Atmospheric convection is sensitive to the nature of the surface and its temperature. Both dry (without cloud) and moist (with cloud) convections depend on the surface temperature. Surface temperature is of critical importance in several practical applications like human comfort and crop cultivation. In the climate change scenario too, variations in the surface temperature take the center stage. Therefore, prediction of surface temperature is important. The evolution of the temperature is governed by the energy equation and the surface temperature by the surface energy balance. Important components of the surface energy balance are radiation (incoming solar radiation, reflected solar radiation, incoming and outgoing longwave radiation), sensible and latent heat fluxes and heat flux into the ground (called ground heat flux). A large number of individual and collective observations have been carried out in the past to understand the atmospheric boundary layer and the surface energy budgets. However a major share of the observations is from mid-latitudes. There have been few experiments carried out in India, for example, MONTBLEX, LASPEX, etc. One common drawback among these experiments is that the data time series is discontinuous and continuous measurements covering an entire season are lacking. Moreover these measurements were not comprehensive and hence did not allowed to calculate complete surface energy balance – in some cases radiation data is not available while in some humidity data. Therefore, continuous time series of sufficient duration and covering all variables needed to look at the seasonal energy balance based on measurements alone is missing in the Indian context. New programmes with the main objective of predicting convection are being planned in India. For example, PROWNAM (Prediction of Regional Weather with Observational Meso-Network and Atmospheric Modeling) is aimed at predicting the short term weather at SHAR and STORM (Severe Thunderstorms – Observations and Regional Modeling) aims to predict the occurrence of severe thunderstorms in the northeastern India. In both these programmes, measurement of all components of surface energy balance is one of the main objectives. However, the minimum configuration and data accuracy requirements for the flux towers, sensitivity of computed fluxes on data accuracy have not been carefully evaluated. This thesis is aimed at filling this gap. As a part of my work, a 10 m high micrometeorological tower was installed in an open area within the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Air Field. Temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and direction instruments were mounted at two levels, 2 m and 8 m. All components of radiation were measured. Data, sampled every 5 s and averaged for 2 minutes were continuously stored, starting May 2006 onwards. Soil temperature was measured at 4 depths, 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm. In addition, a sonic anemometer capable of measuring 3 components of velocity and air temperature was installed at 2 m height, and data was collected for more than a month to enable the calculation of momentum and buoyancy fluxes using the Eddy correlation method (ECM). The present work evaluated the sensitivity of the fluxes for small calibration errors and quantified the minimum data accuracies and configuration needed for flux measurement with the Profile method (PM). After applying corrections, the comparison of fluxes from PM and ECM are in good agreement. The complete long-term surface energy balances is calculated in terms of source and sink. One aspect that emerges from the observation is that the seasonal variation in the sink term is relatively small (150-170 Wm-2) whereas the source term shows much larger variation from 180-250 Wm-2. A method has been implemented by which the ground surface temperature can be estimated by using the subsurface temperature timeseries by the method of Fourier decomposition and using the Fourier heat conduction equation. In addition we can compute the thermal diffusivity of the soil by using the amplitude and phase information of the sub-surface soil time series. The estimated temperatures from this method and one that estimated from radiation method are in good agreement with the maximum difference being less than 0º C.

