Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• RUSCHER, P
• MAHRT, L

Titel

Coherent structures in the very stable atmospheric boundary layer

Ist Teil von

• Boundary-layer meteorology, 1989-04, Vol.47 (1-4), p.41-54

Ort / Verlag

Dordrecht: Springer

Erscheinungsjahr

1989

Quelle

SpringerLINK Contemporary (Konsortium Baden-Württemberg)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This study examines the structure of horizontal modes (meandering, vertical modes, or fossil turbulence) in a layer of intermittent turbulence occurring at the top of a strongly stratified nocturnal inversion layer, as observed by fast response aircraft data. The spatial variation of the coefficients of the principal components identify regular coherent structures with mainly horizontal motions. Conditional sampling is formulated in terms of this spatial variation. The quasi-horizontal motions are characterized by relatively sharp edges (transition zones) where horizontal convergence or divergence, small-scale turbulence, and vertical fluxes seem to be concentrated. Zones of horizontal divergence appear to be associated with ejection of cold air from the underlying surface inversion while the convergent zones might be due to random collisions between horizontal modes.