Surface layer Similarity under Nonuniform Fetch Conditions

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a surface-layer experiment near the Cabauw meteorological mast. We measured momentum, heat and moisture fluxes at two heights, namely, 3.5 and 22.5 m. The measurements also include the mean wind speed and mean temperature profiles. The purpose was to investigate surface-layer similarity laws under nonideal fetch conditions. We found that under such conditions, the shell stress increases with height because of obstacles upstream. As a consequence flux-profile relationships differ from those over uniform terrain. It is shown that these deviations imply a slow relaxation in the exchange coefficient for heat and momentum over a terrain with changing surface roughness. Furthermore, we found that horizontal velocity fluctuations scale on a friction velocity representative of a large area. On the other hand, vertical velocity fluctuations scale on the local friction velocity.