La circulation atmosphérique en Afrique de l'Ouest est caractérisée par des vents de sud-ouest (mousson) pendant la saison humide et par des vents de nord-est (harmattan) pendant la saison sèche. Cette alternance des saisons est due aux variations de pression liée à l'état des surfaces (rugosité, albédo, végétation) en réaction au forçage solaire. Ces mêmes états de surface génèrent une variabilité de flux turbulents de surface et des circulations secondaires qui rendent complexes les analyses des mesures effectuées sur place en vue de documenter les interactions surface-atmosphère. La modélisation fine échelle (LES) couramment utilisée dans l'étude de la couche limite atmosphérique est requise pour pouvoir palier à ces difficultés en raison de sa capacité à prendre en compte les flux turbulents en 3D et sur topographie complexe. Notre site d'étude est le bassin versant d'ARA située au Nord du Bénin dans un contexte Soudanien avec des propriétés de surface variables. Une analyse climatique est effectuée sur la base des observations de radiosondage, de radar UHF et de stations au sol afin d'extraire des données composites représentatives des saisons sèche et humide. Ces données composites ont servi par la suite à forcer le modèle Méso-NH dans sa version LES. Pour pouvoir caractériser les échelles de longueur des flux turbulents de surface relatives aux saisons sèche et humide, les données standard de forçage de surface de Méso-NH que sont le relief GTOPO30 (1km de résolution) et la végétation ECOCLIMAP (1km de résolution) ont été respectivement remplacer par le SRTM (90m de résolution) et les données de SPOT/HRV (20m de résolution) reéchantillonné à 90m de résolution. A l'aide d'outils statistiques comme la variographie 2D et le suivi Lagrangien, il ressort que la variabilité spatiale de la chaleur sensible H est gouvernée par le couple vent-relief tandis que celle de la chaleur latente E est difficile à mettre en lien sur végétation hétérogène (SPOT/HRV) en saison sèche. En saison humide, la variabilité spatiale du champ H dépend du vent tandis que celle du champ E dépend de la végétation. Cette étude révèle dans tous les cas que les échelles caractéristiques de ces deux champs diffèrent dans les mêmes conditions de forçage de surface et atmosphérique. / West Africa atmosphere circulation is characterized by south-westerly wind (monsoon regime) during the wet season and north-easterly wind (harmattan regime) during the dry season. This alternation of wind regime is due to surface pressure variability linked to surface heterogeneities. Surface heterogeneities generate surface flux variability, secondary circulation and make complex analysis when trying to document surface-atmosphere feedbacks. LES modelling usually used for boundary-layer studies due to its potential to take into account 3D turbulence over complex topography, is used here to overcome these difficulties. Our site of interest is located in north of Benin characterized by Soudanian climate and heterogeneous surface properties. Climate analysis are first performed with radiosoundings, UHF radar, and EC station data in order to extract composite profile representing dry and wet season.. These composite profiles are then used to force atmosphere part of the Méso-NH LES model. To characterize turbulent fluxes length scales relative to dry and wet season, standard surface forcing data with Méso-NH like GTOPO30 orography (1km ) and ECOCLIMAP vegetation (1km) are respectively replaced by SRTM (90m) and SPOT/HRV vegetation data (20m) resampled to 90m. Along with statistical tools like 2D variography and Lagrangian, we notice that during dry season on heterogeneous vegetation, sensible heat flux H is more driven by wind and orography while we not able to discuss the latent heat flux E case. During wet season with the same surface forcing, it appears that H is driven by wind while E is more dependent to vegetation variability. Our study concludes in all case that H and E are not characterized by the same length scale.

The energy exchange in the soil-snow-vegetation-atmospheresystem was studied to improve the quantitative knowledge of thegoverning processes. The lack of such knowledge contributes tothe uncertainty in the applicability of many existing modelsindependent of the temporal or spatial scale. The theoreticalbackground and available methods for measurements and numericalsimulations were reviewed. Numerical simulation models andavailable data sets representing open land and boreal forestwere evaluated in both diurnal and seasonal time-scales.Surface heat fluxes, snow depth, soil temperatures andmeteorological conditions were measured at an agriculturalfield in central Sweden over two winters, 1997-1999. Twoone-dimensional simulation models of different complexity wereused to simulate the heat and water transfer in thesoil-snow-atmosphere system and compared with the measurements.Comparison of simulated and observed heat fluxes showed thatparameter values governing the upper boundary condition weremore important than the formulation of the internal mass andheat balance of the snow cover. The models were useful toevaluate the lack of energy balance closure in the observedsurface heat fluxes, which underlined the importance ofimproved accuracy in eddy correlation measurements of latentflow during winter conditions. The representation of boreal forest in the land surfacescheme used within a weather forecast model was tested with athree-year data set from the NOPEX forest site in centralSweden. The formulation with separate energy balances forvegetation and the soil/snow beneath tree cover improvedsimulation of the seasonal and diurnal variations of latent andsensible heat flux compared with an older model version.Further improvements of simulated surface heat fluxes could beexpected if the variation of vegetation properties within andbetween years and a new formulation of the boundary conditionsfor heat flux into the soil is included. Keywords: Surface energy balance, Snow, Boreal forest,SVAT models, Eddy-correlation Measurements, Latent heat flux,Sensible heat flux, Net radiation, Soil temperature,Aerodynamic roughness, Surface resistance / QC 20100614

No description available.

