Measurements of the humidity structure function parameters,Cq2andCTq, over the ocean

✍ Scribed by C. W. Fairall; G. E. Schacher; K. L. Davidson

• Book ID: 104629069
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 603 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-8314
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00120312

✦ Synopsis

Atmospheric turbulence measurements, including temperature and humidity fluctuations, were made from the R/ VAcania off the coast of California in June, 1979. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the scaling properties of the humidity structure function parameter (Ci) and temperaturehumidity cospectrum structure parameter CC,,) in the marine surface layer. The bulk parameterization method was used to obtain Monin-Obukhov Similarity CMOS) scaling parameters u.+, T*, q* and L. Assuming a neutral stability humidity drag coefficient cqn = 1.3 x 10e3, the dimensionless humidity structure function parameter Ci Z2'3/q$ was found to be 18% lower than the corresponding temperature function obtained by Wyngaard et al. (1971). Furthermore, the measurements indicate that the temperature-humidity fluctuations are highly coherent well into the inertial subrange. The results have direct application to turbulent scattering of waves propagating in the atmosphere (particularly microwaves) and methods of estimating air-sea surface fluxes.