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The Relationships among Wind, Horizontal Pressure Gradient, and Turbulent Momentum Transport during CASES-99

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Abstract
  • Relationships among the horizontal pressure gradient, the Coriolis force, and the vertical momentum transport by turbulent fluxes are investigated using data collected from the 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99). Wind toward higher pressure (WTHP) adjacent to the ground occurred about 50% of the time. For wind speed at 5 m above the ground stronger than 5 m s(-1), WTHP occurred about 20% of the time. Focusing on these moderate to strong wind cases only, relationships among horizontal pressure gradients, Coriolis force, and vertical turbulent transport in the momentum balance are investigated. The magnitude of the downward turbulent momentum flux consistently increases with height under moderate to strong winds, which results in the vertical convergence of the momentum flux and thus provides a momentum source and allows WTHP.In the along-wind direction, the horizontal pressure gradient is observed to be well correlated with the quadratic wind speed, which is demonstrated to be an approximate balance between the horizontal pressure gradient and the vertical convergence of the turbulent momentum flux. That is, antitriptic balance occurs in the along-wind direction when the wind is toward higher pressure. In the crosswind direction, the pressure gradient varies approximately linearly with wind speed and opposes the Coriolis force, suggesting the importance of the Coriolis force and approximate geotriptic balance of the airflow. A simple one-dimensional planetary boundary layer eddy diffusivity model demonstrates the possibility of wind directed toward higher pressure for a baroclinic boundary layer and the contribution of the vertical turbulent momentum flux to this phenomenon.
  • Keywords: Baroclinic flows, Turbulence, Pressure, Ekman pumping, Boundary layer, transport, Barotropic flows
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  • Sun, J., Lenschow, D., Mahrt, L., & Nappo, C. (2013). The relationships among wind, horizontal pressure gradient, and turbulent momentum transport during CASES-99. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 70(11), 3397-3414. doi:10.1175/JAS-D-12-0233.1
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  • 70
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  • 11
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  • Larry Mahrt was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant AGS- 1115011.
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