This dissertation describes the development of an intelligent non-invasive thermal energy flow rate sensor for laminar and turbulent pipe flows. Energy flow rate is the thermal energy that is carried by a fluid, for example, in a pipe to heat or cool a space in a building. It can be measured by an energy flow rate sensor which consists of a volume flow rate meter and supply and return fluid temperature sensors to bill the users for their energy usage. A non-invasive, low-cost, and easy to install thermal energy flow rate sensor based on thermal interrogation transient heat flux and temperature measurements has been developed to measure fluid velocity and fluid temperature in pipes. This sensor can be used for different pipe diameters, different pipe materials, and different viscous fluids. The transient measurements are made on the outer surface of a pipe by using a heat flux sensor and a thin-film thermocouple which are covered by a thin-film heater. A one-dimensional transient thermal model is applied before and during activation of the external heater along with a parameter estimation code to provide estimates of the fluid heat transfer coefficient and apparent thermal resistance between the thermocouple and the pipe surface. This dissertation contributes to the sensor's development in three ways. First, a new design is developed by using a single layer of Kapton tape with an adhesive (dielectric material) between the thermocouple foils and the pipe wall to isolate the thermocouple electrically from the pipe surface. This new design gives accurate and reliable estimates of the internal mean fluid temperature without environmental interference. Second, this new sensor design is tested for turbulent pipe flows with two different pipe diameters ( = 25.4 mm and = 12.7 mm) and two different viscous fluids (diesel oil and water). Experiments are completed over a large range of fluid velocity from 0.2 m/s to 5.5 m/s and a range of fluid temperature from 20 ℃ to 50 ℃. The estimated parameters, heat transfer coefficient and apparent thermal resistance, are correlated with the fluid velocity and fluid temperature. This sensor gives a good correlation, repeatability, and sensitivity between the estimated parameters and the fluid velocities with an accurate estimation of the fluid temperatures without environmental interference. Third, this sensor is tested for laminar flow in pipes over a range of fluid velocity from 0.049 m/s to 0.45 m/s and a range of fluid temperature from 20 ℃ to 50 ℃. A new empirical correlation between the estimated parameters and the laminar fluid velocity has been developed. The results show that this sensor gives lower sensitivity and accuracy between the estimated parameters and the fluid velocity and fluid temperature for the laminar flow. / Doctor of Philosophy / Heating or cooling is responsible for approximately 50% of the total energy consumption in a building. Budlings' energy consumption can be measured by energy flow rate sensors (measuring both fluid velocity and fluid temperature). Current energy flow rate sensors are invasive (requiring installation inside the system and disturbing the flow) which create unacceptable risks, such as fluid leaks and damage the equipment. Other energy flow rate sensors based on ultrasonic and electromagnetic technologies are non-invasive which can be installed on the outside of the pipe without disturbing the flow, however, they are expensive to buy, difficult to install, and hard to calibrate. Therefore, developing new sensor techniques is necessary, preferably non-invasive, low-cost, and easy to install. In this dissertation, a new non-invasive, low-cost, and easy to install thermal energy flow rate sensor has been designed, developed, and tested. This thermal sensor is based on transient heat flux and temperature measurements which are made on the outside of a copper pipe surface by using a heat flux sensor and a thermocouple. This sensor is used to estimate the energy consumption by measuring a fluid velocity and a fluid temperature in heating and cooling pipe applications for different pipe diameters, different fluids, and different pipe materials. A parameter estimation code is developed to match the analytical and experimental sensor temperature values and to estimate the unknown system parameters. These parameters are correlated with the fluid velocity and fluid temperature. Experiments are completed over a large range of fluid velocity from 0.049 m/s to 5.5 m/s and a range of fluid temperature from 20℃ to 50℃. The encouraging measurement results show that this sensor gives a good correlation, repeatability, accuracy, and sensitivity between the estimated parameters and the fluid velocities with an accurate estimation of the fluid temperatures to allow calculation of the thermal energy consumption.

