Influence from Surrounding Land on the Turbulence Measurements Above a Lake

• Turbulence measurements taken at a Swedish lake are analyzed. Although the measurements took place over a relatively large lake with several km of undisturbed fetch, the turbulence structure was found to be highly influenced by the surrounding land during daytime. Variance spectra of both horizontal velocity and scalars during both unstable and stable stratification displayed a low frequency peak. The energy at lower frequencies showed a daily variation, increasing in the morning and decreasing in the afternoon. This behaviour is explained by spectral lag, where the low frequency energy due to large eddies that originate from the convective boundary layer above the surrounding land. When the air is advected over the lake the small eddies rapidly equilibrate with the new surface forcing. However, the large eddies remain for an appreciable distance and influence the turbulence in the developing lake boundary layer. The variances of the horizontal velocity and scalars are increased by these large eddies, while the turbulent fluxes are mainly unaffected. The drag coefficient, Stanton number and Dalton number used to parametrize the momentum flux, heat flux and latent heat flux respectively all compare well with current parametrizations developed for open sea conditions. The diurnal cycle of the partial pressure of methane, TeX , observed at this site is closely related to the diurnal cycle of the lake-air methane flux. An idealized two-dimensional model simulation of the boundary layer at a lake site indicates that the strong response of TeX to the surface methane flux is due to the shallow internal boundary layer that develops above the lake, allowing methane to accumulate in a relatively small volume.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Air–lake interaction

Methane flux measurements

Methane open-path sensor performance

Spectral lag

Meteorology

Meteorologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)