the jet streams located in the tropopause region, which also produced wind shear above and below the tropopause.

Modeling and Simulation of China C Series Large Aircraft with Microburst

To simulate and analyze a large aircraft with severe wind shear, nonlinear equations for a rigid aircraft under various wind conditions were designed. In this paper, a double-vortex-ring method is adopted to generate a three-dimensional microburst wind field. This model incorporates a flight dynamics module and three flight simulations based on various forms of nonlinear equations. In addition, four primary wind gradients are considered to compute the aerodynamic coefficients. In simulation experiments with a China C series large aircraft, equations using air-relative velocities and inertial velocities are compared and analyzed. Although the nonlinear equations derived using the air-relative velocities should be identical to those using the inertial velocities, the results show that the latter are more accurate in practice because the former bring error into the simulation when estimating the acceleration induced by the wind field.

Dispersion of TSP and PM10 emissions from quarries in complex terrain

This study evaluates AERMOD and CALPUFF dispersion calculations of particulate matter emissions from stone quarries in two mountainous regions against TSP and PM10 measurements, using both observational and WRF-modeled meteorological data. Due to different model parameterization, AERMOD dispersion predictions were in better agreement with the measured concentrations than those obtained by CALPUFF. As expected, the smaller the distance between the meteorological station, the source (quarry) and the receptors, the better the predictions of both AERMOD and CALPUFF. In contrast, using in-situ wind field obtained by runs of the WRF meteorological model for the complex terrain study area provided, in general, less accurate dispersion estimates than when using (even remote) meteorological observations. In particular, using the three-dimensional WRF-modeled wind field within CALPUFF did not provide any advantage over using the two-dimensional wind field, which is the common procedure of AERMOD and CALPUFF. Dry deposition was more significant for ambient concentration estimation in AERMOD than in CALPUFF.

A Three-Dimensional Multivariate Modal Analysis of Atmospheric Predictability with Application to the ECMWF Ensemble

Abstract A new methodology for the analysis of ensemble prediction systems (ENSs) is presented and applied to 1 month (December 2014) of ECMWF operational ensemble forecasts. The method relies on the decomposition of the global three-dimensional wind and geopotential fields onto the normal-mode functions. The ensemble properties are quantified in terms of the 50-member ensemble spread associated with the balanced and inertio-gravity (IG) modes for forecast ranges every 12 h up to 7 days. Ensemble reliability is defined for the balanced and IG modes comparing the ensemble spread with the control analysis in each scale. Modal analysis shows that initial uncertainties in the ECMWF ENS are largest in the tropical large-scale modes and their spatial distribution is similar to the distribution of the short-range forecast errors. Initially the ensemble spread grows most in the smallest scales and in the synoptic range of the IG modes but the overall growth is dominated by the increase of spread in balanced modes in synoptic and planetary scales in the midlatitudes. During the forecasts, the distribution of spread in the balanced and IG modes grows toward the climatological spread distribution characteristic of the analyses. In the 2-day forecast range, the global IG spread reaches 60% of its asymptotic value while the same percentage of the global balanced spread is reached after 5 days of forecasts. An underdispersiveness of the system is suggested to be associated with the lack of tropical variability, primarily the Kelvin waves.

Comprehensive radar observations of clouds and precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau and preliminary analysis of cloud properties

