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39 records · Page 3

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

Doppler lidar, aerosols, convection↗

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land-surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land-atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow-to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land-atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

[Low-Frequency Flow Oscillation

The results of the research conducted under this grant are presented in detail in three Master theses, by Heinrich, Balow, and Broeren. Additional analysis of the experimental data can be found in two AIAA Journal articles and two conference papers. Citations for all of the studies' publications can be found in the bibliography which is attached. The objective of Heinrich's study was to document the low-frequency flow oscillation on the LRN-1007 airfoil, which had been previously observed at low Reynolds number, to determine its origin, and explore the phenomenon at higher Reynolds number. Heinrich performed detailed flow visualization on the airfoil using surface fluorescent oil and laser-sheet off-body visualization. A large leading-edge separation bubble and trailing-edge separation was identified on the airfoil just prior to the onset of the unsteady stall flow oscillation. From the laser-sheet data, the unsteady flow appeared as a massive boundary-layer separation followed by flow reattachment. Hot-wire data were taken in the wake to identify the presence of the flow oscillation and the dominant frequency. The oscillation was found in the flow from a Reynolds number of 0.3 to 1.3 x 10 exp 6. The Strouhal number based on airfoil projected height was nominally 0.02 and increased slightly with increasing Reynolds number and significantly with increasing airfoil angle of attack. Balow focused his research on the leading-edge separation bubble which was hypothesized to be the origin of the low-frequency oscillation. Initially, experimental measurements in the bubble at the onset of the low-frequency oscillation were attempted to study the characteristics of the bubble and explain possible relationships to the shear-layer-flapping phenomena. Unfortunately, the bubble proved to be extremely sensitive to the probe interference and it drastically reduced the size of the bubble. These detailed measurements were then abandoned by Balow. However, this led to a series of tests where the leading-edge bubble and trailing-edge separation were altered and the affect on the flow-oscillation studied. Balow found that by tripping the airfoil boundary-layer with "zigzag" tape ahead of bubble separation, the bubble was effectively eliminated mid the oscillation suppressed. Wake survey drag measurements showed a drastic reduction in airfoil drag when the bubble and oscillation were eliminated. Using the "zigzag" tape, the trailing-edge separation was moved downstream approximately 5 percent chord. This was found to reduce the amplitude of the oscillation, particularly in the onset stage at low angle of attack (around 14 degrees). Through detailed analysis of the wake behind the airfoil during the unsteady flow oscillation, Balow provided a better understanding of the wake flowfield. Broeren studied the oscillating flowfield in detail at Reynolds number equal 3 x 10 exp 5 and an angle of attack of 15 degrees using laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). Two-dimensional LDV data were acquired at 687 grid points above the model upper surface while hot-wire data were taken simultaneously in the wake. Using the hot-wire signal, the LDV data were phase averaged into 24 bins to represent a single ensemble average of one oscillation cycle. The velocity data showed a flowfield oscillation that could be divided into three flow regimes. In the first regime, the flow over the airfoil was completely separated initially, the flowfield reattached from the leading edge and the reattachment point moved downstream with increasing time or phase. Broeren referred to this as the reattachment regime. The bubble development regime followed, where a leading-edge separation bubble formed at the leading edge and grew with increasing time. During the initial part of this regime the trailing-edge separation continued to move downstream. However, during the last 30 degrees of phase the trailing-edge separation moved rapidly forward and appeared to merge with the leading-edge bubble. During the third regime, the separation regime, the flow was segmented from the airfoil leading edge and did not reattach to the airfoil surface. The reverse flow was seen to grow in vertical extent up from the model surface as the phase increased. Next reattachment began again at the leading edge signaling the start of the reattachment regime, and so the cycle continued. From Broeren's work, the details of the unsteady flowfield over the airfoil were seen for the first time. From this research a great deal has been learned about the low-frequency flow oscillation which naturally occurs on the LRN-1007 airfoil near stall. The oscillation was seen to persist at higher Reynolds number, the dependence of the Strouhal number on angle of attack and Reynolds number were discovered, the critical role played by the laminar bubble was shown and the entire upper surface flowfield during a flow oscillation cycle was measured and analyzed. What still eludes understanding is the scaling of the flow oscillation and why certain airfoils, such as the LRN, have a very strong low-frequency mode and other airfoils exhibit no organized low-frequency oscillation at all.

Bragg, Michael B.↗