In this study, we present an extension to the Monin–Obukov similarity theory (MOST) for the roughness sublayer (RSL) over short vegetation. We test our theory using temperature measurements from fiber optic cables in an array-shaped set-up. This provides a high vertical measurement resolution that enables us to measure the sharp temperature gradients near the surface. It is well-known that MOST is invalid in the RSL as the flow is distorted by roughness elements. However, to derive the surface temperature, it is common practice to extrapolate the logarithmic profiles down to the surface through the RSL. Instead of logarithmic behaviour defined by MOST near the surface, our observations show near-linear temperature profiles. This log-to-linear transition is described over an aerodynamically smooth surface by the Van Driest equation in classical turbulence literature. Here we propose that the Van Driest equation can also be used to describe this transition over a rough surface, by replacing the viscous length scale with a surface length scale L_s that represents the size of the smallest eddies near the grass structures. We show that L_s scales with the geometry of the vegetation and that the model shows the potential to be scaled up to tall canopies. The adapted Van Driest model outperforms the roughness length concept in describing the temperature profiles near the surface and predicting the surface temperature.

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Wind machines are increasingly used to mitigate spring frost damage in agricultural sectors. Complementing quasi-3D temperature measurements to quantify the warming effects of wind machines (Dai et al., 2023), this study develops a numerical model to quantify warming effects on air and plant tissues and resolve the dynamic interplay between turbulent rotating plumes and canopy structure. We implement an integrated model in a large-eddy simulation and validate the model against field observations. Simulation results show remarkable agreement with the air mixing and warming effects observed during wind machine operation in Dai et al. (2023). Simulation results reveal significant air and leaf warming near the wind machine due to direct jet-mixing. Beyond 20 m from the machine (3–4 rotor diameters), while wind velocities drop rapidly, the warming is sustained and gradually decreases over distance. This sustained warming, without direct jet mixing, likely results from the advection of jet-entrained warm air. The warming extends 150 m upstream and 550 m downstream, influenced by the background wind. This difference is attributed to the interaction between the machine-induced jet and the background wind, forming convergence patterns when jets oppose the wind and extended warming plumes in wave-like patterns when jets align with the wind. Cross-stream warming symmetrically extends about 250 m. Within these warming regions, leaf temperatures closely follow air temperatures due to strong turbulent heat exchanges. Outside the warming zone, radiative cooling prevails, bringing the leaf–air temperature difference back to approximately 1 degree. These findings collectively give new insights into interactions between the induced warming plumes and air flows within the canopy and provide a useful tool to optimize operational wind machine deployment. This integrated model uniquely provides a full, multi-process representation of outdoor reality with respect to wind machine operation in orchards.

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Heat transport through short and closed vegetation such as grass is modelled by a simple diffusion process. The grass is treated as a homogeneous ‘sponge layer’ with uniform thermal diffusivity and conductivity, placed on top of the soil. The temperature and heat-flux dynamics in both vegetation and soil are described using harmonic analysis. All thermal properties have been determined by optimization against observations from the Haarweg climatological station in The Netherlands. Our results indicate that both phase and amplitude of soil temperatures can be accurately reproduced from the vegetation surface temperature. The diffusion approach requires no specific tuning to, for example, the daily cycle, but instead responds to all frequencies present in the input data, including quick changes in cloud cover and day– night transitions. The newly determined heat flux at the atmosphere–vegetation interface is compared with the other components of the surface energy balance at this interface. The budget is well-closed, particularly in the most challenging cases with varying cloud cover and during transition periods. We conclude that the diffusion approach (either implemented analytically or numerically) is a physically consistent alternative to more ad hoc methods, like ‘skin resistance’ approaches for vegetation and bulk correction methods for upper soil heat storage. However, more work is needed to evaluate parameter variability and robustness under different climatological conditions. From a numerical perspective, the present representation of vegetation allows for both slow and rapid feedbacks between the atmosphere and the surface. As such, it would be interesting to couple the present surface parametrization to turbulence-resolving models, such as large-eddy simulations.@en

