Understanding the physical processes that affect the turbulent structure of the nocturnal urban boundary layer is essential for improving forecasts of air quality and the air temperature in urban areas. Low-level jets have been shown to affect turbulence in the nocturnal urban boundary layer. We investigate the interaction of a mesoscale low-level jets with the urban boundary layer during a 60-h case study. We use observations from two Doppler lidars and results from two high-resolution numerical-weather-prediction models (Weather Research and Forecasting model, and the Met Office Unified Model for limited-area forecasts for the U.K.) to study differences in the occurrence frequency, height, wind speed, and fall-off of low-level jets between an urban (London, U.K.) and a rural (Chilbolton, U.K.) site. The low-level jets are elevated (≈ 70 m) over London, due to the deeper urban boundary layer, while the wind speed and fall-off are slightly reduced with respect to the rural low-level jets. Utilizing two idealized experiments in the WRF model, we find that topography strongly affects low-level jets characteristics, but there is still a substantial urban influence. Finally, we find that the increase in wind shear under the low-level jets enhances the shear production of turbulent kinetic energy and helps to maintain the vertical mixing in the nocturnal urban boundary layer.
Reference:
Tsiringakis, A., Theeuwes, N.E., Barlow, J.F., GJ. Steeneveld, 2022: Interactions Between the Nocturnal Low-Level Jets and the Urban Boundary Layer: A Case Study over London. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 183, 249–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-021-00681-7
How to cite: Tsiringakis, A., Theeuwes, N., Barlow, J. F., and Steeneveld, G.-J.: Interactions Between the Nocturnal Low-Level Jets and the Urban Boundary Layer: A Case Study over London, EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-134, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-134, 2022.
