Boundary layer development and meteorological parameters impact on the ground level ozone concentration over an urban area in a mountain valley (Sofia,Bulgaria)

The ecological problems caused by the increasing ozone concentration are not easily solved because ozone is not directly emitted by certain sources Its concentration depends on numerous dynamical and chemical processes. Stratosphere–troposphere exchange and subsequent ozone penetration into the boundary layer determine the contribution of so-called ‘natural’ ozone to ozone pollution near the ground. However, the main contribution to the concentration of this pollution is that of the anthropogenic ozone, which is generated as a result of complex photochemical reactions. The purpose of this research is the ground level ozone concentration behaviour to be studied during the stable boundary layer (SBL) and the residual layer (RL) destruction and the convective boundary layer (CBL) formation, so the influence of the temperature, the relative humidity and the height of the mixing layer (ML) as well as that of the ML formation in different areas of Sofia (42° 39′ N, 23° 23′ E, 591 m above sea level), Bulgaria, have to be determined. The ground level ozone concentration in the area of the Institute of Electronics changes synchronously with the development of the ML. The maximum values of the ground level ozone concentration are reached when the height of the ML reached its maximum and afterwards. The maximum growth of the ground level ozone concentration is around 11:00–12:30 h LST when a fast growth of the ML begins and the complete destruction of the RL is observed, that is, the two processes of ML growth and entrainment of aerosol and ozone from the higher layers of the atmospheric boundary layer are observed. The values of the ground level ozone concentration during the summer months are higher than those during the fall.     

Classification of image matching point clouds over an urban area

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) and image matching are the two main techniques for generating point clouds for large areas. While the classification of ALS point clouds has been well investigated, there are few studies that are related to image matching point clouds. In this study, point clouds of multiple resolutions from high-resolution aerial images (ground sampling distance, GSD, of 6 cm) over the city of Vienna were generated and investigated with respect to point density and processing time. Three different study sites with various urban structures are selected from a bigger dataset and classified based on two different approaches: machine learning and a traditional operator-based decision tree. Classification accuracy was evaluated and compared with confusion matrices. In general, the machine learning method results in a higher overall accuracy compared to the simple decision tree method, with accuracies of 87% and 84%, respectively, at the highest resolution. At lower-resolution levels (GSDs of 12 cm and 24 cm), the overall accuracy of machine learning drops by 4% and that of the simple decision tree by 7% for each level. Classifying rasterized data instead of the original point cloud resulted in an accuracy drop of 5%. Thus, using machine learning on point clouds at the highest available resolution is suggested for classification of urban areas.     

Unsteady boundary layer over an impulsively started flat plate using finite elements

The problem under consideration is that of a suddenly accelerated semi-infinite flat plate in an incompressible viscous fluid. The present analysis is based upon the use of finite elements to idealize the flow over the plate and solving the nonlinear unsteady boundary layer equation by Galerkin's procedure and the results are compared with those obtained previously using a mixed explicit-implicit finite difference scheme. An average number of three iterations are needed to obtain a solution within a maximum tolerance between interates less than 0.01%. The method has successfully demonstrated the exponential decay of the velocity at large times, which has been reported by previous investigators. The transition region of the flow is terminated to reach Blasius state, when the plate has moved a distance equal to six times the distance from the station into consideration to the leading edge of the plate. The methods shows excellent accuracy in dealing with the nonlinear equation of the unsteady viscous flow.     

Atmospheric boundary layer field measurements over coastal areas

This paper reviews the main field campaigns and their results, performed within the Greater Athens Area (GAA) during the last years in order to examine closely the emission and transport mechanisms in the Athens basin. In this respect the flows and the different circulation patterns of the wind combined with the dispersion of different pollutants emitted from various points, area or line sources, were studied. Various parameters such as the topographical effects, or local circulation patterns were examined in order to establish their contribution to the pollution levels in the different areas of the Athens basin.     

Analytic solutions to the boundary layer problem over a stretching wall

Analytic solutions to similarity boundary layer equations are given for boundary layer flows of Newtonian fluid over a stretching wall with power law stretching velocity. The existence of analytic solutions is proven. The Crane’s solution is generalized and recurrence relations are obtained for the determination of coefficients of the exponential series.     

