Single-Column Simulation of the Effect of Different Boundary 
Layer Turbulence Parameterization Schemes on Surface Sensible Heat Fluxes

Jinhua Zhong; Zhenhai Guo; Debin Su

doi:10.18686/ag.v8i1.12580

Single-Column Simulation of the Effect of Different Boundary Layer Turbulence Parameterization Schemes on Surface Sensible Heat Fluxes

Jinhua Zhong, Zhenhai Guo, Debin Su

Abstract

In this study, different turbulence parameterization schemes are simulated and compared using a single-column model to investigate
their effects on the surface sensible heat flux. The Wangara Boundary Layer Experiment and The First International Satellite Land Surface
Climatology Project Field Experiment (FIFE) were used. Eight different turbulence closure schemes were used for validation and comparison. These include six first-order closure schemes, one turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) closure scheme and the Reynolds stress second-order
closure scheme. In this paper, the results of the second-order closure solved by the Reynolds stress equation are used as a benchmark. Since
different turbulence closure schemes have different ability to capture turbulence, which in turn affects the turbulence transport ability and influences the heat transport process. The simulation results show that the difference in simulated temperature profiles between different turbulence parameterization schemes is not significant as the complexity of turbulence parameterization increases. However, this difference feeds
back to the surface temperature, turbulent velocity scale and turbulent temperature scale, which affects the variation of the sensible heat flux.
As the simulation integration time changes, the difference between the first-order closure scheme and the Reynolds stress scheme gradually
increases due to the lack of turbulence portrayal. The results of the TKE scheme and the Reynolds stress scheme are more closely matched
with the tendency of the root-mean-square error being smaller, and on the second day both schemes simulate the turbulence better.

Keywords

Turbulence Parameterization; Boundary Layer; Sensible Heat Flux; Single-Column Model

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References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ag.v8i1.12580

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