MTMG49BoundaryLayerMeteorologyandMicrometeorology 1

1.4 The dynamics of turbulence and the Richardson Number

Akeyquestionishowturbulentmixingisaffectedbythestabilityoftheatmosphere.Ona
sunnydaythesurfaceisheatedandtheboundarylayerbecomesunstable,promotingconvective
plumesandturbulentmixing.Onaclearnightthesurfaceiscooledandtheboundarylayer
becomesstable,suppressingverticalmovementofairparcels(upordown).Thiswillobviously
affect turbulent fluxes (e.g. via eddy diffusivities) but how? We need to quantify what
encouragesturbulenceandwhatsuppressesit.

1. Turbulent kinetic energy

Weconsidertheturbulentkineticenergy(TKE)perunitmass,e,definedas
1
e u ' 2 v' 2 w' 2 m2s2orJkg1
2
Thisrepresentsthekineticenergyinturbulentmotions.UsingReynoldsaveragingleadstoan
equationfortherateofchangeofewithtime:
e
shearproduction+buoyancyproduction+transportdissipation,
t
whereformeanwindinthexdirection:
u Figure1.Diurnalevolutionofturbulentkineticenergyper
Shearproduction u w
z unitmass,e(m2s2),simulatedfortheWangara
g g H experiment.FromYamadaandMellor(1975).
Buoyancyproduction w C
p
Transportincludesadvectionandturbulentfluxesbutitsexactformisnotrelevanthere.

2. Richardson number
FromtheTKEequation,wecanseethatwhetherturbulencegrowsordecaysdependsontherelativemagnitudeof
theshearandbuoyancyterms.AveryusefulquantityistheRichardsonNumber:
g
w
FluxRichardsonNumber R f =
u
uw
z
HencewecanwritetheTKEequationas
e
shearproduction (1 R f ) ,
t
Amorecommonformisderivedbyapplyingfirstorderclosure:
MTMG49BoundaryLayerMeteorologyandMicrometeorology 2

u
u ' ' K h u ' w' K m ,
z z
whichleadsto
g
z K m R
GradientRichardsonNumber Ri 2 Kh
f
u

z
IfthisisappliedoverafinitelayeritisreferredtoasBulkRichardsonNumber,andifthemeanwindiscoming
fromanydirection(ratherthanjustthexdirection)itisgivenby
g
z
BulkRichardsonNumber Ri 2 2 .
u v

z z
TheRichardsonNumberisusefulbecausewecandiagnosetheonsetofturbulenceinstaticallystablebutsheared
flow.ClearlywehaveconvectiveinstabilityforRi<0,buttheoreticalandexperimentalstudiesshow
NonturbulentflowbecomesturbulentwhenRidropsbelowthecriticalvalueRicofaround0.25.
TurbulentflowbecomesnonturbulentwhenRibecomeslargerthanaround1.
Hencethereisahysteresis.WhenRidropsbelow0.25,thefirstappearanceofturbulenceisintheformofKelvin
Helmholtzwaves.

3. The dissipation term

ThedissipationtermintheTKEequation, (Greekletterepsilon),representsthefactthatovertimeturbulent
energyisdissipatedintoheat.This processarisesduetothenonlinearnatureoftheequationsofmotionand
involvesacascadeofenergytosmallerscales:largeeddiescontinuallybreakupintosmalleronesuntilallenergyis
intheformofmolecularmotionsonly,i.e.heat.Theamountofheatproducedissosmallthatitisrarelyincludedas
asourceterminthethermodynamicequation.Richardsondescribedthiseffectinarhyme:
Bigwhorlshavelittlewhorls
Thatfeedontheirvelocity,
Andlittlewhorlshavelesserwhorls
Andsoontoviscosity.
Thiswillbedescribedinmuchmoredetailinlecture2.5.

Furtherreading:Stullp151165.
MoreonKelvinHelmholtzinstability:http://wwwsccm.stanford.edu/Students/witting/kh.html
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http://www.enseeiht.fr/hmf/travaux/CD0001/travaux/optmfn/hi/01pa/hyb72/kh/kh_theo.htm