Fire spread between objects within a compartment is primarily due to the impingement of thermal radiation from the fire source. In order to estimate if or when a remote object from the fire will ignite, one must be able to quantify the radiative heat flux being received by the target. There are a variety of methods presented in the literature that attempt to calculate the thermal radiation to a target; each one based on assumptions about the fire. The performance of six of these methods, of varying complexity, is investigated in this research. This includes the common point source model, three different cylindrical models, a basic correlation and a planar model. In order to determine the performance of each method, the predictions made by the models were compared with actual measurements of radiant heat flux. This involved taking heat flux readings at numerous locations surrounding a propane gas burner. Different fire scenarios were represented by varying the burner geometry and heat release rate. Video recordings of the experiments were used to determine the mean flame heights using video image analysis software. After comparing the measured data with predictions made by the theoretical radiation methods, the point source model was found to be the best performing method on average. This was unexpected given the relative simplicity of the model in comparison to some of its counterparts. Additionally, the point source model proved to be the most robust of the six methods investigated, being least affected by the experimental variables. The Dayan and Tien method, one of the cylindrical models, was the second most accurate over the range of conditions tested in this work. Based on these findings, recommendations are made as to the most appropriate method for use in a radiation sub-model within an existing zone model software. The accuracy shown by the point source model, coupled with its ease of implementation, means that it should be suitable for such a use.

No description available.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Variability of the MABL and its effect on the electromagnetic (EM) refractive structure around the Greenland Sea marginal ice zone were examined. Rawinsonde profiles and surface observations collected from 3 ships during MIZEX-87(20 March-11 April) served as the data set. A program, developed to calculate the refractivity at each vertical level of the rawinsonde profiles, also identified the levels at which trapping, superrefraction and subrefraction occurred. Temporal studies showed that a higher incidence of anomalous refractive layers occurred during periods when the region was under the influence of high pressure. More than 50% of the time, trapping and super-refractive layers were attributed to development of a capping inversion just above the MABL during these periods. Spatial studies showed that the refractive structure varied relative to distance from the ice edge as did the depth of the MABL. An upward slope in refractive layer heights was observed from the ice toward the open water. Significant spatial inhomogeneity was observed over horizontal ranges of less than 100 km. This was attributed to both the large-scale synoptic forcing affecting the region and to variations in the surface fluxes of heat and moisture over the ice and over the water. A range-dependent ray trace model developed at the Naval Ocean Systems Center was used to show how the ray paths of EM waves vary with a changing refractive structures. Keywords: Air water interactions, Greenland Sea, Atmospheric refraction, Electromagnetic wave propagation, Heat flux, Sea ice. Theses. (EDC) / http://archive.org/details/temporalspatialv00grot / Lieutenant, United States Navy

The main focus of this study is the influence of waves on the heat transfer over sea. In particular, the bulk transfer coefficient CH (the Stanton number), has been investigated for possible wave influence. Measurements from the site Östergarnsholm in the Baltic Sea have been used. The site has a large sector with undisturbed over water fetch. Data during the period 1995-1999 have been used. It is shown that CH behaves differently as it approach z/L=0 from the unstable side depending on the wave state. During growing sea, CH makes a rapid drop as it passes over neutrality, strikingly different from swell conditions where CH makes a much ’smoother’ transition. This difference is also shown to exist for the kinematic heat flux. Based on the definition of CH, it is suggested that one of the reasons of CH’s different behaviour for different stratification and wave state, is ought to be sought in the kinematic heat flux itself. A comparison