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Physical processes within the nocturnal stratus-topped boundary layerThere are many physical processes involved in the stratus-topped boundary layer: longwave radiation cooling, entrainment, latent heating, surface heating, solar heating, and drizzling, for example. The manner in which the processes combine to maintain the turbulence within the stratus-topped boundary layer remains an unsolved problem. The large eddy simulation technique is used to examine the first four physical processes mentioned above. First, the contribution of each physical process to the thermodynamic differences between the updraft and downdraft branches of turbulent circulations is examined through a conditional sampling. Second, these mean thermodynamic differences are shown to express well the vertical distributions of heat and moisture fluxes within stratus-topped boundary layers. These provide a method to validate the process partitioning technique. (This technique assumes that the net flux profile can be partitioned into different component-flux profiles according to physical processes, and that each partitioned component flux is linear in height.) In this paper, the heat and moisture fluxes are process partitioned, and each component-flux is found to contribute to the net flux in a way that is consistent with its corresponding process contribution to the mean thermodynamic differences between updrafts and downdrafts. Also, the net flux obtained by summing all component-fluxes agrees very well with that obtained directly from the large-eddy simulations.
Document ID
19930038706
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Moeng, Chin-Hoh
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Shen, Shaohua
(NCAR Boulder, CO, United States)
Randall, David A.
(Colorado State Univ. Fort Collins, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
December 15, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Volume: 49
Issue: 24
ISSN: 0022-4928
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
93A22703
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG1-893
CONTRACT_GRANT: N00014-89-J-1364
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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