Large-eddy transport in the surface layer over heterogeneous terrain

Abstract:

Surface heterogeneity and complex terrain invalidate to a certain extent basic assumptions behind the classical turbulence theory. One important classical concept is Townsend’s hypothesis, which postulates that outer layer scale and inner layer scale turbulence do not interact. However, there is little knowledge to what extent large-scale eddies can affect near-surface fluxes. We shall investigate the relevance of large-eddy transport in the surface layer by an integrated approach combining field measurements and numerical simulations.

Doppler lidar and tower-based turbulence measurements were conducted at the Yatir forest in Israel, which is surrounded by semi-arid shrubland. Vertical profiles of vertical and horizontal wind speed and direction were determined from Doppler lidar data. Eddy-covariance measurements were conducted at two sites. In addition, idealized large-eddy simulations (LES) were performed. A virtual control volume method allowed us to disentangle all components of the total surface flux.

The daytime sensible heat flux over the forest was almost twice as large as over the surrounding shrubland. These very large differences in surface heating generated a secondary circulation, which was detected by the Doppler lidar measurements. Persistent updrafts were detected above the forest. Tower measurements at the shrubland site showed generally larger low-frequency contributions in spectra and co-spectra, and the energy balance ratio over the forest was 1.00, while it was only 0.81 at the shrubland site. LES results indicate that advection is the main cause for the lack of energy balance closure at the shrubland site. Over the forest, an equally large advective flux (in the opposite direction as over the shrubland) is almost completely balanced by horizontal flux divergence.

We conclude that secondary circulations indeed exist over the Yatir forest, and that they can be detected from Doppler lidar data. Against the prediction of Townsend’s hypothesis, the corresponding large-scale eddies contribute to the energy transport in the surface layer. This results in considerable horizontal flux contributions that cannot be captured by eddy-covariance measurements in the usual one-dimensional framework. In-situ energy flux measurements may therefore exhibit a lack of energy balance closure.