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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

Characterization of Turbulent Latent and Sensible Heat Flux Exchange Between the Atmosphere and Ocean in MERRA

Turbulent fluxes of heat and moisture across the atmosphere-ocean interface are fundamental components of the Earth s energy and water balance. Characterizing both the spatiotemporal variability and the fidelity of these exchanges of heat and moisture is critical to understanding the global water and energy cycle variations, quantifying atmosphere-ocean feedbacks, and improving model predictability. This study examines the veracity of the recently completed NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) product with respect to its representation of the surface turbulent heat fluxes. A validation of MERRA turbulent heat fluxes and near-surface bulk variables at local, high-resolution space and time scales is achieved by making comparisons to a large suite of direct observations. Both in situ and satellite-observed gridded surface heat flux estimates are employed to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of the surface fluxes with respect to their annual mean climatologies, their seasonal covariability of near-surface bulk parameters, and their representation of extremes. The impact of data assimilation on the near-surface parameters is assessed through evaluation of incremental analysis update tendencies produced by the assimilation procedure. It is found that MERRA turbulent surface heat fluxes are relatively accurate for typical conditions but have systematically weak vertical gradients in moisture and temperature and have a weaker covariability between the near-surface gradients and wind speed than found in observations. This results in an underestimate of the surface latent and sensible heat fluxes over the western boundary current and storm track regions. The assimilation of observations mostly acts to bring MERRA closer to observational products by increasing moisture and temperature near the surface and decreasing the near-surface wind speeds. The major patterns of spatial and temporal variability of the turbulent heat fluxes produced by MERRA compare favorably to observationally based estimates. However, MERRA is distinct in terms of amplitude. These results suggest that MERRA is likely to be a valuable resource for a number of research applications though, as with all turbulent flux estimates, systematic issues should be taken into account.

Roberts, J. Brent↗
NASA NTRS1995

On treatments of fetch and stability sensitivity in large-area estimates of sensible heat flux over sea ice

Bulk transfer coefficients estimated as a function of atmospheric stability and sea-ice lead width are combined with Arctic meteorological observations and ice thickness data to calculate the sensitivity of turbulent flux estimates to changes in lead width, wind speed, air temperature, and ice thickness for a high-concentration ice pack. These results are considered in terms of bulk transfer parameterizations that use a fixed transfer coefficient r that address atmospheric stability only. On the basis of the fetch-sensitive parameterizations considered here, differences in lead width for widths up to about 200 m can exert a substantial influence on sensible heat transfer coefficients and heat flux from leads under typical Arctic conditions. Fluxes from an open water lead decrease by 34% if fetch increases from 10 m to 100 m. This effect is greatest for open water leads, decreases considerably as leads refreeze, and is negligible for ice thicker than about 0.3 m. If open or newly refrozen leads make up 2% of the ice cover, than an increase in mean fetch from 10 m to 100 m yields a decrease of about 2 W/sq m in areally averaged flux from the ice pack. Calculations using observed and theoretical lead width distributions suggest that parameterizing lead widths in a sea ice model can be done effectively using a single, representative lead width rather than requiring a full distribution of widths. When coupled to the lowest atmospheric boundary layer using a bulk similarity theory model, this sensitivity of heat transfer to fetch results in substantially higher near-surface air temperatures over narrow leads, with equilibrium air temperatures decreasing by about 50% as fetch increases from 10 to 100 m.

Maslanik, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Evaluation of sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and effective aerodynamic roughness at the land surface from a combination of satellite and in-situ data

A simple method is presented for using the daytime rise of the PBL height, combined with coincident satellite skin temperature measurements, to evaluate sensible heating and the effective surface roughness for heat transfer at synoptic locations. Multiple runs of a combination surface layer-mixed layer model are made in the central U.S., varying the values of surface moisture and roughness length around climatological means, and initializing the model with a set of atmospheric conditions from the synoptic report. The results, shown in figures and tables, are quite reasonable and spatially coherent, and depict well the sharp change in surface moisture and roughness which is known to take place across the central U.S.