Turbulent boundary layer structure of flow over a smooth-curved ramp

The effects of a convex-curved wall followed by a recovery over a flat surface on a turbulent boundary layer structure are addressed via large-eddy simulation (LES). The curved wall constitutes a smooth ramp formed by a portion of circular arc. The statistically two-dimensional upstream boundary layer flow is realistically fed by an injected inflow boundary condition. The inflow is extracted from a simultaneously simulated flat-plate boundary layer which is computed based on a compressible rescaling method. After flowing over the curved surface the flow is allowed to recover its realistic condition by passing over a downstream flat surface. The Reynolds number introduced at the inlet section of the computational domain which starts 4 times the ramp length (L_r) upstream of the curved surface is Re_δo=U_∞δ_o/ν=9907. The Reynolds number is based on the inflow boundary layer thickness δ_o, the free-stream velocity U_∞ and the kinematic viscosity ν.Mean flow predictions obtained using the present LES with the rescaling–recycling inflow condition agree well with the available experimental data from literature. The Reynolds stress components match the experimental one. However, small deviation occurs due to the smaller-domain height used in the present simulation. The experiments showed that there is a generated pressure gradient on the upper wall and this in return affects the turbulence energy on the other wall. The numerical data as well as the experiments show an enhancement of the turbulent stresses in the adverse pressure gradient region. The increased level of turbulent stresses is accompanied with large peaks aligned with the inflection point of the velocity profiles. The high stress levels are nearly unchanged by reattachment process, decaying only after the mean velocity recovered and the high production of turbulence near the outer layer drops. The recovery of the outer layer is due to the turbulent eddies generated by the separation region. Numerical visualizations show strong elongation and lifting of eddies in the region of the adverse pressure gradient generated by the curved wall. Computations of two-point correlations are also performed to represent the formation and deformation of the turbulent eddies before, over and after the curved wall. Different effects on the eddy size and its structure angle are presented.     

Spatial direct numerical simulation of transitional boundary layer over compliant surfaces

An iterative implicit fractional step method is developed and employed for the simulation of transitional boundary layer over compliant surfaces. The three-dimensional perturbation Navier-Stokes equations are discretized by curvilinear finite volumes on a collocated grid system. A multigrid procedure is used for computations associated with the pressure-Poisson equation, while simulation is carried out by MPI-based parallel computation with domain decomposition. Results in the literature for oblique linear waves and the non-linear breakdown of a wave triad over a rigid wall are repeated to check the accuracy of the codes that had been developed. Oblique linear TS (Tollmien-Schlichting) waves over finite-length compliant membranes are generally found to coexist with CIFI (compliance induced flow instability) or FISI (flow induced surface instabilities) waves. The latter waves usually possess longer wavelengths and thus propagate at a larger oblique wave angles than the TS waves. Simulation reveals that compliant surfaces may slow down the development of secondary instabilities during the early stages of laminar-turbulent transition. However, during the later stages of fundamental wave breakdown, interactions with CIFI and edge-generated waves may increase the amplitudes of the original 2D and 3D TS waves, leading to an earlier breakdown on compliant surfaces. Linear interaction between the flow and compliant membranes has been assumed.     

Application of the method of integral relations to boundary layer flows over blunt bodies

Calculations of boundary layer flows past blunt bodies at angles of incidence are presented. Using the method of integral relations together with the method of lines, the full three-dimensional boundary layer equations are reduced to a system of first order ordinary differential equations. The streamwise shear stress function θ and the cross-flow velocity component V are represented as suitable functions of the streamwise velocity component U. The role of the zone of dependence is automatically satisfied by the choice of differencing in the method of lines. Solutions correct to the second order are obtained in the positive shear region for flow over an ellipsoid at 30° incidence. The results are compared with corresponding finite difference solutions.     

