scholarly journals Observations and environmental implications of variability in the vertical turbulent mixing in Lake Simcoe

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 995-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mijanur R. Chowdhury ◽  
Mathew G. Wells ◽  
Remo Cossu
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (22) ◽  
pp. 14289-14310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Zhu ◽  
Bryce Tyner ◽  
Jun A. Zhang ◽  
Eric Aligo ◽  
Sundararaman Gopalakrishnan ◽  
...  

Abstract. While turbulence is commonly regarded as a flow feature pertaining to the planetary boundary layer (PBL), intense turbulent mixing generated by cloud processes also exists above the PBL in the eyewall and rainbands of a tropical cyclone (TC). The in-cloud turbulence above the PBL is intimately involved in the development of convective elements in the eyewall and rainbands and consists of a part of asymmetric eddy forcing for the evolution of the primary and secondary circulations of a TC. In this study, we show that the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model, one of the operational models used for TC prediction, is unable to generate appropriate sub-grid-scale (SGS) eddy forcing above the PBL due to a lack of consideration of intense turbulent mixing generated by the eyewall and rainband clouds. Incorporating an in-cloud turbulent-mixing parameterization in the vertical turbulent-mixing scheme notably improves the HWRF model's skills in predicting rapid changes in intensity for several past major hurricanes. While the analyses show that the SGS eddy forcing above the PBL is only about one-fifth of the model-resolved eddy forcing, the simulated TC vortex inner-core structure, secondary overturning circulation, and the model-resolved eddy forcing exhibit a substantial dependence on the parameterized SGS eddy processes. The results highlight the importance of eyewall and rainband SGS eddy forcing to numerical prediction of TC intensification, including rapid intensification at the current resolution of operational models.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 17157-17175
Author(s):  
Peng Liu ◽  
Christian Hogrefe ◽  
Ulas Im ◽  
Jesper H. Christensen ◽  
Johannes Bieser ◽  
...  

Abstract. Increasing emphasis has been placed on characterizing the contributions and the uncertainties of ozone imported from outside the US. In chemical transport models (CTMs), the ozone transported through lateral boundaries (referred to as LB ozone hereafter) undergoes a series of physical and chemical processes in CTMs, which are important sources of the uncertainty in estimating the impact of LB ozone on ozone levels at the surface. By implementing inert tracers for LB ozone, the study seeks to better understand how differing representations of physical processes in regional CTMs may lead to differences in the simulated LB ozone that eventually reaches the surface across the US. For all the simulations in this study (including WRF∕CMAQ, WRF∕CAMx, COSMO-CLM∕CMAQ, and WRF∕DEHM), three chemically inert tracers that generally represent the altitude ranges of the planetary boundary layer (BC1), free troposphere (BC2), and upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (BC3) are tracked to assess the simulated impact of LB specification. Comparing WRF∕CAMx with WRF∕CMAQ, their differences in vertical grid structure explain 10 %–60 % of their seasonally averaged differences in inert tracers at the surface. Vertical turbulent mixing is the primary contributor to the remaining differences in inert tracers across the US in all seasons. Stronger vertical mixing in WRF∕CAMx brings more BC2 downward, leading to higher BCT (BCT=BC1+BC2+BC3) and BC2∕BCT at the surface in WRF∕CAMx. Meanwhile, the differences in inert tracers due to vertical mixing are partially counteracted by their difference in sub-grid cloud mixing over the southeastern US and the Gulf Coast region during summer. The process of dry deposition adds extra gradients to the spatial distribution of the differences in DM8A BCT by 5–10 ppb during winter and summer. COSMO-CLM∕CMAQ and WRF∕CMAQ show similar performance in inert tracers both at the surface and aloft through most seasons, which suggests similarity between the two models at process level. The largest difference is found in summer. Sub-grid cloud mixing plays a primary role in their differences in inert tracers over the southeastern US and the oceans in summer. Our analysis of the vertical profiles of inert tracers also suggests that the model differences in dry deposition over certain regions are offset by the model differences in vertical turbulent mixing, leading to small differences in inert tracers at the surface in these regions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (20) ◽  
pp. 8169-8188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory R. Foltz ◽  
Claudia Schmid ◽  
Rick Lumpkin