Diak, George R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Historical sensible-heat-flux variations key to predicting future hydrologic sensitivity

Under anthropogenic climate change (CC), the global hydrological cycle intensifies at a rate known as hydrologic sensitivity (HS). Global climate models (GCMs) exhibit substantial uncertainty in HS. Past work suggests that another form of HS, derived from internal climate variability (IV), is useful for constraining this uncertainty. However, these two forms of HS are weakly related. Here we show that decomposing HS under both CC and IV, based on the global energy budget, provides insight into the likely range of future HS. We find that sensible heat exchange between the atmosphere and ocean is not accounted for in the atmospheric energy budget under IV, masking the connection between HS under IV and CC. Removing this term, a closer relationship emerges. We use observations in conjunction with this relationship to suggest an upward shift in the likely range of future HS (66% confidence interval: 2.00–2.36 W m -2 K -1

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1984

Evaluation of surface sensible heat flux effects on the generation and modification of mesoscale circulations

Mesoscale thermal-induced circulations generated by horizontal gradients in surface characteristics as well as significant perturbations on land and sea breezes and mountain-valley winds due to substantial modifications in the thermal forcing are introduced. It is suggested that these types of mesoscale situations are generally ignored in forecasting but that they may have important implications in very short range predictions.

Segal, M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A comparison of surface sensible and latent heat fluxes from aircraft and surface measurements in FIFE 1987

Surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat over a tall-grass prairie in central Kansas, as measured by 22 surface stations during FIFE 1987, are compared with values gained indirectly by linear extrapolation of aircraft-measured flux profiles to the surface. The results of 33 such comparisons covering the period 26 June to 13 October 1987 indicate that the sensible heat flux profiles were generally more linear with less scatter in the measurements at each level than were the latent heat flux profiles, the profile extrapolations of sensible heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 30 percent, with slightly better agreement during periods of small flux, and the profile extrapolations of latent heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 15 percent, with overestimates during periods of small fluxes (dry conditions) and overestimates during periods of large fluxes (moist conditions). Possible origins of the differences between the two sets of measurements are discussed, as directions for further research.

Kelly, Robert D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A comparison of surface sensible and latent heat fluxes from aircraft and surface measurements in FIFE 1987

Surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat over a tall-grass prairie in central Kansas, as measured by 22 surface stations during FIFE 1987, are compared with values gained indirectly by linear extrapolation of aircraft-measured flux profiles to the surface. The results of 33 such comparisons covering the period 26 June to 13 October 1987 indicate that the sensible heat flux profiles were generally more linear with less scatter in the measurements at each level than were the latent heat flux profiles, the profile extrapolations of sensible heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 30 percent, with slightly better agreement during periods of small flux, and the profile extrapolations of latent heat flux in general underestimate the surface averages by about 15 percent, with overestimates during periods of small fluxes (dry conditions) and overestimates during periods of large fluxes (moist conditions). Possible origins of the differences between the two sets of measurements are discussed, as directions for further research.

Kelly, Robert D.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of the Near-Surface Variables in the HRRR Weather Model Using Observations from the ARM SGP Site

Abstract The performance of version 4 of the NOAA High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) numerical weather prediction model for near-surface variables, including wind, humidity, temperature, surface latent and sensible fluxes, and longwave and shortwave radiative fluxes, is examined over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) region. The study evaluated the model’s bias and bias-corrected mean absolute error relative to the observations on different time scales. Forecasts of near-surface geophysical variables at five SGP sites (HRRR at 3-km scale) were found to agree well with observations, but some consistent observation–forecast differences also occurred. Sensible and latent heat fluxes are the most challenging variables to be reproduced. The diurnal cycle is the main temporal scale affecting observation–forecast differences of the near-surface variables, and almost all of the variables showed different biases throughout the diurnal cycle. Results show that the overestimation of downward shortwave and the underestimation of downward longwave radiative flux are the two major biases found in this study. The timing and magnitude of downward longwave flux, wind speed, and sensible and latent heat fluxes are also different with contributions from model representations, data assimilation limitations, and differences in scales between HRRR and SGP sites. The positive bias in downward shortwave and negative bias in longwave radiation suggests that the model is underestimating cloud fraction in the study domain. The study concludes by showing a brief comparison with version 3 of the HRRR and shows that version 4 has better performance in almost all near-surface variables. Significance Statement A correct representation of the near-surface variables is important for numerical weather prediction models. This study investigates the capability of the latest NOAA High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRRv4) model in simulating the near-surface variables by comparing against the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) in situ observations. Among others, we find that the surface heat fluxes, such as sensible and latent heat fluxes, are the most difficult variables to be reproduced. This study also shows that the diurnal cycle has the dominant impact on the model’s performance, which means the majority of the outputted near-surface variables have the strong diurnal cycle in their bias errors.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