Intensive field experiment is an important approach to obtain microphysical information about clouds and precipitation. From 1 July to 31 August 2014, the third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Science Experiment was carried out and comprehensive measurements of water vapor, clouds, and precipitation were conducted at Naqu. The most advanced radars in China, such as Ka-band millimeter-wave cloud radar, Ku-band micro-rain radar, C-band continuous-wave radar and lidar, and microwave radiometer and disdrometer were deployed to observe high spatial-temporal vertical structures of clouds and precipitation. The C-band duallinear polarization radar was coordinated with the China new generation weather radar to constitute a dual- Doppler radar system for the measurements of three-dimensional wind fields within convective precipitations and the structure and evolution of hydrometeors related to precipitation process. Based on the radar measurements in this experiment, the diurnal variations of several important cloud properties were analyzed, including cloud top and base, cloud depth, cloud cover, number of cloud layers, and their vertical structures during summertime over Naqu. The features of reflectivity, velocity, and depolarization ratio for different types of clouds observed by cloud radar are discussed. The results indicate that the cloud properties were successfully measured by using various radars in this field experiment. During the summertime over Naqu, most of the clouds were located above 6 km and below 4 km above ground level. Statistical analysis shows that total amounts of clouds, the top of high-level clouds, and cloud depth, all demonstrated a distinct diurnal variation. Few clouds formed at 1000 LST (local standard time), whereas large amounts of clouds formed at 2000 LST. Newly formed cumulus and stratus clouds were often found at 3-km height, where there existed significant updrafts. Deep convection reached up to 16.5 km (21 km above the mean sea level), and updrafts and downdrafts coexisted in the convective system. Supercooled water might exist in such kinds of deep convective system. The above measurements and preliminary analysis provide a basis for further study of cloud physics and precipitation process over the Tibetan Plateau. These observations are also valuable for modeling studies of cloud and precipitation physics as well as in the development of parameterization schemes in numerical prediction models.

Studies to Determine the Wind Profile Radar SNR Threshold Method

The wind profiler is used to detect the atmospheric turbulence signal and the atmospheric three-dimensional wind field information. The SNR of the wind profiler directly affects the credibility of synthetic wind and radar actual detection altitude. Therefore, it is very necessary to evaluate the detection ability of radar by the definition of SNR threshold value. SNR threshold value method, based on the wind profiler signal simulation, get the theoretical SNR threshold which is 1.30. The method is tested with the observational data from January 2013 to December of the Beijing yanqing CFL-08 wind profiler. The results show that this method can get the range of actual SNR threshold is 1.30-1.45, which is the same as theoretical threshold.

The Coplane Analysis Technique for Three-Dimensional Wind Retrieval Using the HIWRAP Airborne Doppler Radar

AbstractThe coplane analysis technique for mapping the three-dimensional wind field of precipitating systems is applied to the NASA High-Altitude Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP). HIWRAP is a dual-frequency Doppler radar system with two downward-pointing and conically scanning beams. The coplane technique interpolates radar measurements onto a natural coordinate frame, directly solves for two wind components, and integrates the mass continuity equation to retrieve the unobserved third wind component. This technique is tested using a model simulation of a hurricane and compared with a global optimization retrieval. The coplane method produced lower errors for the cross-track and vertical wind components, while the global optimization method produced lower errors for the along-track wind component. Cross-track and vertical wind errors were dependent upon the accuracy of the estimated boundary condition winds near the surface and at nadir, which were derived by making certain assumptions about the vertical velocity field. The coplane technique was then applied successfully to HIWRAP observations of Hurricane Ingrid (2013). Unlike the global optimization method, the coplane analysis allows for a transparent connection between the radar observations and specific analysis results. With this ability, small-scale features can be analyzed more adequately and erroneous radar measurements can be identified more easily.

Dual-Doppler radar analysis of a near-shore line-shaped convective system on 27 July 2011, Korea: a case study