Lidar remote sensing of the mixed layer height over a tropical urban Indian station

Mixed layer is an important parameter which controls meteorological conditions in the lower atmosphere. Transport and diffusion of pollutants in the lower atmosphere is highly dependant on the structure of the planetary boundary layer, one important feature of which is the height of the well-mixed layer. In the present study, continuous wave, bistatic argon ion lidar-derived scattered signal strength from different heights in the lower troposphere over Pune (18? 32′ N, 73? 51′ E, 559 m above mean sea level), India during the period April 2007–January 2008 has been recorded remotely and by employing simple statistical tools, the mixed layer height (MLH) and transition layer thickness (TLT) have been estimated. The results show that sufficient mixing of atmospheric constituents such as aerosols exists in the boundary layer in the post-sunset hours during the summer season, enabling estimation of MLH and TLT. On the other hand, during winter months as mixing ceases/weakens by late evening hours, the mixed layer depth is either low or not easily discernible. In view of the importance of mixed layer depth information for various atmospheric applications, the remote sensing tool used and the simple methodology followed here seem promising.     

Effects of wall temperature on boundary layer stability over a blunt cone at Mach 7.99

Effects of wall temperature on stabilities of hypersonic boundary layer over a 7° half-cone-angle blunt cone are studied by using both direct numerical simulation (DNS) and linear stability theory (LST) analysis. Four isothermal wall cases with , as well as an adiabatic wall case are considered. Results of both DNS and LST indicate that wall temperature has significant effects on the growth of disturbance waves. Cooling the surface accelerates unstable Mack II mode waves and decelerates the first mode (Tollmien-Schlichting mode) waves. LST results show that growth rate of the most unstable Mack II mode waves for the cases of cold wall are about 45% and 25% larger than that for the adiabatic wall, respectively. Numerical results show that surface cooling modifies the profiles of and temperature in the boundary layers, and thus changes the stability characteristic of the boundary layers, and then effects on the growth of unstable waves. The results of DNS indicate that the disturbances with the frequency range from about 119.4 to 179.1 kHz, including the most unstable Mack modes, produce strong mode competition in the downstream region from about 11 to 100 nose radii. And adiabatic wall enhances the amplitudes of disturbance according to the results of DNS, although the LST indicates that the growth rate of the disturbance of cold wall is larger. That because the growth of the disturbance does not only depend on the development of the second unstable mode.     

Absorbing and scattering properties of boundary layer aerosols over Dibrugarh,Northeast India

The absorbing aerosols, primarily black carbon (BC), play a unique and important role in the Earth’s climate system primarily by warming the atmosphere. This warming effect contrasts with the cooling effect of aerosols such as sulphates that are mostly of the scattering type. With a view to studying the characteristics of both absorbing and scattering aerosols within the boundary layer, collocated measurements using an aethalometer and a nephelometer were carried out over Dibrugarh (27.3° N, 94.6° E, 111 m amsl), Northeast India. The diurnal variation of BC mass concentration (M_BC) shows a primary peak during late evening (2000–2200 local time (LT)) while a weak secondary peak is observed in the morning (0600–0800 LT). A seasonal shift in diurnal peak M_BC was also observed. Both diurnal and seasonal variations in the scattering coefficient (β_sca) resemble that of M_BC. It may, therefore, be inferred that the majority of both absorbing and scattering types of aerosol prevalent over the study location have common production sources. The seasonal spectral variation in absorption coefficient (β_abs) shows monotonic decrease from shorter to longer wavelength in all seasons. The wavelength dependence of absorption by aerosols, as obtained from the absorption Ångström exponent (α_abs), indicates a stronger presence of absorbing aerosols originating from biomass burning than those originating from fossil fuel burning over Dibrugarh. The high values of single-scattering albedo (SSA) obtained over Dibrugarh reveal that the scattering type of aerosol is predominant in the ambient air. SSA, together with M_BCm, is a useful parameter for estimation of radiative forcing and hence the climatic impact of aerosols.     

Lidar and spectroradiometer measurements of atmospheric aerosol optical characteristics over an urban area in Sofia,Bulgaria

A series of campaigns involving a systematic investigation of the atmosphere over an urban area of Sofia city were carried out. A European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET) scanning aerosol lidar, a spectroradiometer, a standard sun photometer and a ground meteorological station were used in the observations. Multiple aerosol layers of variable thickness (200–600 m) were observed systematically in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) over the study area and the experimental data were compared with theoretical data. A study of the optical characteristics of the atmospheric aerosol, including the extinction coefficient, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom parameters α and β, was performed and their variations followed during the convective boundary layer (CBL) formation. Values of the AOD obtained using the different instruments during simultaneous measurements were compared. Preliminary results show that the AOD values recorded by the sun photometer and those calculated on the basis of the spectroradiometer data are higher than those retrieved from the lidar data. Determination of the atmospheric optical depth and extinction coefficient using a ground-based spectral instrument is a relatively simple and inexpensive method of monitoring the total aerosol content in the atmosphere as well as the air quality over the region.     