Regional surface fluxes from satellite-derived surface temperatures (AVHRR) and radiosonde profiles

Radiometric surface temperatures, derived from measurements by the AVHRR instrument aboard the NOAA-9 and the NOAA-11 polar orbiting satellites, were used in combination with wind velocity and temperature profiles measured by radiosondes, to calculate surface fluxes of sensible heat. The measurements were made during FIFE, the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment, in a hilly tall grass prairie area of northeastern Kansas. The method of calculation was based on turbulent similarity formulations for the atmospheric boundary layer. Good agreement (r = 0.7) was obtained with reference values of sensible heat flux, taken as arithmetric means of measurements with the Bowen ratio method at six ground stations. The values of evaporation (latent heat fluxes), derived from these sensible heat fluxes by means of the energy budget, were also in good agreement (r = 0.94) with the corresponding reference values from the ground stations.

Brutsaert, Wilfried↗
NASA NTRS1992

Aircraft- and tower-based fluxes of carbon dioxide, latent, and sensible heat

Fluxes of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sensible heat obtained over a grassland ecosystem, during the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE), using an aircraft- and two tower-based systems are compared for several days in 1987 and in 1989. The tower-based cospectral estimates of CO2, sensible heat, water vapor, and momentum, expressed as a function of wavenumber K times sampling height z, are relatively similar to the aircraft-based estimates for K x z greater than 0.1. A measurable contribution to the fluxes is observed by tower-based systems at K x z less than 0.01 but not by the aircraft-based system operating at an altitude of approximately 100 m over a 15 x 15 km area. Using all available simultaneous aircraft and tower data, flux estimates by both systems were shown to be highly correlated. As expected from the spatial variations of the greenness index, surface extrapolation of airborne flux estimates tended to lie between those of the two tower sites. The average fluxes obtained, on July 11, 1987, and August 4, 1989, by flying a grid pattern over the FIFE site agreed with the two tower data sets for CO2, but sensible and latent heat were smaller than those obtained by the tower-based systems. However, in general, except for a small underestimation due to the long wavelength contributions and due to flux divergence with height, the differences between the aircraft- and tower-based surface estimates of fluxes appear to be mainly attributable to differences in footprint, that is, differences in the area contributing to the surface flux estimates.

Desjardins, R. L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sea Ice and Cloud Processes Mediating Compensation between Atmospheric and Oceanic Meridional Heat Transports across the CMIP6 Preindustrial Control Experiment

Abstract Bjerknes compensation (BJC) refers to the anticorrelation observed between atmospheric and oceanic heat transport (AHT/OHT) variability, particularly on decadal to longer time scales that may be important to the predictability of the climate system. This study investigates the spread in BJC across fully coupled simulations of phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and critical processes (particularly related to sea ice and clouds) that may contribute to that spread. BJC on decadal to longer time scales is confirmed across all the simulations evaluated, and it is strongest in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) between 60° and 70°N. At these latitudes, BJC appears to be primarily driven by the exchange of turbulent fluxes (sensible and latent) in the Greenland, Iceland, and Barents Seas. Metrics to break down how sea ice and clouds uniquely modify the radiative balance of the polar atmosphere during anomalous OHT events are presented. These metrics quantify the impacts of sea ice and clouds on surface and top of atmosphere (latent, sensible, longwave, and shortwave radiative) energy fluxes. Cloud responses tend to counter the clear sky impacts over the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ). It is further shown that the degree of BJC present in a simulation at high latitudes is heavily influenced by the sensitivity of the sea ice to OHT, which is most influential over the MIZ. These results are qualitatively robust across models and explain the intermodel spread in NH BJC in the preindustrial control experiment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Effects of dynamic heat fluxes on model climate sensitivity Meridional sensible and latent heat fluxes

