Abstract
We study the relation between fluxes and gradients in the very unstable surface layer by comparing recent proposals in the literature with the well-known Businger–Dyer functions. The recent proposals include results from large-eddy simulation (LES), which account for entrainment effects and effects of the boundary-layer depth. A comparison of the relationships is made with experimental data. The LES-based gradient functions show the impact of entrainment in the surface layer, but the scatter in the field data is too large to confirm this. Therefore this result is preliminary and future tests against new observations are recommended. It appears that the Businger–Dyer relationship behaves differently to the alternatives, and that it deviates from observations for large stability.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H. Akima (1970) ArticleTitle‘A New Method of Interpolation and Smooth Curve Fitting Based on Local Procedures’ J. Assoc. Comp. Mach. 17 589–602
A. C. Beljaars (1995) ArticleTitle‘The Parameterization of Surface Fluxes in Large Scale Models Under Free Convection’ Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 121 255–270 Occurrence Handle10.1256/smsqj.52202
J.A. Businger (1973) ArticleTitle‘A Note on Free Convection’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 4 323–326
J. A. Businger (1988) ArticleTitle‘A Note on the Businger–Dyer Profiles’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 42 145–151 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00119880
J. A. Businger J. C. Wyngaard Y. Izumi E. F. Bradly (1971) ArticleTitle‘Flux Profile Relationships in the Atmospheric Surface Layer’ J. Atmos. Sci. 28 181–189 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1971)028<0181:FPRITA>2.0.CO;2
J. W. M. Cuijpers A. A. M. Holtslag (1998) ArticleTitle‘Impact of Skewness and Nonlocal Effects on Scalar and Buoyancy Fluxes in Convective Boundary Layers’ J. Atmos. Sci. 55 151–161 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1998)055<0151:IOSANE>2.0.CO;2
H. A. R. DeBruin (1999) ArticleTitle‘A Note on Businger’s Derivation of Nondimensional Wind and Temperature Profiles Under Unstable Conditions’ J. Appl. Meteorol. 38 626–628 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0450(1999)038<0626:ANOBSD>2.0.CO;2
H. A. R. DeBruin A. A. M. Holtslag (1982) ArticleTitle‘A Simple Parameterization of the Surface Fluxes of Sensible and Latent Heat during Daytime Compared with the Penman–Monteith Concept’ J. Appl. Meteorol. 21 1610–1621 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0450(1982)021<1610:ASPOTS>2.0.CO;2
A.J. Dyer (1974) ArticleTitle‘A Review of Flux–Profile Relationships’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 7 363–372 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00240838
M. Frech L. Mahrt (1995) ArticleTitle‘A Two-scale Mixing Formulations for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 73 91–104 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00708931
R. G. Fleagle J. A. Businger (1980) An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics EditionNumber2 Academic Press New York 432
P. Frenzen A. G. Vogel (2001) ArticleTitle‘Further Studies of Atmospheric Turbulence in Layers near the Surface: Scaling the TKE Budget above the Roughness Sublayer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 99 173–206 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1018956931957
S. Halldin H. Bergström D. Gustafsson L. Dahlgrend P. Hjelma L.-C. Lundina P.-E. Mellandera T. Norda P.-E. Janssonc J. Seibert M. Stähli A. Szilágyi Kishné A.-S. Smedman (1999) ArticleTitle‘Continuous Long-term Measurements of Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Variables at an Agricultural site’ Agric. Forest. Meteorol. 98–99 75–102 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0168-1923(99)00149-5
U. Högström (1988) ArticleTitle‘Non Dimensional Wind and Temperature Profiles in the Atmospheric Surface Layer: a Re-evaluation’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 42 55–78 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00119875
Holtslag, A. A. M. 1998: ‘Modeling of Atmospheric Boundary Layers, in Clear and Cloudy Boundary Layers’, in A. A. M. Holtslag and P. G. Duynkerke (eds), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, 372 pp
A. A. M. Holtslag F. T. M. Nieuwstadt (1986) ArticleTitle‘Scaling the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 36 201–209 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00117468
