Development of Boundary Layer Rolls from Dynamic Instabilities

Stensrud, David J.; Shirer, Hampton N.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<1007:doblrf>2.0.co;2

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The literature on convective roll features in the PBL is extensive (see, e.g., Brown, 1972Brown, , 1980Stensrud and Shirer, 1988, and references therein). Originally, it was thought that the rolls were infrequent since the events were mainly identified by the visual indicator of cloud streets observed from aircraft or in satellite photos.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Overturning instability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: analysis of instability conditions in lidar data

2009

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Abstract. Resonant sodium lidar measurements from the transition region between the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have revealed frequently-occurring overturning events characterized by vertical scales of ∼3-6 km and timescales of several hours. Larsen et al. (2004) proposed that a convective roll instability, similar to that found in the planetary boundary layer, is the likely mechanism responsible for the events. This type of instability requires an inflection point in the background winds near the center of the vortex roll with a low static stability region capped by an inversion. The earlier paper argued that the conditions required to support the instability are common in the altitude range where the features are found. In this paper, we use data from the University of Illinois sodium lidar that was located at the Starfire Optical Range near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and from the Maui/MALT Lidar Facility in Hawaii and present several cases that are used to examine the behavior of the inflection point in detail as a function of time during the evolution of the overturning event. In addition, we examine the background static stability conditions using the temperature data from the lidar.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Overturning instability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: analysis of instability conditions in lidar data

2009

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“…Horizontal convective rolls are counterrotating horizontal vortices that can be forced by thermal and/or dynamic instabilities (e.g., Lilly 1966;Brown 1980;Stensrud and Shirer 1988;Weckwerth et al 1997). Horizontal convective rolls are counterrotating horizontal vortices that can be forced by thermal and/or dynamic instabilities (e.g., Lilly 1966;Brown 1980;Stensrud and Shirer 1988;Weckwerth et al 1997).…”

Section: ) Boundary Layer Horizontal Rollsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerical simulations indicate that roll orientation changes from being parallel to the mean wind shear vector for parallel instabilities to perpendicular for inflection point instabilities (Stensrud and Shirer 1988). Dynamic instabilities include parallel instability in which the roll energy is obtained either from along-roll shear or inflection point instability, which forms rolls when the wind profile has an inflection point in the cross-roll direction.…”

Section: ) Boundary Layer Horizontal Rollsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinematic and Moisture Characteristics of a Nonprecipitating Cold Front Observed during IHOP. Part II: Alongfront Structures

Friedrich¹,

Kingsmill²,

Flamant

et al. 2008

Mon. Wea. Rev.

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“…Semi-organized structures in convective turbulent flows were comprehensively studied theoretically, numerically (see, e.g., Lenschow and Stephens, 1980;Wyngaard, 1983Wyngaard, , 1987Hunt, 1984;Wyngaard, 1984, 1989;Mason, 1985;Shirer, 1986;Stensrud and Shirer, 1988;Hunt et al, 1988;Schmidt and Schumann, 1989;Sykes and Henn, 1989;Mahrt, 1991;Robinson, 1991;Zilitinkevich, 1991;Hacker, 1992, 1993;Chlond, 1992;Zilitinkevich et al, 1998;Young et al, 2002, and references therein), and in atmospheric experiments (Miura, 1986;Etling and Brown, 1993;Alpers and Brümmer, 1994;Atkinson and Wu Zhang, 1996;Brooks and Rogers, 1997;Brümmer, 1999;Weckwerth et al, 1999, and references therein). However, some aspects related to the origin of large-scale semi-organized structures in convective flows are not completely understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tangling Turbulence and Semi-Organized Structures in Convective Boundary Layers

Elperin

Kleeorin

Rogachevskii

et al. 2006

Boundary-Layer Meteorol

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A new mean-field theory of turbulent convection is developed based on the idea that only the small-scale region of the spectrum is considered as turbulence, whereas its large-scale part, including both regular and semi-organized motions, is treated as the mean flow. In the shear-free regime, this theory predicts the convective wind instability, which causes the formation of large-scale semi-organized motions in the form of cells. In the presence of wind shear, the theory predicts another type of instability, which causes the formation of large-scale semi-organized structures in the form of rolls and the generation of convective-shear waves propagating perpendicular to the convective rolls. The spatial characteristics of these structures, such as the minimum size of the growing perturbations and the size of perturbations with the maximum growth rate, are determined. This theory might be useful for understanding the origin of large-scale cells and rolls observed in the convective boundary layer and laboratory turbulent convection.

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Development of Boundary Layer Rolls from Dynamic Instabilities

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

Overturning instability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: analysis of instability conditions in lidar data

Overturning instability in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: analysis of instability conditions in lidar data

Kinematic and Moisture Characteristics of a Nonprecipitating Cold Front Observed during IHOP. Part II: Alongfront Structures

Tangling Turbulence and Semi-Organized Structures in Convective Boundary Layers

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