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Wind and temperature profiles near the ground in stable stratification
Author(s) -
McVehil G. E.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49709038403
Subject(s) - richardson number , wind stress , roughness length , atmospheric sciences , wind speed , temperature gradient , stratification (seeds) , meteorology , environmental science , eddy diffusion , wind profile power law , thermodynamics , geology , physics , turbulence , seed dormancy , germination , botany , dormancy , biology
Observed wind and temperature profiles from O'Neill, Nebraska and Antarctica are analysed to determine their characteristics in inversion conditions. Analyses of the similarity between wind and temperature profiles are presented. These show that the profiles are generally similar when the Richardson number is small. However, there is strong evidence in the Antarctic data for a departure from similarity and a decrease in the ratio of eddy conductivity to eddy viscosity for Richardson numbers greater than 0·08. It is shown that the log‐linear wind profile fits the observations well for Richardson numbers less than about 0·14. the constant in the log‐linear equation is found to have a value of approximately seven in stable air, implying a critical gradient Richardson number of 1/7. From the log‐linear theory, heat flux and surface stress can be calculated given winds at two levels and the surface roughness. Predicted values are compared with observations. the agreement is good in the case of surface stress and fair for heat flux.