High-resolution large-eddy simulations of the Antarctic very stable boundary layer reveal a mechanism for systematic and periodic intermittent bursting. A nonbursting state with a boundary layer height of just 3 m is alternated by a bursting state with a height of ≈5 m. The bursts result from unstable wave growth triggered by a shear-generated Kelvin–Helmholtz instability, as confirmed by linear stability analysis. The shear at the top of the boundary layer is built up by two processes. The upper, quasi-laminar layer accelerates due to the combined effect of the pressure force and rotation by the Coriolis force, while the lower layer decelerates by turbulent friction. During the burst, this shear is eroded and the initial cause of the instability is removed. Subsequently, the interfacial shear builds up again, causing the entire sequence to repeat itself with a time scale of ≈10 min. Despite the clear intermittent bursting, the overall change of the mean wind profile is remarkably small during the cycle. This enables such a fast erosion and recovery of the shear. This mechanism for cyclic bursting is remarkably similar to the mechanism hypothesized by Businger in 1973, with one key difference. Whereas Businger proposes that the flow acceleration in the upper layer results from downward turbulent transfer of high-momentum flow, the current results indicate no turbulent activity in the upper layer, hence requiring another source of momentum. Finally, it would be interesting to construct a climatology of shear-generated intermittency in relation to large-scale conditions to assess the generality of this Businger mechanism.@en

Stable boundary layers (SBLs) are a common aspect of the earth’s atmosphere and are characterized by a stable density stratification in which the temperature increases with height. This typically occurs during the night, resulting in a short-lived stable boundary layer, or persistently throughout the polar winter, resulting in a longlived stable boundary layer. Due to their associated cold surface temperatures, stable boundary layers can stimulate the formation of radiation fog or frost near the surface, which may negatively impact human activities and result in large economic losses. However, despite their omnipresence, a comprehensive understanding of their dynamical behavior is still lacking.@en

Observations of two typical contrasting weakly stable and very stable boundary layers from the winter at Dome C station, Antarctica, are used as a benchmark for two centimetre-scale-resolution large-eddy simulations. By taking the Antarctic winter, the effects of the diurnal cycle are eliminated, enabling the study of the long-lived steady stable boundary layer. With its homogeneous, flat snow surface, and extreme stabilities, the location is a natural laboratory for studies on the long-lived stable boundary layer. The two simulations differ only in the imposed geostrophic wind speed, which is identified as the main deciding factor for the resulting regime. In general, a good correspondence is found between the observed and simulated profiles of mean wind speed and temperature. Discrepancies in the temperature profiles are likely due to the exclusion of radiative transfer in the current simulations. The extreme stabilities result in a considerable contrast between the stable boundary layer at the Dome C site and that found at typical mid-latitudes. The boundary-layer height is found to range from approximately 50m to just 5m in the most extreme case. Remarkably, heating of the boundary layer by subsidence may result in thermal equilibrium of the boundary layer in which the associated heating is balanced by the turbulent cooling towards the surface. Using centimetre-scale resolutions, accurate large-eddy simulations of the extreme stabilities encountered in Antarctica appear to be possible. However, future simulations should aim to include radiative transfer and sub-surface heat transport to increase the degree of realism of these types of simulations.@en

In this work we study the dynamics of the surface-based temperature inversion over the Antarctic Plateau during the polar winter. Using 6 years of observations from the French–Italian Antarctic station Concordia at Dome C, we investigate sudden regime transitions in the strength of the near-surface temperature inversion. Here we define “near-surface” as being within the domain of the 45-m measuring tower. In particular, we consider the strongly nonlinear relation between the 10-m inversion strength (T _10m – T _s ) and the 10-m wind speed. To this end, all individual events for which the 10-m inversion strength increases or decreases continuously by more than 15 K in time are considered. Composite time series and vertical profiles of wind and temperature reveal specific characteristics of the transition from weak to very strong inversions and vice versa. In contrast to midlatitudes, the largest variations in temperature are not found at the surface but at a height of 10 m. A similar analysis was performed on results from an atmospheric single-column model (SCM). Overall, the SCM results reproduce the observed characteristics of the transitions in the near-surface inversion remarkably well. Using model output, the underlying mechanisms of the regime transitions are identified. The nonlinear relation between inversion strength and wind speed at a given level is explained by variations in the geostrophic wind speed, changes in the depth of the turbulent layer and the vertical divergence of turbulent fluxes. Moreover, the transitions between different boundary layer regimes cannot be explained without considering the contribution of subsidence heating.

