Engineering topics

Mahrt, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Mahrt, L..

5 records

NASA NTRS2005

Feasibility of Measuring Mean Vertical Motion for Estimating Advection

Numerous recent studies calculate horizontal and vertical advection terms for budget studies of net ecosystem exchange of carbon. One potential uncertainty in such studies is the estimate of mean vertical motion. This work addresses the reliability of vertical advection estimates by contrasting the vertical motion obtained from the standard practise of measuring the vertical velocity and applying a tilt correction, to the vertical motion calculated from measurements of the horizontal divergence of the flow using a network of towers. Results are compared for three different tilt correction methods. Estimates of mean vertical motion are sensitive to the choice of tilt correction method. The short-term mean (10 to 60 minutes) vertical motion based on the horizontal divergence is more realistic compared to the estimates derived from the standard practise. The divergence shows long-term mean (days to months) sinking motion at the site, apparently due to the surface roughness change. Because all the tilt correction methods rely on the assumption that the long-term mean vertical motion is zero for a given wind direction, they fail to reproduce the vertical motion based on the divergence.

Vickers, Dean↗

NASA NTRS2005

Comparison of Heat and Moisture Fluxes from a Modified Soil-plant-atmosphere Model with Observations from BOREAS

This study evaluates the prediction of heat and moisture fluxes from a new land surface scheme with eddy correlation data collected at the old aspen site during the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) in 1994. The model used in this study couples a multilayer vegetation model with a soil model. Inclusion of organic material in the upper soil layer is required to adequately simulate exchange between the soil and subcanopy air. Comparisons between the model and observations are discussed to reveal model misrepresentation of some aspects of the diurnal variation of subcanopy processes. Evapotranspiration

Lee, Young-Hee↗

NASA NTRS2005

Effect of Stability on Mixing in Open Canopies

In open canopies, the within-canopy flux from the ground surface and understory can account for a significant fraction of the total flux above the canopy. This study incorporates the important influence of within-canopy stability on turbulent mixing and subcanopy fluxes into a first-order closure scheme. Toward this goal, we analyze within-canopy eddy-correlation data from the old aspen site in the Boreal Ecosystem - Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) and a mature ponderosa pine site in Central Oregon, USA. A formulation of within-canopy transport is framed in terms of a stability- dependent mixing length, which approaches Monin-Obukhov similarity theory above the canopy roughness sublayer. The new simple formulation is an improvement upon the usual neglect of the influence of within-canopy stability in simple models. However, frequent well-defined cold air drainage within the pine subcanopy inversion reduces the utility of simple models for nocturnal transport. Other shortcomings of the formulation are discussed.

Lee, Young-Hee↗

NASA NTRS2003

Spatial Variation of Surface Moisture Fluxes in SGP

Analysis of aircraft data in "spatial variations of surface moisture flux from aircraft data" indicates that the impact of small-scale surface heterogeneity on the spatial variation of surface moisture fluxes into the atmosphere is reduced by horizontal mixing. This mixing generally increases with the development of the daytime convective mixed layer, thus reducing the relative influence of surface heterogeneity on the spatial variation of moisture fluxes.

Mahrt, L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Boundary-layer moisture regimes

Boundary-layer moisture fluctuations are estimated by analyzing HAPEX and FIFE data collected on 52 aircraft flight legs. Moisture fluctuations were given considerable attention in the HAPEX flights, which were 120 km long, and flew 150 m over one area of homogeneous terrain. The repetitions permit statistical consideration of motion characteristics on horizontal scales. Two prototypical boundary layer regimes are discovered: the entrainment-drying boundary layer, and the moistening boundary layer. The latter demonstrates positive moisture skewness close to the surface related to high surface evaporation. The former is characterized by boundary-layer instability, weak surface evaporation, and drier air aloft, leading to unexpected negative moisture skewness. It is noted that 10 km moisture variations with horizontal gradients are often found in narrow zones of horizontal convergence, called mesoscale moisture fronts. A negative moisture to temperature correlation, due to surface energy budget inhomogeneity, is shown to incur large mesoscale variations of relative humidity.

Mahrt, L.↗