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Surface resistance in atmospheric flow
Author(s) -
Sutcliffe R. C.
Publication year - 1936
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.94706226302
Subject(s) - airflow , flow (mathematics) , surface (topology) , mechanics , wind speed , constant (computer programming) , meteorology , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , physics , mathematics , thermodynamics , geometry , computer science , programming language
The formula for surface resistance to atmospheric flow, F = ρκ V 2 s , where V s is the velocity of the surface wind, ρ the density, and κ a non‐dimensional constant, was proposed by G. I. Taylor, on an analogy with flow in pipes. In pipes, the value of κ was 0.004, and Taylor gave a mean value of 0.0025 for κ in the case of flow of air over the ground. In this paper the value of κ was deduced from actual observed distributions of wind velocity at different heights, obtained by pilot balloons, no assumption being made as to the nature of eddy viscosity. The mean value of κ so deduced is 0.006 over land, and 0.0004 over the sea.