The high- and low-latitude radiative-dynamic (HLRD) climatic model of Wang et al. (1984) was used to study the effect of meridional heat (MH) fluxes on climate changes caused by increases of CO2 abundance and solar constant variations. However, the empirical MH parameterization of the HLRD model was replaced by physically based parameterization, which gives separate meridional sensible and latent heat fluxes and provides a complete representation of the dependence of the flux on the mean temperature field. Both parameterization methods yielded about the same changes in global mean surface temperature and ice line, and both produced only small changes in meridional temperature gradient, although the latter were even smaller with the physically based parameterizations. At any latitude, the hemispheric mean surface temperature, rather than MH fluxes, dominates the surface temperature changes.

Gutowski, W. J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Consistency Between Tropical Divergent Circulations from Reanalysis Data Sets and Satellite-Derived Precipitation, Radiation, and Surface Fluxes

Large-scale divergent circulations are part of the atmospheric dynamic response to diabatic heating from condensation, radiative processes, and surface heat fluxes. Vertical motion and the associated divergent wind is thus intimately tied to the hydrologic cycle and the global heat balance. Vertical motions are recovered diagnostically from reanalyses and, as such, are subject to shortcommings in model physics, numerics, and data availability. We use several Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Earth Observation System (EOS) data sets derived from satellite data to assess interannual divergent flow anomalies in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and GSFC Data Assimilation Office (DAO) analyses. Among the data sets are monthly, 2.5 degree gridded precipitation (Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I-based)), Top or the atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes from ERBS, surface radiative fluxes from the SRB project, and surface latent and sensible flux estimates from SSM/I. These data sets can be considered as independent of the reanalysis fields. We focus largely on the period 1987-1989 encompassing a strong El Nino / la Nina couplet. Consequently we emphasize interannual changes as well as climatological aspects of the reanalyses. In the processes of this study we use simple integral constraints enforced through the satellite-derived data sets to derive corrections to the divergent circulation produced from the reanalyses. We examine the implications of these corrections in describing how perturbations to the tropical heat balance evolve during a warm / cool couplet. In particular the perturbations to the planetary scale water vapor transport, and the resulting changes in TOA and surface radiative fluxes are considered.

Robertson, Franklin R.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Consistency Between Divergent Circulations from Reanalysis Data Sets and Satellite-Derived Precipitation, Radiation, and Surface Fluxes

Large-scale divergent circulations are part of the atmospheric dynamic response to diabatic heating from condensation, radiative processes, and surface heat fluxes. Vertical motion and the associated divergent wind is thus intimately tied to the hydrologic cycle and the global heat balance. Despite its importance, the divergent circulation is too small in comparison to the rotational flow to measure directly with any accuracy. Vertical motions are recovered diagnostically from reanalyses and, as such, are subject to shortcomings in model physics, numerics, and data availability. We use several GEWEX pre-EOS data sets derived from satellite data to assess interannual divergent flow anomalies in the NCEP, GSFC, and GSFC DAO analyse. Among the data sets are monthly, 2.5 degree gridded precipitation (MSU and SSM/I-based), TOA radiative fluxes from ERBS, surface radiative fluxes from the SRB project, and surface latent and sensible flux estimates from SSM/I. Most of these data sets can be considered as independent of the reanalysis fields. We focus largely on the period 1987-1989 encompassing a strong El Nino / la Nina couplet. Consequently we emphasize interannual changes rather than climatological aspects of the reanalyses. In the processes of this study we use simple integral constraints enforced through the satellite-derived data sets to derive corrections to the divergent circulation produced from the reanalyses. We examine the implications of these corrections in describing how perturbations to the tropical heat balance evolve during a warm / cool couplet. In particular the perturbations to the planetary scale water vapor transport, and the resulting changes in TOA and surface radiative fluxes are considered.

Robertson, Franklin R.↗