Simulation of tracer dispersion from elevated and surface releases in complex terrain

Improving the Turbulence Coupling between High Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction Models and Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Models

Turbulent exchange of mass, momentum and heat at the Earth’s surface is the crucial component of the climate system. Correctly representing this interaction is therefore of fundamental importance in weather, climate and air pollution models. Parametrizations of turbulent exchange between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere in virtually all numerical models of atmospheric flows are based on Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST). MOST identifies surface fluxes of momentum and heat, and height above the surface, as key parameters fully describing all turbulence exchange. MOST is, however, strongly limited by its assumptions of horizontally homogeneous and flat terrain, not representative of the majority of the Earth’s surface. In addition, MOST does not recognize the anisotropic nature of turbulence forcing, nor does it cover the strongly stable and unstable stratification, often encountered in real world applications. Thus, the limitations of MOST, and its use beyond its intended range of validity contribute to large uncertainty in weather, climate, and air-pollution models, particularly in polar regions and over complex terrain, both experiencing unprecedented warming. Here we explore why the directionality of turbulence exchange (anisotropy of the Reynolds stress tensor) is fundamental in understanding surface-layer atmospheric turbulence, and present how its inclusion into MOST can provide a first generalized extension of MOST encompassing a wide range of realistic surface and flow conditions. The novel theory shows that the constants in the classical MOST, are actually functions of anisotropy, allowing a seamless transition between classical MOST and the novel generalization. The new scaling relations, based on a large ensemble of measurement datasets ranging from flat to highly complex mountainous terrain, show substantial improvements in scaling under all stratifications. The results also highlight the role of anisotropy in explaining general characteristics of complex terrain and strongly unstable and stable turbulence, adding to the mounting evidence that anisotropy fully encodes the information on the complexity of the boundary conditions.

The fundamental challenge of complex (typically mountainous or urban) terrain for radio-frequency systems is that a direct line-of-sight is difficult or impossible to achieve between a radio transmitter and receiver. In the context of ground-based military operations, occupying line-of-sight positions to optimize communications or surveillance capabilities often exposes Soldiers and/or equipment to unacceptable risks from both conventional and electronic warfare. Propagation models for tactical use commonly analyze terrain only in the vertical plane containing both transmitter and receiver in order to simplify both the required data and computational burdens. However, these advantages come at the cost of ignoring reflections from topography within and outside the vertical plane path, which can have serious implications for radio-frequency direction finding, surveillance, and high-speed data transfer in complex terrain. This work summarizes our efforts to address these issues by developing a hybrid path loss model, one specifically designed for ground-to-ground radio links in complex rural terrain. The model uses an existing international-standard vertical plane diffraction model (VPM) to account for path losses associated with obstacles, and then augments those results with geospatially derived terrain reflection/scattering effects. Our prototype Terrain Scatter Augmented Vertical Plane Model (TSAVPM) provides physically credible path loss results in complex terrain at tactically relevant spatial scales (∼250 sq. km) and computational costs (under 40 seconds on a single 4.2 GHz central processing unit).

A numerical modeling study has been conducted to explore the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model-based large-eddy simulation (LES) with 100-m grid spacing to reproduce silver iodide (AgI) particle dispersion by comparing the model results with measurements made on 16 February 2011 over the Medicine Bow Mountains in Wyoming. Xue et al.'s recently developed AgI cloud-seeding parameterization was applied in this study to simulate AgI release from ground-based generators. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons between the LES results and observed AgI concentrations were conducted. Analyses of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) features within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and comparisons between the 100-m LES and simulations with 500-m grid spacing were performed as well. The results showed the following: 1) Despite the moist bias close to the ground and above 4 km AGL, the LES with 100-m grid spacing captured the essential environmental conditions except for a slightly more stable PBL relative to the observed soundings. 2) Wind shear is the dominant TKE production mechanism in wintertime PBL over complex terrain and generates a PBL of about 1000-m depth. The terrain-induced turbulent eddies are primarily responsible for the vertical dispersion of AgI particles. 3) The LES-simulated AgI plumes were shallow and narrow, in agreement with observations. The LES overestimated AgI concentrations close to the ground, which is consistent with the higher static stability in the model than is observed. 4) Non-LES simulations using PBL schemes had difficulty in capturing the shear-dominant turbulent PBL structure over complex terrain in wintertime. Therefore, LES of wintertime orographic clouds with grid spacing close to 500 m or finer are recommended.