of the w,θ cospectra during growing sea and swell conditions, showed differences. For growing sea, the larger size eddies dominates the heat flux during unstable conditions. There is no significant difference in peak frequency for different grade of instability. The swell cases showed a more inconsistent behaviour as it approached neutrality, with the peak frequency shifting for different stability ranges. The correlation coefficient between u, the longitudinal wind component, and w, the vertical wind component, Ru,w is also investigated in this study. It is shown that Ru,w is exposed to some wave influence. A comparison of Ru,w as a function of wave age, for neutral and non-neutral stratification is made. For swell cases and non-neutral stratification Ru,w makes a rapid drop and assumes values close to zero. This is not seen for the neutral cases although there is a slight decrease. It is concluded that a certain amount of positive heat flux and inactive turbulence is needed to see this drop in the correlation coefficient. / Sammanfattning av ”Våginflytandet på värmeutbytet över hav” Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det existerar ett våginflytande för värmeutbytet över hav och speciellt eventuellt våginflytande på utbyteskoefficienten CH (Stantons tal). Mätdata från Östergarnsholm utanför Gotland har använts. Denna mätstation har en stor sektor i vilken vindens anloppssträcka ostört är påverkad av hav. Data från perioden 1995–1999 har använts. Stantons tal CH beter sig annorlunda vid övergången från instabil till stabil skiktning beroende på havsytans tillstånd. Vid uppbyggande sjö gör CH ett ’hopp’ då det passerar neutral skiktning. För dyning finns inte detta hopp utan övergången är mycket mjukare. Denna skillnad observeras också hos det turbulenta värmeflödet. Baserat på definitionen av CH föreslås det att dess olika beteende för olika skiktning och vågtillstånd finns att söka i beteendet hos det turbulenta värmeflödet. En jämförelse av cospektrat för vertikal vind, w, och potentiell temperatur, θ, visar att där finns olikheter mellan uppbyggande sjö och dyning. Under instabila förhållanden och uppbyggande sjö domineras värmeflödet av storskaliga virvlar. Det existerar ingen signifikant skillnad i maximal värdets frekvens för olika grad av instabilitet. Dyningsfallen visar ett mer varierat beteende med en maximalvärdes frekvens som skiftar för olika stabilitetsområden. I studien undersöks också korrelationskoefficienten mellan longitudinal vind u, och vertikal vind w, Ru,w. Det visas att Ru,w är utsatt för ett visst våginflytande. Ru,w som en funktion av vågålder jämförs för neutral och icke-neutral skiktning. För dyning och icke-neutral skiktning så faller Ru,w snabbt till små värden nära noll. Detta resultat skiljer sig för neutral skiktning där Ru,w bara gör en svag minskning. Slutsatsen är att det krävs en viss mängd positivt värmeflöde och inaktiv turbulens för att se det kraftiga avtagandet hos korrelationskoefficienten.

Während eines Experimentes an der Forschungsstation Melpitz des IfT (Institut für Tropossphärenforschung) im September 1997 wurden erstmalig zwei verschiedene Meßmethoden gleichzeitig eingesetzt, die flächengemittelte Lufttemperaturen (Akustische Tomographie - Leipziger Institut für Meteorologie (LIM)) sowie liniengemittelte fühlbare Wärmeflüsse (Scintillometertechnik - IfT) lieferten. Es konnte gezeigt werden, daß teilweise erhebliche Temperaturdifferenzen an einem Strahlungstag auf dieser oberflächlich betrachteten horizontal homogenen Wiese existieren. Die geringe Datenbasis, größtenteils bedingt durch die ungünstige Anströmrichtung während dieses Zeitraums, läßt noch keinen sicheren Schluß zu, ob diese horizontalen Temperaturdifferenzen für die ebenfalls beobachteten horizontalen Unterschiede der vertikalen fühlbaren Wärmeflüsse und damit für die manchmal in Melpitz beobachtete Nicht-Schließung der Energiebilanz verantwortlich sind. / During an experiment at the Iff field research station Melpitz in September 1997 for the first time two different techniques were used to determine simultaneously area averaged air temperatures (Acoustic Tomography -LIM) and line averaged sensible heat fluxes (Scintillation technique - IfT). lt could be shown that on a \'golden\' day appreciably large temperature differences occurred on this superficially considered horizontal homogeneous meadow. Because of the weak data base mostly due to difficult fetch conditions it could not be proven that these temperature differences led to the horizontal differences of vertical sensible heat fluxes and therefore to the sometimes observed non-closure of the energy balance in Melpitz.