In the summer rainy season, the Korean Peninsula is frequently influenced by severe weather phenomena such as floods and rain-induced landslides. A band-shaped precipitation system associated with unstable atmospheric conditions occurred over northwest Korea on 27 July 2011. This precipitation system produced heavy rainfall over the Seoul metropolitan area, which received over 80 mm h−1 of rainfall and suffered 70 weather-related fatalities. To investigate the precipitation system, we used diverse meteorological data of environmental condition and estimated three-dimensional wind field from dual-Doppler radar measurements of vertical air motion. Environmental conditions included high equivalent potential temperature (θe) of over 355 K at low levels, and low θe of under 330 K at middle levels, causing vertical instability. Furthermore, a pressure trough was located to the northwest of Korea, favouring the development of the band-shaped precipitation system. The tip of the band-shaped precipitation system was made up of line-shaped convective systems (LSCSs) that caused flooding and landslides, and the LSCSs were continuously enhanced by merging between new cells and the pre-existing cell. The position of merging moved from the coast to offshore areas and influenced the positioning of the regions of enhanced convection. In turn, this affected the roughness of the convective cell and the internal structure of the enhanced convective regions. Onshore, the convective area was higher than in offshore areas because of strong convergence (≤−4×10−4 s−1) at low levels caused by friction over land. The strong convergence generated strong updraft (≥4 m s−1) that influenced the height of the convective area. The convective region offshore was wider than that onshore because of weak convergence (≥−2.2×10−4 s−1) at low levels. Updraft in offshore areas was weak (≤3 m s−1) compared with onshore, resulting in a lower and wider convective area. Spatial variations in surface roughness result in different structural features and profiles of divergence within LSCSs, even if they originate in the same convective region.

Comparison of two methods simulating highly resolved atmospheric turbulence data for study of stall effects

We compare two different methods that provide highly resolved three-dimensional turbulent wind fields for numerical investigations of stall effects. The first is computationally very expensive and explicitly simulates the turbulent wind fields using large-eddy simulation (LES). The second method generates synthetic three-dimensional turbulent wind fields from one-dimensional time series data from flights in the atmosphere. The synthetic method is comparatively fast and cheap but reproduces only statistical features of the turbulent flow.Since the focus in this study lies on the two methods by themselves, data generation is based on the same numerical simulation. The synthetic fields were generated from time series data obtained from virtual flight measurements within the LES. Different meteorological scenarios were analyzed in order to examine the influence of the different driving forces on the results.Horizontally averaged turbulence parameters of the compared fields are in good agreement. Parameters are independent of height in the synthetic flow fields since the time series used for the generation do not contain height information. In the case of a stably stratified boundary layer, the velocity fluctuations have a near-Gaussian distribution and are therefore well-reproduced by the synthetic method. Although provided with the time series, the synthetic flow fields cannot generate the non-Gaussian distribution of the vertical velocity in case of the analyzed convective boundary layers. Angles of attack of a virtual airplane calculated with the vertical velocity of wind fields generated with the two different methods show large differences. The consequences of these findings for applications will be investigated in a future study by numerical simulation of the flow around wings initialized with the different velocity fields.

Deriving dynamics from GPS radio occultation: Three-dimensional wind fields for monitoring the climate.

Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) measurements are proven highly useful for observing the thermal structure of the troposphere and stratosphere. Here we use RO data for the first time to derive climatological wind fields from sampling error-corrected geopotential height fields on isobaric surfaces from about 800 hPa to 3 hPa. We find monthly mean RO geostrophic wind and gradient wind fields (2007 to 2012, about 500 km horizontal resolution, outside tropics) to clearly capture all main wind features, with differences to atmospheric analysis winds being, in general, smaller than 2 m/s. Larger differences (up to 10 m/s) occur close to the subtropical jet where RO winds underestimate actual winds. Such biases are caused by the geostrophic and gradient wind approximations, while RO retrieval errors introduce negligible effect. These results demonstrate that RO wind fields are of high quality and can provide new information on troposphere-stratosphere dynamics, for the benefit of monitoring the climate from weekly to decadal scales.