Abstract The seasonal cycle of the mixed layer heat budget in the northeastern tropical Atlantic (0°–25°N, 18°–28°W) is quantified using in situ and satellite measurements together with atmospheric reanalysis products. This region is characterized by pronounced latitudinal movements of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and strong meridional variations of the terms in the heat budget. Three distinct regimes within the northeastern tropical Atlantic are identified. The trade wind region (15°–25°N) experiences a strong annual cycle of mixed layer heat content that is driven by approximately out-of-phase annual cycles of surface shortwave radiation (SWR), which peaks in boreal summer, and evaporative cooling, which reaches a minimum in boreal summer. The surface heat-flux-induced changes in the mixed layer heat content are damped by a strong annual cycle of cooling from vertical turbulent mixing, estimated from the residual in the heat balance. In the ITCZ core region (3°–8°N) a weak seasonal cycle of mixed layer heat content is driven by a semiannual cycle of SWR and damped by evaporative cooling and vertical turbulent mixing. On the equator the seasonal cycle of mixed layer heat content is balanced by an annual cycle of SWR that reaches a maximum in October and a semiannual cycle of turbulent mixing that cools the mixed layer most strongly during May–July and November. These results emphasize the importance of the surface heat flux and vertical turbulent mixing for the seasonal cycle of mixed layer heat content in the northeastern tropical Atlantic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. 1533-1555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Johnson ◽  
Xuguang Wang

Abstract Four case studies from the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) field experiment are used to investigate the impacts of horizontal and vertical resolution, and vertical mixing parameterization, on predictions of bore structure and upscale impacts of bores on their mesoscale environment. The reduction of environmental convective inhibition (CIN) created by the bore is particularly emphasized. Simulations are run with horizontal grid spacings ranging from 250 to 1000 m, as well as 50 m for one case study, different vertical level configurations, and different closure models for the vertical turbulent mixing at 250-m horizontal resolution. The 11 July case study was evaluated in greatest detail because it was the best observed case and has been the focus of a previous study. For this case, it is found that 250-m grid spacing improves upon 1-km grid spacing, LES configuration provides further improvement, and enhanced low-level vertical resolution also provides further improvement in terms of qualitative agreement between simulated and observed bore structure. Reducing LES grid spacing further to 50 m provided very little additional advantage. Only the LES experiments properly resolved the upscale influence of reduced low-level CIN. Expanding on the 11 July case study, three other cases from PECAN with diverse observed bore structures were also evaluated. Similar to the 11 July case, enhancing the horizontal and vertical grid spacings, and using the LES closure model for vertical turbulent mixing, all contributed to improved simulations of both the bores themselves and the larger-scale modification of CIN to varying degrees on different cases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 8363-8371 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Wurgaft ◽  
O. Shamir ◽  
A. Angert

Abstract. The 17O excess (17Δ) of dissolved O2 has been used, for over a decade, to estimate gross O2 production (G17OP) rates in the mixed layer (ML) in many regions of the ocean. This estimate relies on a steady-state balance of O2 fluxes, which include air–sea gas exchange, photosynthesis and respiration but notably, not turbulent mixing with O2 from the thermocline. In light of recent publications, which showed that neglecting the turbulent flux of O2 from the thermocline may lead to inaccurate G17OP estimations, we present a simple correction for the effect of this flux on ML G17OP. The correction is based on a turbulent-flux term between the thermocline and the ML, and use the difference between the ML 17Δ and that of a single data-point below the ML base. Using a numerical model and measured data we compared turbulence-corrected G17OP rates to those calculated without it, and tested the sensitivity of the GOP correction for turbulent flux of O2 from the thermocline to several parameters. The main source of uncertainty on the correction is the eddy-diffusivity coefficient, which induces an uncertainty of ∼50%. The corrected G17OP rates were 10–90% lower than the previously published uncorrected rates, which implies that a large fraction of the photosynthetic O2 in the ML is actually produced in the thermocline.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document