Variation Of Roughness Length Research Articles

Mesoscale model response to random, surface-based perturbations ? A sea-breeze experiment

The introduction into a mesoscale model of random (in space) variations in roughness length, or random (in space and time) surface perturbations of temperature and friction velocity, produces a measurable, but barely significant, response in the simulated flow dynamics of the lower atmosphere. The perturbations are an attempt to include the effects of sub-grid variability into the ensemble-mean parameterization schemes used in many numerical models. Their magnitude is set in our experiments by appeal to real-world observations of the spatial variations in roughness length and daytime surface temperature over the land on horizontal scales of one to several tens of kilometers. With sea-breeze simulations, comparisons of a number of realizations forced by roughness-length and surface-temperature perturbations with the standard simulation reveal no significant change in ensemble mean statistics, and only small changes in the sea-breeze vertical velocity. Changes in the updraft velocity for individual runs, of up to several cms-1 (compared to a mean of 14 cms-1), are directly the result of prefrontal temperature changes of 0.1 to 0.2K, produced by the random surface forcing. The correlation and magnitude of the changes are entirely consistent with a gravity-current interpretation of the sea breeze.

The formation of areally-averaged roughness lengths

It is argued that the best area average of the roughness length zo in heterogeneous terrain is that which, if it applied in homogeneous terrain, would produce the correct spatial average value of the surface stress. A heuristic argument is presented to show that this effective value of z0, zeff0, can be obtained by averaging drag coefficients based on a ‘blending’ height. The blending height of about L/200, where L is the horizontal scale of the roughness variations, is the characteristic height at which the flow changes from equilibrium with the local surface to independence of horizontal position. These calculations are compared with numerical simulations of planetary boundary layer flow over variations in roughness length and show good agreement. The values of surface stress which result are always greater than those which would be deduced by assuming a local flow equilibrium through the whole depth of the boundary layer. For variations of z0 on short length scales, zeff0 approaches the largest values of z0 within the averaging area.

The formation of areally‐averaged roughness lengths

AbstractIt is argued that the best area average of the roughness length zo in heterogeneous terrain is that which, if it applied in homogeneous terrain, would produce the correct spatial average value of the surface stress. A heuristic argument is presented to show that this effective value of z0, zeff0, can be obtained by averaging drag coefficients based on a ‘blending’ height. The blending height of about L/200, where L is the horizontal scale of the roughness variations, is the characteristic height at which the flow changes from equilibrium with the local surface to independence of horizontal position. These calculations are compared with numerical simulations of planetary boundary layer flow over variations in roughness length and show good agreement. The values of surface stress which result are always greater than those which would be deduced by assuming a local flow equilibrium through the whole depth of the boundary layer. For variations of z0 on short length scales, zeff0 approaches the largest values of z0 within the averaging area.

Variation of roughness length of a mobile sand bed in a tidal flow

Velocity profiles, suspended sand concentration, and ripple shapes were measured over the tidal cycle on a mobile bed. Variations in ripple shape or dimensions, and the effects of mobile sediment could not account for the variations in bed roughness length, which increased systematically during the tide from 0.5 to 1.3 cm. The effects of acceleration could be the cause as they would lead to the same pattern of variation, but existing theory does not give the correct magnitude.