Spatial prediction of ozone concentration profiles

Ground level ozone is one of the major air pollutants in many urban areas. Ozone formation affects ecosystems and is known to be associated with many adverse health issues in humans. Effective modeling of ozone is a necessary step to develop a system to warn residents of high ozone levels. In the present study we propose a statistical procedure that uses multiscale and functional data analysis to improve the spatial prediction of ozone concentration profiles in the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) area of Texas. This study uses daily eight-hour ozone concentrations and meteorological predictors during a period between 2003 and 2006 at 14 monitoring sites in the DFW area. Wavelet transformation was used as a means of multiscale data analysis, followed by functional modeling to reduce model complexity. Kriging was then used for spatial prediction. The experimental results with real data demonstrated that the proposed procedures achieved acceptable accuracy of spatial prediction.     

Purely analytic solutions of magnetohydrodynamic swirling boundary layer flow over a porous rotating disk

The prime objective of the present study is to derive analytical expressions for the solution of steady, laminar, incompressible, viscous and electrically conducting fluid of the boundary layer flow due to a rotating disk subjected to a uniform suction and injection through the wall in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field. To serve this purpose, the recently popular homotopy analysis method is employed to obtain the exact solutions, in contrast to the numerically evaluated ones in the literature. It is shown here that such a technique is extremely powerful in gaining magnetohydrodynamic solutions in terms of the purely exponential and decaying functions if a special care is taken into account. This makes it possible to obtain explicitly analytic solutions particularly in coincident with the Ackroyd’s solutions in (Ackroyd, 1978) [1] and with the solutions in (Ariel, 2001) [2]. The method is further shown to be capable of overcoming the difficulties existed in calculating Ackroyd’s solutions for high values of injection. Using the homotopy analysis method, electrically conducting mean velocity profiles corresponding to a wide range of suction and injection velocities can be readily computed non-iteratively and analytically. Explicit formulas are also derived for some parameters of physical significance.     

Numerical study of thermodiffusion effects on boundary layer flow of nanofluids over a power law stretching sheet

This paper deals with the triple-diffusive boundary layer flow of nanofluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet. In this model, where binary nanofluid is used, the Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and cross-diffusion are classified as the main mechanisms, which are responsible for the enhancement of the convection features of the nanofluid. The boundary layer equations governed by the partial differential equations are transformed into a set of ordinary differential equations with the help of group theory transformations, which is introduced by Blasius (The boundary layers in fluids with little friction, 1950). The variational finite element method is used to solve these ordinary differential equations. We have examined the effects of different controlling parameters, namely the Brownian motion parameter, the thermophoresis parameter, modified Dufour number, nonlinear stretching parameter, Prandtl number, regular Lewis number, Dufour Lewis number, and nanofluid Lewis number on the flow field and heat transfer characteristics. The physics of the problem is well explored for the embedded material parameters through tables and graphs. The present study has many applications in coating and suspensions, movement of biological fluids, cooling of metallic plate, melt-spinning, heat exchangers technology, and oceanography.     

On an assumption guaranteeing boundary layer convergence of singularly perturbed systems

In a recent paper by B. A. Francis, an assumption was made that guaranteed convergence in the boundary layer for singularly perturbed linear systems, but the assumption was not discussed. This note examines this assumption in some detail. Verifiable sufficient and necessary conditions are given. Illustrative examples are presented.     