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We present a proof-of-concept for the adaptive mesh refinement method applied to atmospheric boundary-layer simulations. Such a method may form an attractive alternative to static grids for studies on atmospheric flows that have a high degree of scale separation in space and/or time. Examples include the diurnal cycle and a convective boundary layer capped by a strong inversion. For such cases, large-eddy simulations using regular grids often have to rely on a subgrid-scale closure for the most challenging regions in the spatial and/or temporal domain. Here we analyze a flow configuration that describes the growth and subsequent decay of a convective boundary layer using direct numerical simulation (DNS). We validate the obtained results and benchmark the performance of the adaptive solver against two runs using fixed regular grids. It appears that the adaptive-mesh algorithm is able to coarsen and refine the grid dynamically whilst maintaining an accurate solution. In particular, during the initial growth of the convective boundary layer a high resolution is required compared to the subsequent stage of decaying turbulence. More specifically, the number of grid cells varies by two orders of magnitude over the course of the simulation. For this specific DNS case, the adaptive solver was not yet more efficient than the more traditional solver that is dedicated to these types of flows. However, the overall analysis shows that the method has a clear potential for numerical investigations of the most challenging atmospheric cases.

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Adaptive grids hold an important advantage over the usage of static and pre-tuned grids, as the most challenging atmospheric scenarios are typically localized in the spatial and temporal domain. Examples include the radiative cooling of cumulus cloud interfaces and the diurnal cycle. We present results obtained with applying an adaptivegrid approach to a variety of modeling fidelities, ranging from turbulence resolving direct numerical simulations and large-eddy simulations to Reynolds-averaged techniques. Corresponding to existing literature, the overall analysis shows that the adaptive-grid approach may play an important role in the future of atmospheric modeling as it enables the required computational effort for running a model at an increased resolution to scale correspondingly with the complexity of the resolved physics. Which is necessarily favorable compared to the scaling of fixed-grid approaches. @en

A conceptual model is used in combination with observational analysis to understand regime transitions of near-surface temperature inversions at night as well as in Arctic conditions. The model combines a surface energy budget with a bulk parameterization for turbulent heat transport. Energy fluxes or feedbacks due to soil and radiative heat transfer are accounted for by a "lumped parameter closure," which represents the "coupling strength" of the system. Observations from Cabauw, Netherlands, and Dome C, Antarctica, are analyzed. As expected, inversions are weak for strong winds, whereas large inversions are found under weak-wind conditions. However, a sharp transition is found between those regimes, as it occurs within a narrow wind range. This results in a typical S-shaped dependency. The conceptual model explains why this characteristic must be a robust feature. Differences between the Cabauw and Dome C cases are explained from differences in coupling strength (being weaker in the Antarctic). For comparison, a realistic column model is run. As findings are similar to the simple model and the observational analysis, it suggests generality of the results. Theoretical analysis reveals that, in the transition zone near the critical wind speed, the response time of the system to perturbations becomes large. As resilience to perturbations becomes weaker, it may explain why, within this wind regime, an increase of scatter is found. Finally, the so-called heat flux duality paradox is analyzed. It is explained why numerical simulations with prescribed surface fluxes show a dynamical response different from more realistic surface-coupled systems.