Observations of the Eyewall Structure of Typhoon Sinlaku (2008) during the Transformation Stage of Extratropical Transition

AbstractA unique dataset observing the life cycle of Typhoon Sinlaku was collected during The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) Pacific Asian Regional Campaign (T-PARC) in 2008. In this study observations of the transformation stage of the extratropical transition of Sinlaku are analyzed. Research flights with the Naval Research Laboratory P-3 and the U.S. Air Force WC-130 aircraft were conducted in the core region of Sinlaku. Data from the Electra Doppler Radar (ELDORA), dropsondes, aircraft flight level, and satellite atmospheric motion vectors were analyzed with the recently developed Spline Analysis at Mesoscale Utilizing Radar and Aircraft Instrumentation (SAMURAI) software with a 1-km horizontal- and 0.5-km vertical-node spacing. The SAMURAI analysis shows marked asymmetries in the structure of the core region in the radar reflectivity and three-dimensional wind field. The highest radar reflectivities were found in the left of shear semicircle, and maximum ascent was found in the downshear left quadrant. Initial radar echos were found slightly upstream of the downshear direction and downdrafts were primarily located in the upshear semicircle, suggesting that individual cells in Sinlaku’s eyewall formed in the downshear region, matured as they traveled downstream, and decayed in the upshear region. The observed structure is consistent with previous studies of tropical cyclones in vertical wind shear, suggesting that the eyewall convection is primarily shaped by increased vertical wind shear during step 2 of the transformation stage, as was hypothesized by Klein et al. A transition from active convection upwind to stratiform precipitation downwind is similar to that found in the principal rainband of more intense tropical cyclones.

An Observational and Modeling Study of the Processes Leading to Deep, Moist Convection in Complex Terrain

Abstract A case study of orographic convection initiation (CI) that occurred along the eastern slopes of the Vosges Mountains in France on 6 August 2007 during the Convective and Orographically-Induced Precipitation Study (COPS) is presented. Global positioning system (GPS) receivers and two Doppler on Wheels (DOW) mobile radars sampled the preconvective and storm environments and were respectively used to retrieve three-dimensional tomographic water vapor and wind fields. These retrieved data were supplemented with temperature, moisture, and winds from radiosondes from a site in the eastern Rhine Valley. High-resolution numerical simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model were used to further investigate the physical processes leading to convective precipitation. This unique, time-varying combination of derived water vapor and winds from observations illustrated an increase in low-level moisture and convergence between upslope easterlies and downslope westerlies along the eastern slope of the Vosges Mountains. Uplift associated with these shallow, colliding boundary layer flows eventually led to the initiation of moist convection. WRF reproduced many features of the observed complicated flow, such as cyclonic (anticyclonic) flow around the southern (northern) end of the Vosges Mountains and the east-side convergent flow below the ridgeline. The WRF simulations also illustrated spatial and temporal variability in buoyancy and the removal of the lids prior to convective development. The timing and location of CI from the WRF simulations was surprisingly close to that observed.

Three-Dimensional Wind Field Simulation on the Two Typical Roofs of the Building

Wind energy utilization in the building environment has the advantage that it can avoid transporting effectively, especially it has important significance for residents without electricity. This paper mainly analyzed the basic situation of three-dimensional wind field around the buildings with the theoretical analysis and CFD numerical simulation method. By simulating the wind with different directions and different speeds, the characteristics of the wind field around single flat and pitched roof building are analyzed.

Lidar-Measured Wind Profiles: The Missing Link in the Global Observing System

The three-dimensional global wind field is the most important remaining measurement needed to accurately assess the dynamics of the atmosphere. Wind information in the tropics, high latitudes, and stratosphere is particularly deficient. Furthermore, only a small fraction of the atmosphere is sampled in terms of wind profiles. This limits our ability to optimally specify initial conditions for numerical weather prediction (NWP) models and our understanding of several key climate change issues. Because of its extensive wind measurement heritage (since 1968) and especially the rapid recent technology advances, Doppler lidar has reached a level of maturity required for a space-based mission. The European Space Agency (ESA)'s Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) Doppler wind lidar (DWL), now scheduled for launch in 2015, will be a major milestone. This paper reviews the expected impact of DWL measurements on NWP and climate research, measurement concepts, and the recent advances in technology that ...