Impact of data assimilation and aerosol radiation interaction on Lagrangian particle dispersion modelling

Abstract. The existence of many different wind types in complex terrain and the difficulty of obtaining representative wind observations hinder the analysis of the general benefits of high-resolution climate modeling for winds. We show that the added value of kilometer (km)-scale modeling is particularly pronounced in mountainous terrain and increases substantially with wind speed, with the km-scale model and observations reaching twice larger speeds than a coarser model with 12 km grid spacing. At the same time, synoptically calm conditions are prone to local thermally generated circulations, such as slope flows with typically weak winds, whose modeling results can also be considerably affected by the model resolution. We therefore focus on the mountainous region of the southern Scandinavian Mountains and analyze the winds at two ends of the wind distribution: very strong winds, generally forced by large-scale weather systems, and local, thermally generated winds in synoptically calm conditions. Strong winds in the present climate are influenced more by the terrain height and high model resolution than by the large-scale forcing, while the future change is mostly governed by the global-model large-scale circulation change. For the thermal circulations in summer, in contrast to the coarse model, the km-scale model captures glacier downslope wind in the high mountains and the resulting convergence zone as well as the increased cloud cover where the glacier wind meets the daytime upslope wind. The future change in thermal circulations is primarily influenced by the future temperature change and the high model resolution. Because the future temperature changes are considerably less uncertain than the changes in large-scale circulation, the future of local thermal circulations can be estimated with less uncertainty compared to stronger winds.

Solute transport and dispersion.- Solute transport and dispersion - Commentary.- Quasianalytic and analytic approaches to unsaturated flow.- Quasianalytic and analytic approaches to unsaturated flow - Commentary.- Measurement of soil physical properties in the field.- Measurement of soil physical properties in the field - Commentary.- Canopy transport processes.- Canopy transport processes - Commentary.- Surface temperature and the surface energy balance.- Surface temperature and the surface energy balance - Commentary.- Stomatal physiology and gas exchange in the field.- Stomatal physiology and gas exchange in the field - Commentary.- Air flow over complex terrain.- Air flow over complex terrain - Commentary.- Convective processes in the lower atmosphere.- Convective processes in the lower atmosphere - Commentary.- Turbulent wakes in the atmospheric boundary layer.- Turbulent wakes in the atmospheric boundary layer - Commentary.- Particulate transport in the atmosphere: wind erosion.- Processes of water erosion.- One-dimensional solid-liquid separation.- One-dimensional solid-liquid separation - Commentary.- Atmospheric dispersion - Observations and Models.- Atmospheric dispersion - Observations and Models - Commentary.

Abstract. The CALIOPE Air Quality Forecast System (CALIOPE-AQFS) represents the current state of the art in air quality forecasting systems of high-resolution running on high-performance computing platforms. It provides a 48 h forecast of NO2, O3, SO2, PM10, PM2.5, CO, and C6H6 at a 4 km horizontal resolution over all of Spain, and at a 1 km horizontal resolution over the most populated areas in Spain with complex terrains (the Barcelona (BCN), Madrid (MAD) and Andalusia (AND) domains). Increased horizontal resolution from 4 to 1 km over the aforementioned domains leads to finer textures and more realistic concentration maps, which is justified by the increase in NO2/O3 spatial correlation coefficients from 0.79/0.69 (4 km) to 0.81/0.73 (1 km). High-resolution emissions using the bottom-up HERMESv2.0 model are essential for improving model performance when increasing resolution on an urban scale, but it is still insufficient. Decreasing grid spacing does not reveal the expected improvement in hourly statistics, i.e., decreasing NO2 bias by only ~ 2 μg m−3 and increasing O3 bias by ~ 1 μg m−3. The grid effect is less pronounced for PM10, because part of its mass consists of secondary aerosols, which are less affected than the locally emitted primary components by a decreasing grid size. The resolution increase has the highest impact over Barcelona, where air flow is controlled mainly by mesoscale phenomena and a lower planetary boundary layer (PBL). Despite the merits and potential uses of the 1-km simulation, the limitations of current model formulations do not allow confirmation of their expected superiority close to highly urbanized areas and large emissions sources. Future work should combine high grid resolutions with techniques that decrease subgrid variability (e.g., stochastic field methods), and also include models that consider urban morphology and thermal parameters.

