TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of boundary layer rolls from dynamic instabilities
AU - Stensrud, D. J.
AU - Shirer, H. N.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1988
Y1 - 1988
N2 - The development of atmospheric boundary layer rolls from the inflection point and parallel instabilities is examined analytically using several three-dimensional linear models of flow in a neutral, rotational fluid. These conditions are expressed as polynomials in the critical (eddy) Reynolds number Rec and depend on Fourier coefficients of a given height-dependent background wind profile. The preferred values of orientation angle θ and aspect ratio A, which describe the expected roll geometry, are assumed to be those that produce the smallest values of Rec. For the Ekman profile, the preferred values of θ and A are found to agree with those given by larger models, indicating that the simpler analytical models are incorporating the crucial information contained in the wind profile. Finally, a direct comparison with observations of atmospheric boundary layer rolls is given using a mean wind profile. For this case, the preferred values of θ, A and Rec associated with the pure inflection point instability mechanism agree well with their observed values. -from Authors
AB - The development of atmospheric boundary layer rolls from the inflection point and parallel instabilities is examined analytically using several three-dimensional linear models of flow in a neutral, rotational fluid. These conditions are expressed as polynomials in the critical (eddy) Reynolds number Rec and depend on Fourier coefficients of a given height-dependent background wind profile. The preferred values of orientation angle θ and aspect ratio A, which describe the expected roll geometry, are assumed to be those that produce the smallest values of Rec. For the Ekman profile, the preferred values of θ and A are found to agree with those given by larger models, indicating that the simpler analytical models are incorporating the crucial information contained in the wind profile. Finally, a direct comparison with observations of atmospheric boundary layer rolls is given using a mean wind profile. For this case, the preferred values of θ, A and Rec associated with the pure inflection point instability mechanism agree well with their observed values. -from Authors
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U2 - 10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<1007:DOBLRF>2.0.CO;2
DO - 10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<1007:DOBLRF>2.0.CO;2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0024190734
SN - 0022-4928
VL - 45
SP - 1007
EP - 1019
JO - Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
JF - Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
IS - 6
ER -