A. A. M Holtslag C. H. Moeng (1991) ArticleTitle‘Eddy Diffusivity and Countergradient Transport in the Convective Atmospheric Boundary–Layer’ J. Atmos. Sci . 48 1690–1698 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1991)048<1690:EDACTI>2.0.CO;2
C. Johansson A.S. Smedman U. Högström J.G. Brasseur S. Khanna (2001) ArticleTitle‘Critical test of the Validity of Monin–Obukhov Similarity During Convective Conditions’ J. Atmos. Sci. 58 1549–1566 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(2001)058<1549:CTOTVO>2.0.CO;2
B. A. Kader A. M. Yaglom (1990) ArticleTitle‘Mean Fields and Fluctuation Moments in Unstably Stratified Turbulent Boundary Layers’ J. Fluid Mech. 212 637–662 Occurrence HandleMR1051342
J.I. Lumley H. A. Panofsky (1964) The Structure of Atmospheric Turbulence Interscience Publishers, A division of John Wiley and Sons New York and London 239
L. Mahrt D. Vickers J. Sun N. O. Jensen H. Jorgenson E. Pardyjak H. Fernando (2001) ArticleTitle‘Determination of the Surface Drag Coefficient’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 99 249–276 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1018915228170
C. H. Moeng J. C. Wyngaard (1989) ArticleTitle‘Evaluation of Turbulent Transport and Dissipation Closures in Second-order Modeling’ J. Atmos. Sci. 46 2311–2330 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1989)046<2311:EOTTAD>2.0.CO;2
Monin, A. S. and Yaglom A. M. 1981 Statistical Fluid Mechanics: Mechanics of Turbulence, Part I, The MIT press, 900 pp
S.P. Oncley C.A. Friehe J. C. Larue J. A. Businger E. C. Itsweire S. S. Chang (1996) ArticleTitle‘Surface-layer Fluxes, Profiles, and Turbulence Measurements over Uniform Terrain under near Neutral Conditions’ J. Atmos. Sci. 53 1029–1044 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1996)053<1029:SLFPAT>2.0.CO;2
Oncley, S. P., Foken, T., Vogt, R., Bernhofer, C., Kohsiek, W., Liu, H., Pitacco, A., Grantz, D., Riberio, L. and Weidinger, T.: 2002 ‘The Energy Balance Experiment EBEX-2000’, in 15th Symposium on Boundary-layer and Turbulence, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 15–19 August 2002, American Meteorological Society, Boston, pp. 1–4
H. A. Panofsky H. Tennekes D. H. Lenschow J. C. Wyngaard (1977) ArticleTitle‘The Characteristics of Turbulent Velocity Components in the Surface Layer under Convective Conditions’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 11 355–361 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF02186086
G. S. Poulos et al. (2002) ArticleTitleCASES-99: ‘A comprehensive Investigation of the Stable Nocturnal Boundary Layer’ Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 83 555–581 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0477(2002)083<0555:CACIOT>2.3.CO;2
K. G. Rao (2004) ArticleTitle‘Estimation of the Exchange Coefficient of Heat During Low Wind Convection Conditions’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 111 247–273 Occurrence Handle10.1023/B:BOUN.0000016495.85528.d7
U. Schumann (1988) ArticleTitle‘Minimum Friction Velocity and Heat Transfer in the Rough Surface Layer of a Convective Boundary Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 44 311–326 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00123019
R.B. Stull (1988) An Introduction to Boundary-layer Meteorology Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht 666
H. Tennekes A. G. M. Driedonks (1981) ArticleTitle‘Basic Entrainment Equations for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 20 515–531 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00122299
J. S. Turner (1979) Buoyancy Effects in Fluids Cambridge University Press Cambridge 368
A. P. Van Ulden J. Wieringa (1996) ArticleTitle‘Atmospheric Boundary Layer Research at Cabauw’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 78 36–69
D. K. Wilson (2001) ArticleTitle‘An Alternative Function for the Wind and Temperature Gradients in Unstable Surface Layers’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol 99 151–158 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1018718707419
Wyngaard, J. C. 1973 ‘On Surface Layer Turbulence’, in D. A. Haugen, (ed.), Workshop on Micrometeorology, American Meteorological Society, pp. 101–149
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steeneveld, G.J., Holtslag, A.A.M. & Debruin, H.A.R. Fluxes and Gradients in the Convective Surface Layer and the Possible Role of Boundary-Layer Depth and Entrainment Flux. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 116, 237–252 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-004-2730-7
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-004-2730-7