Airborne hyperspectral mapping of trees in an urban area

The management of trees in urban areas requires accurate maps, which are difficult to build in the dense patchwork of numerous material properties. Remote sensing is a useful technique that measures the response of all vegetation occurrences, including trees, when high spatial resolution is available. The continuous narrow spectral bands of hyperspectral images enable the detection of the oxygen and water content, which ensures a perfect correction of the atmospheric effect. When calibrated, sunlight reflectance images can be used to map surface chemical compositions by the detection of diagnostic and sharp absorption features. In the visible and near- infrared, the vegetation is detected by chlorophyll-a absorption features that are characteristic of the pigment content. The reflectance intensities due to the texture of leaves occur between 450 and 920 nm while the water content imprint is detectable beyond 920 nm. The sharp spectral feature intensities of the main associated pigments, not only chlorophylls, are well quantified by indices measuring a normalized difference of reflectance in a spectral interval between two bounding wavelengths. A regression line calculated on all bands within that interval ensures a low sensitivity of the indices to the smaller variations in reflectance intensity. Such unbiased indices may be combined, using successive index thresholds deduced from a training spectral library, to divide the spectra into subsets, minimizing the confusion between the numerous vegetation types with almost identical compositions. Therefore, for each subset of the spectra, a classic spectral angle mapping (SAM) method can be used on the corresponding sub-selection of the spectral library to measure angles at full spectral resolution and map tree types with great accuracy, grouped according to their spectral similarity. In this study, chemical and physical information is carefully separated. The tree crown physical properties are studied by comparing the local juxtaposition of pixel sets to a characteristic texture identifiable by image segmentation into objects. Instead of looking for objects in the reflectance image or any statistical compression of its information, a 25 channel co-image, built from 11 information layers of chemical sharp spectral feature indices and 14 information layers of SAM indices matching a spectral library of reference vegetation groups, was used. Tree canopies also present wide internal variations due to (i) a complex mixture with a background in the case of sparse foliage, or (ii) pigment content adaptation to light exposure intensity from one side to another. Both effects are minimized by using the mean spectrum of each object, assuming that less significant spectra, being at plus or minus one or two standard deviations from an object mean spectrum, would be less affected by anomalous pixel data. Thus, two overlapping hierarchic layers at the pixel scale and the object scale are available to describe the main chemistry or pigment content that identifies the vegetation types. The final classification is given by the upper layer at the object scale but in such an organization, the pixel scale layers can be used to analyse the data further and reorder them to obtain other parameters potentially useful for management purposes.     

Analysis of the turbulent boundary layer on a rotating disk

 An order of magnitude analysis of the equations of motion governing the turbulent boundary layer on a rotating disk was performed in a stationary coordinate system located at the center of the disk. The governing equations in the wall layer were derived. Using the log law for the tangential velocity, a relation between the tangential friction velocity and the Reynolds number was derived. The forms of the three components of mean velocity in the viscous sublayer were derived. Analysis of the radial momentum equation indicated the existence of two velocity scales that are both dependent on the Reynolds number. This is the reason for the lack of inner scaling observed for the mean radial velocity. The far-wall behavior of the mean tangential and vertical velocity was documented. The analysis, along with measurements, indicated that the mean downward vertical velocity induced at the edge of the boundary layer is on the order of 15% of the tangential shear velocity. Received: 5 July 2001/Accepted: 17 October 2001     

Variations of surface boundary layer parameters associated with Cyclone Gonu over the Arabian Sea using QuikSCAT data

This study attempted to quantify the variations of the surface marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) parameters associated with the tropical Cyclone Gonu formed over the Arabian Sea during 30 May–7 June 2007 (just after the monsoon onset). These characteristics were evaluated in terms of surface wind, drag coefficient, wind stress, horizontal divergence, and frictional velocity using 0.5° × 0.5° resolution Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) wind products. The variation of these different surface boundary layer parameters was studied for three defined cyclone life stages: prior to the formation, during, and after the cyclone passage. Drastic variations of the MABL parameters during the passage of the cyclone were observed. The wind strength increased from 12 to 22 m s^?1 in association with different stages of Gonu. Frictional velocity increased from a value of 0.1–0.6 m s^?1 during the formative stage of the system to a high value of 0.3–1.4 m s^?1 during the mature stage. Drag coefficient varied from 1.5 × 10^?3 to 2.5 × 10^?3 during the occurrence of Gonu. Wind stress values varied from 0.4 to 1.1 N m^?2. Wind stress curl values varied from 10 × 10^?7 to 45 × 10^?7 N m^?3. Generally, convergent winds prevailed with the numerical value of divergence varying from 0 to –4 × 10^?5 s^?1. Maximum variations of the wind parameters were found in the wall cloud region of the cyclone. The parameters returned to normally observed values in 1–3 days after the cyclone passage.