SODAR

Abstract: An observational climatology of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) diurnal cycle, specific to surface characteristics, is derived from 58 286 fine-resolution soundings collected in 14 major field campaigns around the world. An objective algorithm determining PBLH from sounding profiles is first developed and then verified by available lidar and sodar retrievals. The algorithm is robust and produces realistic PBLH as validated by visual examination of several thousand additional soundings. The resulting PBLH from all existing data is then subject to various statistical analyses. It is demonstrated that PBLH occurrence frequencies under stable, neutral, and unstable regimes follow a narrow, intermediate, and wide Gamma distribution, respectively, over both land and oceans. Over ice all exhibit a narrow distribution. The climatological PBLH diurnal cycle is strong over land and oceans, with a distinct peak at 1500 and 1200 LT, whereas the cycle is weak over ice. Relative to midlatitude land,...

Abstract: Characteristics and evolution of the low-level jet (LLJ)over southeastern Kansas were investigated during the 1999 Cooperative Surface-AtmosphereExchange Study (CASES–99) field campaign with an instrument complement consisting of ahigh-resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL), a 60 m instrumented tower, and a triangle of Dopplermini-sodar/profiler combinations. Using this collection of instrumentation we determined thespeed UX, height ZX and direction DX of the LLJ. We investigate here the frequencyof occurrence, the spatial distribution, and the evolution through the night, of these LLJcharacteristics. The jet of interest in this study was that which generates the shear and turbulencebelow the jet and near the surface. This was represented by the lowest wind maximum.We found that this wind maximum, which was most often between 7 and 10 m s‐1,was often at or just below 100 m above ground level as measured by HRDL at the CASEScentral site. Over the 60 km profiler–sodararray, the topography varied by ∼100 m. The wind speed anddirection were relatively constant over this distance (with some tendency for strongerwinds at the highest site), but ZX was more variable. ZX was occasionally about equal at allthree sites, indicating that the jet was following the terrain, but more often it seemed to berelatively level, i.e., at about the same height above sea level. ZX was also more variable thanUX in the behaviour of the LLJ with time through the night, and on some nights $UX wasremarkably steady. Examples of two nights with strong turbulence below jet level were furtherinvestigated using the 60 m tower at the main CASES–99 site. Evidence of TKE increasing withheight and downward turbulent transport of TKE indicates that turbulence was primarilygenerated aloft and mixed downward, supporting the upside–down boundary layer notion in thestable boundary layer.

Abstract: The Basel UrBan Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) was a year-long experimental effort to investigate in detail the boundary layer structure in the City of Basel, Switzerland. At several sites over different surface types (urban, sub-urban and rural reference) towers up to at least twice the main obstacle height provided turbulence observations at many levels. In addition, a Wind Profiler and a Lidar near the city center were profiling the entire lower troposphere. During an intensive observation period (IOP) of one month duration, several sub-studies on street canyon energetics and satellite ground truth, as well as on urban turbulence and profiling (sodar, RASS, tethered balloon) were performed. Also tracer experiments with near-roof-level release and sampling were performed. In parallel to the experimental activities within BUBBLE, a meso-scale numerical atmospheric model, which contains a surface exchange parameterization, especially designed for urban areas was evaluated and further developed. Finally, the area of the full-scale tracer experiment which also contains several sites of other special projects during the IOP (street canyon energetics, satellite ground truth) is modeled using a very detailed physical scale-model in a wind tunnel. In the present paper details of all these activities are presented together with first results.

Abstract: This paper gives an evaluation of most of the commonly used models for predicting wind speed decrease (wake) downstream of a wind turbine. The evaluation is based on six experiments where free-stream and wake wind speed profiles were measured using a ship-mounted sodar at a small offshore wind farm. The experiments were conducted at varying distances between 1.7 and 7.4 rotor diameters downstream of the wind turbine. Evaluation of the models compares the predicted and observed velocity deficits at hub height. A new method of evaluation based on determining the cumulative momentum deficit over the profiles is described. Despite the apparent simplicity of the experiments, the models give a wide range of predictions. Overall, it is not possible to establish any of the models as having individually superior performance with respect to the measurements.