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Investigation of meteorological measurements along a 45 m tower at Dome C on the high East Antarctic Plateau revealed two distinct stable boundary layer (SBL) regimes at this location. The first regime is characterized by strong winds and continuous turbulence. It results in full vertical coupling of temperature, wind magnitude and wind direction in the SBL. The second regime is characterized by weak winds, associated with weak turbulent activity and very strong temperature inversions reaching up to 25 K in the lowest 10 m. Vertical temperature profiles are generally exponentially shaped (convex) in the first regime and ‘convex–concave–convex’ in the second. The transition between the two regimes is particularly abrupt when looking at the near-surface temperature inversion and it can be identified by a 10 m wind-speed threshold. With winds under this threshold, the turbulent heat supply toward the surface becomes significantly lower than the net surface radiative cooling. The threshold value (including its range of uncertainty) appears to agree with recent theoretical predictions from the so-called ‘minimum wind speed for sustainable turbulence’ (MWST) theory. For the quasi-steady, clear-sky winter cases, the relation between the near-surface inversion amplitude and the wind speed takes a characteristic ‘S’ shape. Closer analysis suggests that this relation corresponds to a ‘critical transition’ between a steady turbulent and a steady ‘radiative’ regime, with a dynamically unstable branch in the transition zone. These fascinating characteristics of the Antarctic boundary layer challenge present and future numerical models to represent this region in a physically correct manner.

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Geostrophic wind speed data, derived from pressure observations, are used in combination with tower measurements to investigate the nocturnal stable boundary layer at Cabauw, the Netherlands. Since the geostrophic wind speed is not directly influenced by local nocturnal stability, it may be regarded as an external forcing parameter of the nocturnal stable boundary layer. This is in contrast to local parameters such as in situ wind speed, the Monin-Obukhov stability parameter (z/L), or the local Richardson number. To characterize the stable boundary layer, ensemble averages of clear-sky nights with similar geostrophic wind speeds are formed. In this manner, the mean dynamical behavior of near-surface turbulent characteristics and composite profiles of wind and temperature are systematically investigated. The classification is found to result in a gradual ordering of the diagnosed variables in terms of the geostrophic wind speed. In an ensemble sense the transition from the weakly stable to very stable boundary layer is more gradual than expected. Interestingly, for very weak geostrophic winds, turbulent activity is found to be negligibly small while the resulting boundary cooling stays finite. Realistic numerical simulations for those cases should therefore have a comprehensive description of other thermodynamic processes such as soil heat conduction and radiative transfer.

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The performance of an atmospheric single-column model (SCM) is studied systematically for stably-stratified conditions. To this end, 11 years (2005–2015) of daily SCM simulations were compared to observations from the Cabauw observatory, The Netherlands. Each individual clear-sky night was classified in terms of the ambient geostrophic wind speed with a (Formula presented.) bin-width. Nights with overcast conditions were filtered out by selecting only those nights with an average net radiation of less than (Formula presented.). A similar procedure was applied to the observational dataset. A comparison of observed and modelled ensemble-averaged profiles of wind speed and potential temperature and time series of turbulent fluxes showed that the model represents the dynamics of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) at Cabauw very well for a broad range of mechanical forcing conditions. No obvious difference in model performance was found between near-neutral and strongly-stratified conditions. Furthermore, observed NBL regime transitions are represented in a natural way. The reference model version performs much better than a model version that applies excessive vertical mixing as is done in several (global) operational models. Model sensitivity runs showed that for weak-wind conditions the inversion strength depends much more on details of the land-atmosphere coupling than on the turbulent mixing. The presented results indicate that in principle the physical parametrizations of large-scale atmospheric models are sufficiently equipped for modelling stably-stratified conditions for a wide range of forcing conditions.

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Fog is a global phenomenon that presents a hazard to navigation and human safety, resulting in significant economic impacts for air and shipping industries as well as causing numerous road traffic accidents. Accurate prediction of fog events, however, remains elusive both in terms of timing and occurrence itself. Statistical methods based on set threshold criteria for key variables such as wind speed have been developed, but high rates of correct prediction of fog events still lead to similarly high “false alarms” when the conditions appear favourable, but no fog forms. Using data from the CESAR meteorological observatory in the Netherlands, we analyze specific cases and perform statistical analyses of event climatology, in order to identify the necessary conditions for correct prediction of fog. We also identify potential “missing ingredients” in current analysis that could help to reduce the number of false alarms. New variables considered include the indicators of boundary layer stability, as well as the presence of aerosols conducive to droplet formation. The poster presents initial findings of new research as well as plans for continued research. @en