Assessment of Lagrangian particle dispersion model “LAPMOD” through short range field tracer test in complex terrain

This study investigates the performance of two commonly used planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes, the local turbulence closure (Mellor-Yamada-Janjić: MYJ) and the nonlocal turbulence closure (Yonsei University: YSU), over the tropical coastal region of Shenzhen, China, using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The simulation results are evaluated by comparing them to various measurements. Additionally, we also investigate the performance of the PBL schemes over different land cover types and their ability to reproduce the physical relationships between several pairs of interrelated near-surface atmospheric parameters. The results show that both PBL schemes underestimate temperature and PBL height and overestimate wind speed and turbulent fluxes throughout the whole day, but this can be improved by increasing horizontal resolution. We find that the overestimation of wind speed and turbulent heat fluxes is mainly caused by the strong mechanical mixing in the model. Some improvements are required such as more accurate surface morphology parameters and momentum transport coefficients. Overall, the YSU scheme outperforms the MYJ scheme at all horizontal resolutions over complex terrain in terms of near-surface variables, PBL vertical structures, and the internal relations between turbulent heat fluxes and atmospheric instability. However, the difference between the two PBL schemes, varying over different land covers and with time periods and altitudes within the PBL, is generally greater over the land than over the sea for thermal-related variables (especially during daytime), while for variables associated with water vapor is the opposite. This highlights the importance of the underlying surface for the performance of PBL schemes and the need to select appropriate PBL schemes for simulating the evolution of PBL processes over different land covers.

In recent studies of atmospheric turbulent surface exchange in complex terrain, questions arise concerning velocity-sensor tilt corrections and the governing flow equations for coordinate systems aligned with steep slopes. The standard planar-fit method, a popular tilt-correction technique, must be modified when applied to complex mountainous terrain. The ramifications of these adaptations have not previously been fully explored. Here, we carefully evaluate the impacts of the selection of sector size (the range of flow angles admitted for analysis) and planar-fit averaging time. We offer a methodology for determining an optimized sector-wise planar fit (SPF), and evaluate the sensitivity of momentum fluxes to varying these SPF input parameters. Additionally, we clarify discrepancies in the governing flow equations for slope-aligned coordinate systems that arise in the buoyancy terms due to the gravitational vector no longer acting along a coordinate axis. New adaptions to the momentum equations and turbulence kinetic energy budget equation allow for the proper treatment of the buoyancy terms for purely upslope or downslope flows, and for slope flows having a cross-slope component. Field data show that new terms in the slope-aligned forms of the governing flow equations can be significant and should not be omitted. Since the optimized SPF and the proper alignment of buoyancy terms in the governing flow equations both affect turbulent fluxes, these results hold implications for similarity theory or budget analyses for which accurate flux estimates are important.

