• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.222-233
• /
• 2012

The nocturnal low-level jet makes a significant impact on carbon and water exchanges and turbulent mixing processes in the atmospheric boundary layer. This study reports a case study of nocturnal surface fluxes such as $CO_2$ and water vapor in the surface layer observed at a flat and homogeneous site in the presence of low-level jets (LLJs). In particular, it documents the temporal evolution of the overlying jets and the coincident response of surface fluxes. The present study highlights several factors linking the evolution of low-level jets to surface fluxes: 1) wavelet analysis shows that turbulent fluxes have similar time scales with temporal scale of LLJ evolution; 2) turbulent mixing is enhanced during the transition period of low-level jets; and 3) $CO_2$, water vapor and heat show dissimilarity from momentum during the period. We also found that LLJ activity is related not only to turbulent motions but also to the divergence of mean flow. An examination of scalar profiles and turbulence data reveal that LLJs transport $CO_2$ and water vapor by advection in the stable boundary layer, suggesting that surface fluxes obtained from the micrometeorological method such as nocturnal boundary layer budget technique should carefully interpreted in the presence of LLJs.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.127-137
• /
• 2000

This study presents an analysis of the characteristics of vertical ozone distribution near the surface using ozonesonde data(l995 to 1998), plus surface ozone and meteorological data from the Pohang region. These features were examined in detail using three case studies. The first related to episodes of high surface ozone concentrations during the Spring season when the frontogenesis between the high and low pressure associated with the upper-level jet stream was found to be located near the surface. The second was a 5-day winter period(l3 -17 December, 1997) in the Pohang province when the hourly concentrations exceeded 90 ppb on several occasions owing to low-level jets(LLJs) induced by a nocturnal stable layer. Accordingly, this explains why the high surface ozone concentrations occurred at night as the ozone was transported across the zone by a strong wind speed( over 12.5 ms .1). The third case study was ozone enhancement due to photochemical reactions. In this case, the maximum concentration of ozone exceeded 60 ppb in the summer(23 -28 August, 1997). When an ozone peak appeared within the boundary layer, the occurrence frequency of a low-level jet due to the nocturnal stable layer was about 77%, similarly the occurrence frequency of a near-surface ozone peak relative to the appearance of an LLJ was about 76%. Accordingly, there is clearly a close correlation between the occurrence of LLJs and near-surface ozone peaks.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.28-39
• /
• 1985

The driving mechanisms for low level jets(LLJ) and coastal surface maximum winds are studied with observed wind data from June, 1976 through August, 1980 at Port Aransas and Victoria, Texas, in connection with a baroclinic model. This model is developed considering the forcing functions such as the synoptic and meso-scale pressure gradient, the frictional force, and the atmospheric stability. The results show that a LLJis observed on over 95% of the occasions when a nighttime coastal wind maximum occurred. Baroclinicity generated by sloping terrain during the summertime causes the diurnal variation in the thermal field. This thermal wind component would then decrease the prevailing synoptic-scale southerly wind by day and allow it to increase at night. Nighttime atmospheric stability leads to frictional decoupling which enhances the nocturnal LLJ. At the coastal site neutral stability prevails, thus all owing downward transfer of momentum from the nocturnal LLJ and results in the nocturnal coastal surface wind maximum. The height of LLJis not uniquely related to the inversion layer, and the results of the computations using this model show a good agreement with the observations.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.210-216
• /
• 1984

Diurnal variations of coastal surface wind speed are analyzed with five years of hourly wind from Port Aransas, Texas. These data reveal the highest frequency of occurrence of the nighttime wind maximum near midnight, especially during those seasons when onshore flow prevails. Nighttime wind maxima with a southerly component occurred approximately three times more frequently than with a northerly component on the annual average. The neutral atmospheric stability prevails near the coast. Thus it allows downward transfer of momentum from the nocturnal low level jet under the onshore wind situation and strong wind shear between an elevated frontal and ground-based inversion for offshore wind, resulting in the nocturnal coastal surface wind maximum.