Examination of a Real-Time 3DVAR Analysis System in the Hazardous Weather Testbed

Abstract Forecasters and research meteorologists tested a real-time three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system in the Hazardous Weather Testbed during the springs of 2010–12 to determine its capabilities to assist in the warning process for severe storms. This storm-scale system updates a dynamically consistent three-dimensional wind field every 5 min, with horizontal and average vertical grid spacings of 1 km and 400 m, respectively. The system analyzed the life cycles of 218 supercell thunderstorms on 27 event days during these experiments, producing multiple products such as vertical velocity, vertical vorticity, and updraft helicity. These data are compared to multiradar–multisensor data from the Warning Decision Support System–Integrated Information to document the performance characteristics of the system, such as how vertical vorticity values compare to azimuthal shear fields calculated directly from Doppler radial velocity. Data are stratified by range from the nearest radar, as well as by the number of radars entering into the analysis of a particular storm. The 3DVAR system shows physically realistic trends of updraft speed and vertical vorticity for a majority of cases. Improvements are needed to better estimate the near-surface winds when no radar is nearby and to improve the timeliness of the input data. However, the 3DVAR wind field information provides an integrated look at storm structure that may be of more use to forecasters than traditional radar-based proxies used to infer severe weather potential.

An Investigation of the Goshen County, Wyoming, Tornadic Supercell of 5 June 2009 Using EnKF Assimilation of Mobile Mesonet and Radar Observations Collected during VORTEX2. Part I: Experiment Design and Verification of the EnKF Analyses

Abstract High-resolution Doppler radar velocities and in situ surface observations collected in a tornadic supercell on 5 June 2009 during the second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) are assimilated into a simulated convective storm using an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). A series of EnKF experiments using a 1-km horizontal model grid spacing demonstrates the sensitivity of the cold pool and kinematic structure of the storm to the assimilation of these observations and to different model microphysics parameterizations. An experiment is performed using a finer grid spacing (500 m) and the most optimal data assimilation and model configurations from the sensitivity tests to produce a realistically evolving storm. Analyses from this experiment are verified against dual-Doppler and in situ observations and are evaluated for their potential to confidently evaluate mesocyclone-scale processes in the storm using trajectory analysis and calculations of Lagrangian vorticity budgets. In Part II of this study, these analyses will be further evaluated to learn the roles that mesocyclone-scale processes play in tornado formation, maintenance, and decay. The coldness of the simulated low-level outflow is generally insensitive to the choice of certain microphysical parameterizations, likely owing to the vast quantity of kinematic and in situ thermodynamic observations assimilated. The three-dimensional EnKF wind fields and parcel trajectories resemble those retrieved from dual-Doppler observations within the storm, suggesting that realistic four-dimensional mesocyclone-scale processes are captured. However, potential errors are found in trajectories and Lagrangian three-dimensional vorticity budget calculations performed within the mesocyclone that may be due to the coarse (2 min) temporal resolution of the analyses. Therefore, caution must be exercised when interpreting trajectories in this area of the storm.

Wind Field of a Nonmesocyclone Anticyclonic Tornado Crossing the Hong Kong International Airport

A nonmesocyclone tornado traversed the Hong Kong International Airport on September 6, 2004 directly impacting a surface weather station. This allowed for 1-second 10-meter above ground level (AGL) wind observations through the core of the tornado. Integration of these 10-meter AGL wind data with Ground-Based Velocity Track (GBVTD) wind retrievals derived from LIDAR data provided a time history of the three-dimensional wind field of the tornado. These data indicate a progressive decrease in radial inflow with time and little to no radial inflow near the time the tornado crosses the surface weather station. Anemometer observations suggest that the tangential winds approximate a modified-Rankine vortex outside the radius of maximum winds, suggesting that frictionally induced radial inflow was confined below 10 m AGL. The radial-height distribution of angular momentum depicts an increase in low-level angular momentum just prior to the tornado reaching its maximum intensity.