Identification

Title

Attenuation of scalar fluxes measured with spatially-displaced sensors

Abstract

Observations from the Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (HATS) field program are used to examine the attenuation of measured scalar fluxes caused by spatial separation between the vertical velocity and scalar sensors. The HATS data show that flux attenuation for streamwise, crosswind, and vertical sensor displacements are each a function of a dimensionless, stability-dependent parameter n m multiplied by the ratio of sensor displacement to measurement height. The scalar flux decays more rapidly with crosswind displacements than for streamwise displacements and decays more rapidly for stable stratification than for unstable stratification. The cospectral flux attenuation model of Kristensen et al. agrees well with the HATS data for streamwise sensor displacements, although it is necessary to include a neglected quadrature spectrum term to explain the observation that flux attenuation is often less with the scalar sensor downwind of the anemometer than for the opposite configuration. A simpler exponential decay model provides good estimates for crosswind sensor displacements, as well as for streamwise sensor displacements with stable stratification. A model similar to that of Lee and Black correctly predicts flux attenuation for a combination of streamwise and crosswind displacements, i.e. as a function of wind direction relative to the sensor displacement. The HATS data for vertical sensor displacements extend the near-neutral results of Kristensen et al. to diabatic stratification and confirm their finding that flux attenuation is less with the scalar sensor located below the anemometer than if the scalar sensor is displaced an equal distance either horizontally or above the anemometer.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7x92cbd

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-02-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

An edited version of this paper was published by Springer. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-07-17T15:54:03.291924

Metadata language

eng; USA