Accession Number:

ADA331352

Title:

Boundary Layer Coherent Structures (MBL ARI)

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV UNIVERSITY PARK DEPT OF METEOROLOGY

Personal Author(s):

• Shirer, Hampton N.
• Young, George S.

Report Date:

1997-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

8.0

Abstract:

It is well known that a substantial portion of the airsea fluxes of heat, moisture, and momentum is accomplished via intermittent processes, processes that are poorly understood at the present time. Recently, it has been demonstrated that coherent structures in the marine boundary layer MBL are responsible for this flux intermittency. These coherent structure types include such secondary circulations as two-dimensional rolls cloud streets, three-dimensional convective cells thermals, and shear driven eddies billows. These features occur in different atmospheric boundary layer thermal stratification and shear regimes some are forced primarily by thermodynamic, and others by dynamic, mechanisms. Our ultimate goal is to determine the mechanisms underlying the intermittency in airsea fluxes produced by these coherent structure types. As summarized below, we are using a variety of complementary statisticalmathematical approaches to objectively identify the spatial and temporal characteristics of these structures. Our primary data sources include both the high resolution output produced by the Penn State version of Moengs Large Eddy Simulation LES code and observations from the MBL ARI experiments performed in 1995 off the California coast.

Descriptors:

• *METEOROLOGICAL DATA
• *AIR WATER INTERACTIONS
• *MARINE METEOROLOGY
• ALGORITHMS
• TIME SERIES ANALYSIS
• BOUNDARY LAYER
• EDDIES(FLUID MECHANICS)
• ATMOSPHERIC MOTION
• TURBULENT BOUNDARY LAYER
• MARINE ATMOSPHERES
• OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA
• THERMAL BOUNDARY LAYER
• CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC)

Subject Categories:

• Meteorology
• Physical and Dynamic Oceanography

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE