WIND AND TEMPERATURE PROFILES NEAR THE GROUND IN STABLE STRATIFICATION.

• Main Author: McVehil,G. E.
• Other Authors: PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV UNIVERSITY PARK MINERAL INDUSTRIES EXPERIMENT STATION
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1963
• Subjects: *WIND; *ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE; MICROMETEOROLOGY; TURBULENCE; BOUNDARY LAYER; CONFIGURATIONS; NEBRASKA; POLAR REGIONS; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0617631; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0617631

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 longlinear 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. (Author) Pub. in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society v90 n384 p136-46 Apr 1964 (Copies available only to DDC users).