A new Lagrangian particle model for the simulation of dense gas dispersion

Planetary boundary layer (PBL) flow over complex terrain during a cold surge event was investigated using 3-hourly radiosonde measurements in upwind, near ridge, and downwind locations of mountains in the northeastern part of Republic of Korea and using a high-resolution (333-m) numerical simulation. A cold surge occurred on 23 January 2018 and lasted for 4 days. We analyzed onset day of the cold surge when air temperature dropped rapidly. Analysis of the radiosonde data shows that the PBL was characterized by an adiabatic layer with strong capping inversion in early morning and evening as well as during daytime in the upwind and near-ridge sites. The PBL flow at the near-ridge site was strongest among three sites except at 0600 local standard time (LST) when the PBL flow in the lee was strongest. We performed high-resolution (333-m) numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The adiabatic PBL in the upwind site at 0600 LST was simulated, although its depth was underestimated. The model reproduced the strong low-level wind at 0600 LST and large wind shear during the daytime in the lee, but it did not capture the exact timing of the large wind shear. The model showed overall good performance in simulating the vertical profile of the virtual potential temperature and wind below 2 km above ground level at the three sites, with a high index of agreement (IOA) except for the wind at 1200 and 1500 LST in the lee. To examine the cause for the different behavior of PBL flow in the lee of mountains between 0600 LST and the daytime, we calculated the Froude number for PBL flow using radiosonde measurements based on reduced gravity shallow water (RGSW) theory. At 0600 LST, the upwind Froude number F0 was close to 1, while during the daytime, it was much lower than 1. The observed lee flow behavior was consistent with the flow regime change of a single layer over an obstacle with changing F0; the flow with a propagating lee jump changes into that with a stationary lee jump with decreasing F0. Numerical simulation shows that the steepening of streamlines of lee-wave field leads to a jump-like structure in the lee of mountains during the daytime.

The dispersion of air pollutants from multiple industrial stacks located in complex topography is an interesting subject. An attractive case is that of the wider region of Western Macedonia in NW Greece, where the greater amount of electric power of Greece is being produced by lignite power plant stations (LPPS). Considerable amounts of atmospheric pollutants are emitted by those LPPS into the atmosphere due to the quantities of coal burned. The variability of the topographic features and the terrain complexity of the area may lead to the formation of local atmospheric circulations of various types, which affect pollutant’s transport and dispersion. In the present work, the dispersion conditions that favor the pollutants accumulation in the area are investigated. For this purpose, 1 year’s hourly SO2 concentrations, surface wind measurements and a mesoscale meteorological and air pollution model (The Air Pollution Model, TAPM) were used. The SO2 and wind measurements were collected in situ from monitoring stations located nearby and at a greater distance from the power plants. Yearly and daily variations of SO2 concentrations are analyzed and discussed, and the period with the highest concentrations is selected. During this period, the evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in the area as well as the pollutants dispersion is examined. Statistical measures between modeled and observed meteorological data were in good agreement and a good correlation coefficient 0.68 and 0.98 was found in the SO2 variations. The analysis of the wind fields indicated better ventilation in the center of the area due to topographic venturi effects, while the dispersion mechanism which resulted in the relatively high ground level concentrations was fumigation. Finally, the evolution of the ABL was affected by the complex interactions between topography and mesoscale flows as it was found by the turbulent kinetic energy cross sections.

The dynamics of the velocity field resulting from the interaction between the atmospheric boundary layer and a wind turbine array can affect significantly the performance of a wind power plant and the durability of wind turbines. In this work, dynamics in wind turbine wakes and instabilities of helicoidal tip vortices are detected and characterized through modal decomposition techniques. The dataset under examination consists of snapshots of the velocity field obtained from large-eddy simulations (LES) of an isolated wind turbine, for which aerodynamic forcing exerted by the turbine blades on the atmospheric boundary layer is mimicked through the actuator line model. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between the downstream evolution of the helicoidal tip vortices and the alternate vortex shedding from the turbine tower. The LES dataset is interrogated through different modal decomposition techniques, such as proper orthogonal decomposition and dynamic mode decomposition. The dominant wake dynamics are selected for the formulation of a reduced order model, which consists in a linear time-marching algorithm where temporal evolution of flow dynamics is obtained from the previous temporal realization multiplied by a time-invariant operator.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wind energy in complex terrains'.