Sub-Project UH

STructure of turbulent fluxes under INHOmogeneous surface conditions (STINHO)
Simulation of boundary layer turbulence (VERTIKO-UH)



 
 
 
 

University of Hannover 
Institut für Meteorologie 
und Klimatologie 
Herrenhäuserstr. 2
30419 Hannover 
http://www.muk.uni-hannover.de

contact person

Project Description:


STINHO is the experimental part of the project VERTIKO.
STINHO consists of 3 parts:
Part 1 - Experimental investigations about an inhomogeneous surface with acoustical and optical methods, to provide near -surface area averaged values of parameters which are relevant for Part 2 - simulation of the boundary layer turbulence. In addition to the near-surface experiment and to provide information on the real boundary layer structure to initialise the simulations for a large eddy model an airborne turbulence measurement system (Helipod) is used (Part 3).
Relevant data are area averaged values of the turbulent heat and momentum flux which are
components of the energy budget variations over a real landscape. The physical description of the energy balance under turbulent flow conditions above homogeneous surfaces is possible using one-dimensional models and/or micrometeorological measuring techniques, which determine the energy exchange processes considering only the height above the underlying surface. Such a procedure does not consider the horizontal energy fluxes , which must exist between different types of the surface. Currently accepted parameterised relations for the turbulent transport of energy only consider the vertical direction. Project results will
contribute to an improvement of these parameterisations.
The project achieves a better understanding of the turbulent energy fluxes inside the atmospheric boundary layer, because these fluxes consist of horizontal and vertical components especially visible in experiments and simulations under inhomogeneous flow conditions near a heterogeneous surface.

Part 2 of the STINHO-project deals with the high resolution simulation of the near-surface boundary layer above inhomogeneous terrain by means of a parallelised large eddy simulation model.