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Kerstein, Alan R

Publications and source records attributed to Kerstein, Alan R.

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2010

Analysis and numerical simulation of a laboratory analog of radiatively induced cloud-top entrainment.

Numerical simulations using the One-Dimensional-Turbulence model are compared to water-tank measurements [B. J. Sayler and R. E. Breidenthal, J. Geophys. Res. 103 (D8), 8827 (1998)] emulating convection and entrainment in stratiform clouds driven by cloud-top cooling. Measured dependences of the entrainment rate on Richardson number, molecular transport coefficients, and other experimental parameters are reproduced. Additional parameter variations suggest more complicated dependences of the entrainment rate than previously anticipated. A simple algebraic model indicates the ways in which laboratory and cloud entrainment behaviors might be similar and different.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2010

Fluxes across double-diffusive interfaces : a one-dimensional turbulence study.

The parameterization of the fluxes of heat and salt across double-diffusive interfaces is of interest in geophysics, astrophysics, and engineering. The present work is a parametric study of these fluxes using one-dimensional-turbulence (ODT) simulations. Its main distinction is that it considers a parameter space larger than previous studies. Specifically, this work considers the effect on the fluxes of the stability parameter R{sub {rho}}, Rayleigh number Ra, Prandtl number, Lewis number, and Richardson number. The ratio Ra/R{sub {rho}} is found to be a dominant parameter. Here Ra/R{sub {rho}} can be seen as a ratio of destabilizing and stabilizing effects. Trends predicted by the simulations are in good agreement with previous models and available measurements.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