The measurement of turbulent fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer is usually performed using fast anemometers and the Eddy Covariance technique. This method has been applied here and investigated in a complex mountainous terrain. A field campaign has recently been conducted at Alpe Veglia (the Central-Western Italian Alps, 1746 m a.s.l.) where both standard and micrometeorological data were collected. The measured values obtained from an ultrasonic anemometer were analysed using a filtering procedure and three different coordinate rotation procedures: Double (DR), Triple Rotation (TR) and Planar Fit (PF) on moving temporal windows of 30 and 60 min. A quality assessment was performed on the sensible heat and momentum fluxes and the results show that the measured turbulent fluxes at Alpe Veglia were of a medium-high quality level and rarely passed the stationary flow test. A comparison of the three coordinate procedures, using quality assessment and sensible heat flux standard deviations, revealed that DR and TR were comparable, with significant differences, mainly under low-wind conditions. The PF method failed to satisfy the physical requirement for the multiple planarity of the flow, due to the complexity of the mountainous terrain.

An Assessment of Coordinate Rotation Methods in Sonic Anemometer Measurements of Turbulent Fluxes over Complex Mountainous Terrain / A. Golzio, I.M. Bollati, S. Ferrarese. - In: ATMOSPHERE. - ISSN 2073-4433. - 10:6(2019 Jun 13). [10.3390/atmos10060324]

An Assessment of Coordinate Rotation Methods in Sonic Anemometer Measurements of Turbulent Fluxes over Complex Mountainous Terrain

A. Golzio
Primo
;
I.M. Bollati
Secondo
;
2019

Abstract

The measurement of turbulent fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer is usually performed using fast anemometers and the Eddy Covariance technique. This method has been applied here and investigated in a complex mountainous terrain. A field campaign has recently been conducted at Alpe Veglia (the Central-Western Italian Alps, 1746 m a.s.l.) where both standard and micrometeorological data were collected. The measured values obtained from an ultrasonic anemometer were analysed using a filtering procedure and three different coordinate rotation procedures: Double (DR), Triple Rotation (TR) and Planar Fit (PF) on moving temporal windows of 30 and 60 min. A quality assessment was performed on the sensible heat and momentum fluxes and the results show that the measured turbulent fluxes at Alpe Veglia were of a medium-high quality level and rarely passed the stationary flow test. A comparison of the three coordinate procedures, using quality assessment and sensible heat flux standard deviations, revealed that DR and TR were comparable, with significant differences, mainly under low-wind conditions. The PF method failed to satisfy the physical requirement for the multiple planarity of the flow, due to the complexity of the mountainous terrain.
coordinate rotation methods; sonic anemometers; turbulence; boundary layer; complex mountainous terrain; sensible heat flux; quality assessment; Veglia–Devero natural park
Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia
Settore FIS/06 - Fisica per il Sistema Terra e Il Mezzo Circumterrestre
13-giu-2019
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/650372
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