Department of Micrometeorology: Publications: Turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the ...

Charuchittipan, D; Wilson, JD: Turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the surface layer, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 132, 139-204 (2009)
Key words: Constant stress layer, Dissipation rate, Equilibrium layer, Local equilibrium, Turbulent kinetic energy budget ,Turbulent transport, Velocity spectrum, Wall shear layer
Abstract: We estimated the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation rate $$({\epsilon})$$ for thirty-two 1-h intervals of unstable stratification covering the stability range 0.12 ≤ −z/L ≤ 43 (z/L is the ratio of instrument height to the Obukhov length), by fitting Kolmogorov’s inertial subrange spectrum to streamwise spectra observed over a desert flat. Estimated values are compatible with the existence of local equilibrium, in that the TKE dissipation rate approximately equalled the sum of shear and buoyant production rates. Only in the neutral limit was the turbulent transport term in the TKE budget measured to be small.

Department of Micrometeorology