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Turbulent/Synoptic Separation and Coherent Structures in the Atmospheric Surface Layer for a Range of Surface Roughness

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Abstract

Three sites with different surface roughness were selected to explore the turbulent/synoptic separation and self-similar wall-attached coherent structures in the atmospheric surface layer. At each site, the facility permits synchronous multi-point measurements of three-dimensional wind velocity and temperature at different heights, as well as synchronous measurements via the global positioning system among the three sites. A filter based on the linear coherent spectrum between two sites (separated by 500 m) is adopted to separate turbulent and synoptic signals. After the separation, the two-point correlations of the filtered turbulent streamwise velocity component reveal that increasing surface roughness leads to less coherence in both the wall-normal and streamwise directions. The present results with unstable stratification and different surface roughness also demonstrate good agreement with the self-similar range of the wall-attached turbulence reported in Baars et al. (J Fluid Mech 823:R2, 2017). The aspect ratio of coherent structures (defined as the ratio of streamwise wavelength to the wall-normal offset) for the streamwise and spanwise velocity components and temperature increases with increasing surface roughness.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 92052202). Xuebo Li is also supported by Chinese Scholarship Council (File No. 201706180037). We thank Jiwen Gong, Woutijn J. Baars and Nicholas Hutchins for their advice during the planning of these studies, and we appreciate the help from Tianli Bo on design of the experiment array. Meanwhile, thanks are due to Ruifeng Hu and the editor for assistance with the English. Moreover, the author would also like to express heartfelt thanks to the four anonymous reviewers for their help.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Ministry of Education, and Department of Mechanics and Engineering Sciences, College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 731000, China

    Xuebo Li, Guohua Wang & Xiaojing Zheng

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  1. Xuebo Li
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  2. Guohua Wang
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  3. Xiaojing Zheng
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Correspondence to Xiaojing Zheng.

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Li, X., Wang, G. & Zheng, X. Turbulent/Synoptic Separation and Coherent Structures in the Atmospheric Surface Layer for a Range of Surface Roughness. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 182, 75–93 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-021-00643-z

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